Toward a secure retirement: personalized projections, financial education, and light nudging

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the individual, pairwise, and three-way interaction effects of Personalized Pension Projection, workplace financial education, and light nudging on retirement financial preparation and actual voluntary retirement savings among middle-aged working adults in the short and medium term following the intervention. Design/methodology/approach A full factorial design was conducted with 290 full-time employed Hong Kong residents aged 35–55 years. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions representing all combinations of the presence or absence of the three interventions. Outcomes encompassed six dimensions of retirement financial preparation (e.g. future time perspective, financial trust) and two dimensions of voluntary retirement savings (e.g. private retirement savings), measured at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months post-intervention. Findings Light nudging produced improvements across most dimensions of retirement financial preparation, with the notable exception of financial trust. Only workplace financial education generated effects on increasing financial trust. Synergistic three-way interaction effects were observed, particularly in producing enhancements in future time perspectives. Light nudging increased the amount of private retirement savings, although this effect was confined to participants with high investment confidence or high risk tolerance. Originality/value This study provides the first comparative evaluation of the individual, pairwise, and three-way interaction effects of personalized pension projections, workplace financial education, and light nudging on retirement financial preparation and actual voluntary retirement savings. The results offer concrete guidance for integrating low-friction behavioral tools in Confucian-influenced, free-market Asian economies and encourage further comparative research across additional high-income settings.