Kristina Wallender, Chief Experience Officer of Human Interest, discusses tackling the retirement crisis in the United States, where a vast majority of people will be unable to afford the life that they envision after work. She dives into how our psychological biases can negatively impact our decisions about long-term investing and how Human Interest works to combat those biases. 

Intro:

How can technology be used as a lever to improve people’s lives at scale? 

On this episode of Future of Tech, we speak to Krisina Wallender, Chief Experience Officer of Human Interest, a company focused on increasing financial wellness through helping small and medium businesses offer quality 401k plans to their employees. 

She dives into the retirement crisis we are seeing in the United States, explaining that a vast majority of people will be unable to afford the life that they envision after work, and discusses how psychological biases can hinder good long-term investing decisions. 

Enjoy this episode. 

 Main Takeaways:

• Kristina’s Career Journey: Kristina discusses studying psychology and economics, and her “personal mission to create a more empowered world”. She talks about what she has learned from her work at Amazon and Human Interest, as well as her sabbaticals.

• The Importance of Investing in Retirement: Kristina discusses the retirement crisis that we are seeing in the United States. She explains that “nearly 80 percent of Americans are not saving enough for their future” and will not be set-up for the life that they envision after work. 

• Pairing Technology and Behavioral Psychology: Kristina talks about the psychological elements and biases in the human decision-making process that hinder our ability to make long-term investments, and how Human Interest works to combat those biases.

Key Quotes:

(06:24) I double majored in psychology and economics. And what I found fascinating was this burgeoning field of behavioral economics and, you know, thinking about some of the systematic biases people have that hold them back from having the best outcomes in their life and with the right nudges, we can help people live better lives, healthier, wealthier, happier lives. 

(07:10) I found that technology was a tremendous lever for being able to improve people's outcomes and, you know, do that at scale.

(12:39) The problem of long term savings is one of the biggest challenges that we have as humans. A lot of the heuristics and biases that we use for day to day decision making, they work against the problem of long term savings. 

(28:22) Few things are more empowering than being able to afford the life you envision in your retirement. And I get to work toward that every day. I mean, it's one of the biggest problems we have in the country, the retirement savings crisis. 

(40:20) What precipitated my first sabbatical following Amazon was the death of my mom and I still call her my best friend. I think of her every day, I used to speak with her every day. I can't possibly convey the degree to which that changed my life, you know, her passing….  What I learned from it is that you can't defer your life goals to the future…. because there were so many things my mom had hoped for in her life that she wasn't able to experience.