Spending Planner
March 2022 - September 2025
I led the design enhancement of Spending Planner, refining existing tools and introducing intuitive new features to empower customers in taking more control of their finances.
2023 Fintech Breakthrough Award
- Best Finance Product
The Problem
The product was failing, and it wasn't just a UX problem
When I joined, Spending Planner was two disconnected tools — Spending Summary and Budget — stitched together. CSAT sat at 27%. Users told us in research they preferred spreadsheets and Mint.
I argued the problem wasn't usability. It was strategy: the product lacked a cohesive mental model, actionable insights, and any meaningful connection to the rest of Chase.
Over three years, I helped transform it into one integrated experience.
Spending summary in 2022
Budget tool in 2022
What I owned
Reshaped the roadmap around five strategic pillars
Led data visualization redesign in partnership with the design system team
Drove the simplification of budget creation against stakeholder pushback
Initiated the AI-powered insights direction now in development
Five pillars of transformation
Make cash flow legible
Users kept asking "am I spending within my means?" The original chart didn't answer it. I unified income and spending into a single view and introduced merchant tiles alongside categories — categories explain what, merchants explain where.
New data visualization
Category donut chart
Give users control
The biggest driver of abandonment was that users couldn't fix miscategorized transactions. I led re-categorization and exclusion flows, shifting the product from passive reporting to active management.
Re-categorize & exclude transactions
Reduce friction in budget setup
The original flow required income, savings, and several other inputs upfront. Drop-off was severe. I challenged the premise that budgets needed income to begin, and embedded creation directly into category tiles.
Budget lite
Category budget
Connect to the Chase ecosystem
Spending Planner was a destination most users never navigated to. I drove contextual entry points across Offers Hub, Transfer Hub, and account pages, and integrated relevant Chase products based on observed behavior.
Monetization
Make insights actionable (in progress)
Spending Planner could tell you what happened, but not what to do next. I helped initiate an LLM-powered insights direction — shifting the product from descriptive to prescriptive to personalized.
AI-generated insights
Web design
Web responsive design
Impact
Huge increase in business metrics
CSAT nearly doubled. Retention grew. MAU reached 3.2M. The product won the 2023 Fintech Breakthrough Award for Best Finance Product.
More importantly, Spending Planner became a guidance platform inside Chase rather than a standalone tracker.
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