Designing a Gamified Retirement Planning Application: Evidence from a Workplace Study of Millennial Employees

Abstract

The phenomenon of a global retirement crisis has gained increasing attention in recent years.  A growing number of individuals struggle to secure sufficient financial resources to sustain themselves during retirement. Financial knowledge not only increases the tendency to save for retirement, but it also affects an individual’s everyday money practices, including borrowing, saving, and investing decisions. Millennials are currently the largest cohort in the workforce and should be constantly made aware of the urgent need to save from the earliest age possible. The development and implementation of a unique gamified retirement planning application aimed at improving retirement preparedness was critically examined for its design rationale, user experiences, and observed successes and shortcomings. A randomised control experiment was conducted to observe any changes the gamified tool might have on the players’ retirement preparedness. Participants, millennial employees at a higher education institution, aged between 24 and 43 were randomly divided into one of three groups (gamification group, education group, and control group), ranging between 29 and 34 participants. The gamified application created a platform where the gamification group could experience the long-term effects of their decisions in a low-risk setting by modelling real-life financial decisions, which helped them develop a more accurate grasp of retirement planning. The education group was only exposed to infographics on retirement planning, and the control group was not exposed to any intervention. Data were analysed and tested using a nonparametric ANCOVA.  The gamified application tends to be more effective at improving basic financial literacy, promoting interest, fostering awareness, and building confidence. However, a decrease was observed in respondents’ perceptions of how well they are prepared for retirement and whether they will achieve the income they need in retirement, which may reflect a “reality check” effect. The infographics appeared to be more effective at improving financial retirement literacy and resulted in a more positive perception of how well they are prepared for retirement, which may reflect overconfidence in their knowledge, leading them to believe they are better prepared than they actually are. Despite some content and technical limitations of the gamified application, it exhibits promise as a financial education tool, motivating individuals to take proactive steps toward retirement planning. Collectively, the evidence suggests that gamification enhances financial literacy and interest in retirement planning, prompts self-reflection, and serves as a “reality check” on respondents’ perceived confidence in retirement preparedness. Consequently, e-learning environments for financial education interventions should not only consider gamification for motivation, but also balance engagement, knowledge development, and behavioural awareness, ensuring a meaningful and realistic development of financial proficiency and behaviour. The limitations of the study suggest that the sample size limits statistical power and restricts the generalisability of the findings, the self-reported measures may be subject to social desirability bias or overconfidence, particularly among participants exposed to educational material, and, lastly, due to the time limit of the study, long-term knowledge retention and sustained behavioural change could not be assessed.