Capital Group Bolsters Employee Engagement Program to Better Reach Hispanic Participants

Capital Group is expanding its employee engagement program, ICanRetire, with the goal of better serving plan sponsors and their employees in the Hispanic community, according to an announcement on Monday. 

ICanRetire was launched in 2021 as a complement to Capital Group’s American Fund Target Date Retirement Series and includes tailored tools and resources that educate employees on retirement planning and encourage them to save more. The enhanced version, available to some Capital Group and American Fund participants, includes Spanish-language capabilities and new retirement plan “personas” designed to better match Hispanic participants. 

Vidhi Sanders, head of participant outcomes at Capital Group, saw a need within the Hispanic community to encourage retirement savings, especially as the number of Hispanic workers in the U.S. labor force is projected to reach 35.9 million in 2030. According to the Department of Labor, more than two-thirds of Hispanic households are not utilizing savings vehicles such as 401(k) plans. 

“The ethnic disparities in retirement savings are a growing problem in America, especially in the Hispanic community, historically an underserved part of the population,” Sanders said in a statement. “To help break this cycle, we must acknowledge some of the dynamics that influence views on money and investing.” 

The enhancements to ICanRetire were informed by Capital Group’s initial research, which found that barriers such as language, access to financial education and emotional connections with money were contributing to Hispanic participants’ lack of savings.  

Since its launch, ICanRetire has featured a personality quiz to engage employees and match them to the right resources to keep them informed and progress toward their retirement goals.  

The program uses different personas, invisible to participants using the program, to inform the way ICanRetire creates tailored content and user experiences. The personas represent different age groups, participation rates and other factors like financial knowledge and investing confidence. Three new Hispanic personas have now been added to bring the platform’s total to eight. 

Jocelyn and Miguel 

One of the new personas is Jocelyn—a 33-year-old first-generation college graduate born in the U.S., according to Capital Group. She prefers to receive her retirement planning in English, and her current contribution rate is 3%. One of her top concerns is how to save for retirement while also saving for her first home. She also worries about her parents and the role she may have to play in supporting their retirement.  

This differs from persona Miguel, aged 57 and born outside the U.S. He prefers to receive content in Spanish, and his current contribution rate is 0%. He believes investing in real estate, as opposed to the stock market, is a more reliable and tangible retirement strategy. 

The educational content that ICanRetire would provide to someone like Jocelyn, as opposed to Miguel, would be different and more appropriate for their needs, according to the firm. For participants engaging with ICanRetire, the platform will analyze their age, financial experience and other factors to deliver a tailored and culturally relevant user experience. 

Bilingual 

In addition, the platform now has a custom experience available in Spanish. A language-search capability also allows plan sponsors to opt in or out of webpage translations, equipping the user with greater control of the platform to make decisions. 

But Sanders said via email that, beyond the language addition, it is important to address the cultural barriers that exist.  

“Interestingly, we’ve seen that simply translating content does not increase engagement, since [participants] have family members and friends that can help them,” Sanders said. “When we developed the new ICanRetire experience, we made sure that it was culturally sensitive and accurate from a tone and relatability perspective.” 

Another new feature is a partnership with the Recording Academy’s Grammy Museum to develop a video series, “Money, Music, and Your Future.” Each video shares a “candid conversation” with a musical artist, highlighting their personal cultural experiences and unique perspectives on financial planning.  

Newly featured personalities include the artists and producers Claudia Brant and Cheche Alara, who discuss how their upbringing in Argentina and the socioeconomic conditions in which they grew up impact the way they think about money and investing. 

Sanders said hearing from respected members of the community, like Latin artists who have won Grammy Awards, allows participants to connect on a cultural level, while also making the conversation more accessible for those who lack prior investment knowledge.  

“Talking about asset allocation, investment returns and compounding can be daunting, so this is a unique approach to the concept of saving for the future,” Sanders said. 

Companies using the platform include RWJBarnabas Health, ONE Gas, Formosa Plastics and SEIU 775 Benefits Group—with others in the onboarding process now, according to Sanders. 

ICanRetire is available through employers that have the American Funds Target Date Retirement Series in their investment lineup (in 401(k) or 403(b) plans). Capital Group’s PlanPremier and RecordkeeperDirect clients already have access to the program.