COLLAB
Joint Finance Feature
Added on RocketMoney
Turn shared goals into shared wins.
Offering collaborative feature for families and couples to make contributing, planning more fun, and rewarding.
*This is a personal passion project. Proposed modifications and implements are not officially affiliated with Rocket Money.
Role
Sole Product Designer: UX/UI, Product Strategy, Prototyping & Testing, Research, Working Within Existing Design Systems, Feature Prioritization
Deliverable
Adding sub feature that strengthens rocket money's product line.
Tools
Figma
Adobe CC
Maze
Year
2024
06 -08
Background
Money talk can be
stressful in relationships.
Let's explore ways to
lighten the mood?
Background : The financial reality today.
Couples and families are forced to make constant choices about spending, saving, and prioritizing through piling up bills.
Life is rarely that simple. families share bills, parents guide kids through allowances, multiple student loans and couples save together for vacations or a home. Keeping track of it all often feels overwhelming.
Background : The financial reality today.
Managing money alone was simple but sometimes life doesn't stay that simple. Planning together is essential with rising costs and complex financial decisions make it harder to go it alone.
Money takes on a new layer of complexity with relationships and families—it’s no longer just about math; it’s about emotions, priorities and negotiating. People are forced to make constant choices about spending, saving, and prioritizing needs vs wants.
Project overview
This project is about creating a financial tool that helps couples and familie to explore what joint finance is like together. The goal is to turn money from a source of stress into a shared resource for achieving dreams—whether that’s buying a home, saving for a big trip, or just feeling secure day-to-day.
My goal is to explore feature idea for a collaborative tool that can makre money talk more approachable and enjoyable to encourage people to discuss shared goals, divide responsibilities, and turn money conversations into positive, motivating experiences.
Issues : Why current tools fall short
Managing money together can be messy. Couples often juggle mutiple spreadsheets and apps to track spending. People try to make this works, but it is time-consuming and stressful, which often spark arguments.
Couples and families are forced to make constant choices about spending, saving, and prioritizing through piling up bills.Conversations about spending, saving, and planning can feel stressful, and many existing tools still focus on individuals, not shared goals. This gap makes it even harder for couples and families to start positive experience in joint finance journey to maintain. A couple saving for a down payment might spend an hour each week comparing contributions or debating who covered groceries. Financial planning should feel empowering, but it often feels frustrating and fragmented.
Why this matters
Most households today have two full-time earners. About half of married couples with children in the U.S. rely on both incomes. That changes how people approach goals like buying a house or saving for a family vacation.
Without tools that support collaboration, couples risk miscommunication and delays. Money stress can spill over into relationships, turning shared goals into tension instead of shared achievement.
Market Research
Competitors in space
Adults say finances are a top source of stress. |
Couples argue about money regularly |
Getting to know users and issues
Talking to people…
"Money is not just a numbers. it carries more layers beneath"
Individuals and couples shared their interesting perspective of "money" and how it is deeply tied to identity, relationships, and life goals.
People weren’t looking for fun gimmicks or educational tools. They don’t just want to manage money, they want to connect money to their hopes and responsibilities.
Money discussion without leading to arguments was brought up a lot during this process, and their desire to practice on healthier money habits to gain momentum and make growth together.
Insight 1:Independence in relationships.
"I want to feel like we’re saving together, but I also don’t want my partner to see everything I spend and give up personal privacy just to share our finances."
Many couples avoid joint accounts entirely because they want to maintain some independence. Traditional “joint” tools force a merge, which creates conflict instead of collaboration.
Insight 2: How do we talk about money?
"I grew up listening to my parents argue about money. I want to do better wtih my partner but we just don’t know how to talk about money without it turning into an argument."
According to the American Psychological Association, money is the second leading cause of stress in relationships. Apps that only track expenses don’t help couples talk about money which is where the real friction happens.
Insight 3: Dating-Stage Modes
"When we were just dating, splitting bills or taking turns were fine. But now we moved in together, we need a completely different system for this to work, and it's bit awkward."
Household financial needs shift dramatically across life stages. Fintech tools rarely adapt, leaving people to patch together spreadsheets or juggle multiple apps as their needs grow more complex.
Insight 5: Integration Without Overload
"We’ve got 20+ different accounts for bills, bankings, student loans and personal investments. I used to handle book keeping in our relationship on notebook and also tried an excel but honestly, we just gave up at one point."
Insight 4: Mirror Mirror on the wall
"Budgeting apps make me feel guilty. Every time I open them it’s like a report card. I just want something that tells me if we’re okay this week and what’s coming up."
Behavioral finance research shows that people are more motivated by simple, positive reinforcement than by negative alerts. Many apps overload users with raw data, which creates anxiety instead of clarity.
Getting to know users and issues
Gaps and Opportunies.
"When I think about money, it’s not just a numbers."
Individuals and couples shared their interesting perspective of "money" and how it is deeply tied to identity, relationships, and life goals.
People weren’t looking for fun gimmicks or educational tools. They don’t just want to manage money, they want to connect money to their hopes and responsibilities.
Money discussion without leading to arguments was brought up a lot during this process, and their desire to practice on healthier money habits to gain momentum and make growth together.
Insight 1:Independence in relationships.
Most personal finance tools today focus on individuals. They do not support couples or families managing money together. This gap creates confusion, extra work, and stress for people trying to coordinate shared goals.
Insight 2: How do we talk about money?
A collaborative financial platform could fill this gap by making teamwork simple and even enjoyable. It could help couples and families: Track progress toward shared goals in one place Allocate responsibilities in ways that feel fair Turn money planning from awkward or stressful conversations into a shared activity Encourage playful and motivating experiences, like letting a child see birthday money grow toward a goal like a new iPad
Insight 3: Dating-Stage Modes
"When we were just dating, splitting bills or taking turns were fine. But now we moved in together, we need a completely different system for this to work, and it's bit awkward."
Household financial needs shift dramatically across life stages. Fintech tools rarely adapt, leaving people to patch together spreadsheets or juggle multiple apps as their needs grow more complex.
Insight 5: Integration Without Overload
"We’ve got 20+ different accounts for bills, bankings, student loans and personal investments. I used to handle book keeping in our relationship on notebook and also tried an excel but honestly, we just gave up at one point."
Insight 4: Mirror Mirror on the wall
"Budgeting apps make me feel guilty. Every time I open them it’s like a report card. I just want something that tells me if we’re okay this week and what’s coming up."
Behavioral finance research shows that people are more motivated by simple, positive reinforcement than by negative alerts. Many apps overload users with raw data, which creates anxiety instead of clarity.
Current user journey in joint finance approach
Brand alignment for collaboration feature
Rocket money established themselves by 5 million users as a leading finance service platform for many people who wanted to start their personal finance journey. Expanding into family collaboration strengthens retention and lifetime value- differentiate from their competitors who remain individual - first.
Business Impact
Broader user base: couples, families, multigenerational households.
Deeper stickiness: finance becomes a shared daily habit.
Pathway to premium upsells (shared goals, premium alerts, financial coaching).
Market Size
Brand alignment for collaboration feature
The personal finance software market was worth around $1.1 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach $1.6 billion by 2030. Finance apps on mobile are growing even faster, with a $2.9 billion market size in 2024. The demand is there, but most of these tools are still focused on individuals, not households.
Personal finance apps market size
is projected at $330B+ by 2028
User growth of finance apps is about
1.2 Bpeople worldwide and 700 million mobile app installs, 60% of user activity
Fintech revenue growth is $2.5B, 21%
in 2025, while traditional finance at $0.7B 6%.
Design Implications
Design Implications
Better Money Conversation
With lack of sense of belonging in new environment. People desire to find familiar community and wants to discover regular spots they can go.
Many couples avoid joint accounts entirely because they want to maintain some independence. Traditional “joint” tools force a merge, which creates conflict instead of collaboration.
Build Familarity
Interviewees who had been exposed to finance in young age felt less intimidated by looking into personal finance, setting budgets and goals.
Many couples avoid joint accounts entirely because they want to maintain some independence. Traditional “joint” tools force a merge, which creates conflict instead of collaboration.
Clear Saving Goals
Having clear saving goals that are short term can help users stay motivated in their personal finanace journey.
Many couples avoid joint accounts entirely because they want to maintain some independence. Traditional “joint” tools force a merge, which creates conflict instead of collaboration.
Persona 1
Persona 2
Persona 3
Leona ( 9yrs old)
Leona the Mini CFO :
Pocket Change Prodigy
Leona receives money from birthdays, holidays, and small chores to help her parents, Leia and Will. She’s learning that saving takes planning and patience if she wants bigger rewards, like a new iPad or a pet. She can understand simple goals and track progress visually, but still needs guidance from her parents. Saving is fun and motivating for her, and she enjoys earning extra money by helping around the house.
Goals:
Save for personal items she really wants, like electronics or a pet.
Learn that reaching goals takes planning and consistent effort.
Feel motivated to contribute by doing small chores.
Challenges:
Most apps don’t let children manage money independently in a safe way.
Tracking small amounts from multiple sources can be confusing.
Few tools make saving visually rewarding and engaging for a child.
Scenario:
Leona deposits $50 from her birthday gift. She decides how much to save for a new iPad and how much to spend on small treats. A progress bar shows how close she is to her goal, which motivates her to do more chores. Her parents guide her decisions without taking control, offering advice and encouragement.
Quote:
"I like seeing my money and figuring out how to get the things I really want without having to beg my parents."
The solutions
Design Implications
Understanding people's experiences in joint finance journey.
6 interview participant helped me understand and discover interesting perspective of "money" and relationships.
When I first approached project, I thought it would be some kind of collaborative game add on. Then I had learned people weren’t looking for fun gimmicks or educational tools.
Instead, users wanted to practice on healthier money habits and gain confidences to make growth in their finance journey.
Intimidating Learning curve
Beginner users were curious to learn more about finance tools to help their finance journey but learning curves were intimidating with excel like apps which were more advanced.
Discouraged By progress
Many of budgeting app users said they stopped checking on the app once they started to feel guilty about not making progress.
Early FinanceEducation
Participants who shared their learning experience of budgeting in their childhood, still kept their financial discipline into adulthood while others had more difficulty.
Having Money Conversations
Discussing about money is often a challenge but many interviewees shared having financial transparency is important - so they can plan for joint goals or future together.
Manage Alone or Together?
It was common for one person to solely manage and responsible for all financial planning in household - Interestingly, all household often shared they wants to be more involved and open to manage together.
Lack of Joint Finance Tools
Many couples informed me that due to lack of joint features in general finance apps. They share their logins or manually track finances which highlights there is a need for secure shared access and automation.
Design Process
I chose 3 main key tools that would provide users to practice everyday situations while building better financial habit towards to bigger goals together.
Overall Tracking | Insights | Bucket (saving goal)
Then moving on to building design system for cohesive experience of onboarding journey and executes to simplify collaborating features through usability testing and iterations.
Quick design review (dashboard only)
Let's evolve financial tools for joint finance and create ways to build wishes and dream together?
Introducing Rocket money’s
Collaborative feature to boost
shared dream and journey together
Collab feature invite
made easier for users.
Joint finance doesn't have to be intimidating and you don't have to share everything :)
With customization of data sharing options,
user can set specific sharing dates or Monitor only options to keep privacy.
Start somewhere,
Build habits together
Collab Dashboard is designed to help users manage their bills and budget without visual stressors.
Have you heard of Latte Factor?
Check out our rainy day Fund!
Rainy Day Fund
Small amount saved can go
long way when added up!
Try out Rainy day fund for
extra savings towards to your goal
Lets skip boozy
brunch this weekend
Anything for
my future dog
Want something?
Make it happen!
Get recommandation from your friends, neighbors and community.
I've been dream to
have a dog one day
Lets make it happen!
Preparation Is
Half The Battle
Bucket is designed to provide simple and fun way for users to collaborate on specific goal together by providing tool for planning and saving with realistic expectations.
Track your spending
better than ever -
Discover a better way to spend your money with Insight feature - You can really track money with customizable category and dates if you want to get into it.
Behind Scene - Iterations after Usability testing
Outcome
Though there are many budgeting app to help individuals- Most of apps had stiff learning curve and made user feel bad about spending money which led to a high bounce rate and low engagement.
By re-designing a visual language to reduce stress upon viewing financial data and adding a collaborative feature can create significant impact on joint finance journey for users. Collab Feature can increase in engagement, with users spending more time building on their dreams and goals together.
Things I've learn
I had lot of fun talking to people to discover insight on bit of a personal topic- "money" where I became more curious and learned importance of sharing ideas, communication and re-imagine people’s experience with open mind.
I also learned a lot from building extension of brand style to develop new component assets that’d fit within Rocket money app without loosing it’s brand visual and voice.
Joint Finance Feature
Added on RocketMoney
Envisioning a world where every couple and family can
create the life they dream of side by side through confident,
connected, and modern financial planning.