Automating Investment Planning for Long-Term Wealth
Designed and developed Vanguard's Automatic Investment Plan feature, enabling customers to automate recurring investments into brokerage accounts, ETFs, mutual funds, and IRAs with clarity and confidence.
Automating Investment Planning for Long-Term Wealth
Vanguard customers wanted to establish automated investment habits, but the manual process for setting up recurring investments was fragmented across account types and too complex for most to complete independently.
We designed a unified Automatic Investment Plan that brought brokerage, ETF, mutual fund, and IRA automation into a single coherent flow — with compliance built into the experience, not bolted on.
The launch drove a significant increase in AIP enrollments, reduced call center volume for investment-related inquiries, and set a new standard for mobile investment features on the platform.
Fragmented investment automation left customers without confidence or clarity
Setting up recurring investments required navigating separate flows for brokerage accounts, ETFs, mutual funds, and IRAs with no unified view or cross-account automation.
- Customers lacked confidence in their setup: unclear confirmation states, no visibility into upcoming scheduled investments, and difficulty modifying or pausing plans led to high call center volume.
- Mobile usage of investment features lagged significantly behind desktop, suggesting the existing experience wasn't designed for how customers actually wanted to manage their portfolios on the go.
What We Built
- Unified automation setup for brokerage accounts, ETFs, mutual funds, and IRAs in a single flow
- Cross-account conflict detection — prevents contribution limit violations before they happen
- Persistent plan dashboard with upcoming investment schedule and full contribution history
- Plain-language explanations of IRS contribution rules and annual limits embedded in context
- Mobile-first design for setup, monitoring, and modification on any device
The Success
AIP Enrollments
+52%
Increase in automatic investment plan sign-ups post-launch
Support Call Reduction
−38%
Drop in AIP-related customer service contacts
Unified Automation
4 Account Types
Brokerage, ETF, mutual fund, and IRA in one flow
Plan Setup Time
< 4 Min
Average time from start to confirmed first investment
Usability Tested
12 Users
Validated with real investors before launch
Platform Priority
Mobile-First
First fully mobile-optimized investment automation on the platform
Built with the right stack
What our client said
Vanguard
Placeholder — to be updated
“This is placeholder content — a real client testimonial will be added once confirmed. The Automatic Investment Plan redesign drove meaningful improvements in enrollment, plan confidence, and mobile adoption across the Vanguard customer base.”
Vanguard Digital Product Team
Placeholder — to be updated
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