helping amerricans claim smarter

ROLE:

LEAD UX DESIGNER

TIMELINE:

Q1–Q2 2025

TEAM:

SILVER SNEAKERS SQUAD

PLATFORM:

RESPONSIVE WEB

helping amerricans claim smarter

social security benefits calculator

See It Live

in 2017, Fidelity's Social Security Benefits Calculator helped higher-income customers optimize their retirement benefits. By 2025, customer verbatim revealed something unexpected: the tool was being used by a much broader audience — including people with lower incomes who needed to claim earlier and wanted clear guidance on how to do it smartly.

I led the redesign of the SSBC experience to serve this expanded user base while introducing the most-requested feature: the ability to compare claiming scenarios and see break-even years.

to respect Fidelity's confidentiality guidelines, I have omitted or generalized certain business metrics and internal data in this case study.

a tool that outgrew its original design

Social Security provides guaranteed lifetime income to most U.S. households and increases with inflation over time. For many Americans, it's the foundation of their retirement security.

the SSBC was originally built to help higher-income customers maximize their benefits by modeling different claiming ages (62 to 70) and benefit types — individual, spousal, and survivor. The tool worked well for its intended audience.

but as usage expanded, the design struggled to serve customers with different needs and financial situations. The experience was optimized for one segment, leaving others underserved.

the calculator had become a victim of its own success.

results.

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