Show HN: Please comment on my weekend project

by calgaryeng • 14 years ago

2 7 14 years ago

calgaryeng3• 14 years ago

Any comments you had would be appreciated :) I'm a chemical engineer by trade, and this is my first foray into web development.

maxdemarzi• 14 years ago

The website looks nice. You have a lot of text on the first page however. Maybe a 1 minute video explaining it would work. Show some charts with actual return/projections. Sell the dream. Are you doing DFA fund equivalents via ETFs? Maybe you can talk more about how IFA does it (the 12 step plan). Your pricing is way high as well, but that is just my opinion.

Overall, good job.

calgaryeng3• 14 years ago

Thanks for the input! I had been thinking about a video, but for now text is far easier to display in a half-decent fashion (design is not my strong suit haha).

What would your thoughts be on pricing? I had been thinking I could sell it on pure savings vs. 1.5% of assets that a fin advisor might charge. I'm open to suggestions.

I'm not doing anything re: DFA equivalents at the moment - I allow the user to select allowable asset classes, and then they pick a target allocation from a list. I have pre-calculated efficient frontiers for all permutations of the allowable asset classes using reverse portfolio optimization.

sebg2• 14 years ago

The website looks nice and well designed. I like the idea and problem you are solving though worry how you actually get it into people's hands.

Some website specific thoughts: 1. When I think of retirement, the words that I want are more emotional than "easy" - they are "secure, wealthy, long, happy, etc". While it is true that retirement planning is a bit difficult, it really is as easy as paying someone else to worry about it (the 1.5% of assets you quote).

2. Provide some spacing between vertical elements to give them some room to breath. As the website is very text heavy, the missing space makes the whole front page look even more jam packed.

3. As you have 2 green buttons, the red "made in canada" banner really stuck out to me as I squinted on the first page. In fact, when I landed on your page it was the first thing I saw. Note - there is nothing wrong with being proud of where you are from or where you made the page, what is wrong with this is two things (a) it's the first thing I noticed on your web page and (b) I am in the US. Which immediately made me think that perhaps your website wouldn't work for me. While this may or may not be true, it's the first thought that went through my head.

3. The testimonial is in a font and color that was hard for me to read. Also, pushing it so fast on me made me feel like you were trying to sell me on the service too fast. First - tell me what it is that you do and why it's awesome. If I don't leave, then as I scroll down the page give me some indication that it's actually real and that other people think it's awesome.

4. In the header bar, perhaps change "Tour" to "Benefits"? Sell me the sizzle not the steak.

5. The green button with the "or xxxxxx or xxxxx" is confusing and gives me too many choices. Have a very strong thing about what the best user flow should be and stick to that. Especially since you link the "or " links on the nav bar as well. If I really really really want to find those, they are at the top of the page. The main hero action should be directed towards making a super convincing argument that has only one answer "yes i'd like to learn more".

6. In the three text heavy boxes, you are telling me stuff that while nice, I'm not sure actually add anything. If you are telling me it's easy on one hand and then expecting me to know what monte carlo simulations are, it's a bit confusing. If you are selling it on ease, the headings should be more about how it's worry free. Basically let us worry for you.

7. The 1-4 steps at the bottom seem like a very long list of things for me to do before I get any value from your website. Perhaps it's better to focus on one of those things? Start by doing one really well and then slowly grow over time into the other ones. Otherwise, it's hard to really nail each of the different pieces.

Final thoughts: I like what you are doing and think it could definitely help. Perhaps a mix of smartasset.com and readyforzero.com so that I can tell you all my financial info, tell you when I want to retire, and how much i want to have and you tell me exactly what that takes and how to do it. Then you upsell me on viewing my portfolio later.

Great work and looking forward to seeing how this works!

calgaryeng3• 14 years ago

Thanks! That is a lot of good input :) I'll get to work.

sebg2• 14 years ago

Of course - let me know if you have any questions. Always happy to help.

logn• 14 years ago

The .ca domain threw me off. Is this retirement planning for Canadians? That would make sense. If it's not I'd invest in another domain.

Show HN: Please comment on my weekend project

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