Auto-Investments: hands-off HSA investing

2023

Automated HSA investing for a US health-benefits platform, designed around control and reversibility across two investment models and the full lifecycle.

Set Up Automatic Investments dialog: an amount to keep in the HSA, three funds with percentage elections adding up to 100%, and a note that share prices are set when the trade runs

Context

A US health-benefits platform wanted “set it and forget it” investing for health savings accounts.

Set it and forget it
Members keep a chosen cash floor; the excess is invested automatically.
Health savings
Idle HSA cash put to work.
Two investment models
Very different investment styles, one feature.

Problem

Members should invest without managing every buy, across the full lifecycle of the feature.

Turn it on
Choose the cash floor and the fund split.
Change it
Adjust the setup.
Turn it off
Stop it, and know what happens to a buy that hasn’t settled yet.

My role

Product handed off a detailed spec. Three things were mine to design.

The interaction model
One mental model across two very different investment styles.
Full state coverage
Every state, not only the happy path.
Trust mechanics
Why people trust automation with their money.

Process

I translated a dense product spec into one coherent interaction model, then designed the states nobody screenshots.

Pauses
Automation on hold.
Reversals
Undoing a choice.
Privacy lines
What a member sees, and what an admin can.
Unsettled buys
What happens when a buy hasn’t settled yet.

Solution

Control in one dialog

Challenge: People only trust automation with their money when they stay in control of it.
Solution: The cash floor and the fund split sit in one dialog, with Cancel as visible as Activate. The whole feature is designed around control and reversibility, not just the happy path.

Set Up Automatic Investments dialog over the HSA investments page: the cash amount to keep, three funds with percentage elections, an expandable explainer, and Cancel and Activate buttons — The cash floor and the fund split in one dialog, with Cancel as visible as Activate.

A clear privacy boundary
Between what a member sees and what an admin can.
Reversible by design
Control and reversibility beyond the happy path.

Outcome

A complete design for both investment models.

The whole lifecycle, turning it on, changing it and turning it off, including the states nobody screenshots.

One mental model.

Two very different investment styles behind a single, coherent interaction model.