Merrill Lynch Personalizes Education, Mobile Apps for Participants

Merrill Lynch has updated several of its participant resources to address various needs, in order to make them more personalized. For example, its Education Center now covers seven life priorities: finances, home, health, family, leisure, giving and work.

Its Benefits OnLine Mobile App now permits users to log onto it either through touch or facial identification, and its dashboards are now customized.

Merrill has also bundled its educational resources by topics, such as student loan debt, caregiving, health savings and women’s unique journey to financial wellness. The firm has updated its educational content on health savings to underscore the benefits of health savings accounts (HSAs).

When participants meet with financial wellness specialists, they are given a personal consultation action checklist that they can use to spell out their financial priorities.

Later this year, Merrill Lynch will introduce various online illustration tools on topics such as health care, lifetime income and inflation. Also, early next year, the firm will expand its online tool, Advice Access—which helps participants figure out how much to save and how to invest—to include a redesigned engagement experience and additional investment portfolios.