New App Uses Facebook’s Timeline Functionality to Look Toward the Future; Encourages Users to Establish, Track and Share Personal Goals with Friends
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fidelity Investments® today announced its new FutureTimeline application for Facebook. This unique experience, which is now available at no cost to all Facebook users, enables them to create a vision of their future, plan for big and small life events, track progress toward personal goals, and share their goals with friends and family. Fidelity is the first major financial services firm to utilize Facebook’s Timeline functionality to help users plan for their future personal goals.
“FutureTimeline is a fun, interactive and educational way for individuals to take a proactive role in their finances,” said Richard Blunck, executive vice president of digital distribution at Fidelity. “Our goal is to help them think about their future, inspire them to save, and start conversations about their aspirations with others in their lives. We believe this is an important step in managing the primary economy they have the power to change – their personal economy.”
Through FutureTimeline, Facebook users can set customized goals, such as “saving for retirement or a child’s education” or “buying a new car,” track savings for those goals, follow their progress toward them, and share goals with friends and family. Functionality within the experience is designed to help Facebook users:
- Identify goals that may be of interest based on their Facebook profile
- Personalize their goals with names and photos that inspire them to plan and save
- Choose how much to save toward selected goals on a monthly basis
- Share individual goals and progress against them, or their entire timeline, with friends and family
- Create and track joint goals with other Facebook users
- Offer tips for other FutureTimeline users who are trying to achieve similar goals, and read tips provided by other users and Fidelity
- Understand steps they can take to prepare for retirement
For example, a Facebook user can enter a future vacation as a goal into FutureTimeline, including details such as a photo of the destination, the cost of the trip and when they plan to travel. It will help calculate how much they should plan to save toward their goal each month, track their savings progress over time and provide tips, such as links to relevant articles and tools on Fidelity.com. Within FutureTimeline, users can also announce their plans to their Facebook friends, or set up a group goal to travel and track their savings together.
Along the way, users will receive alerts to remind and encourage them to keep saving for their vacation each month, and congratulate them after they have reached their savings goal. No financial information will be shared, even if the user chooses to share their goals with others on Facebook, and there is no connection between the app and users’ accounts at Fidelity.
To learn more about, and start using, FutureTimeline, Facebook users can visit: apps.facebook.com/fidelity_timeline/.
About Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments is one of the world’s largest providers of financial services, with assets under administration of $3.7 trillion, including managed assets of $1.6 trillion, as of August 31, 2012. Founded in 1946, the firm is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and many other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals and institutions, as well as through 5,000 financial intermediary firms. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit www.fidelity.com.
Fidelity Investments, Fidelity, the Fidelity Pyramid design logo and Fidelity Mobile are registered service marks of FMR LLC.
Third party marks included herein are the property of their respective owners.
Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC
900 Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917
628422.1.0
© 2012 FMR LLC. All rights reserved.
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For Fidelity Investments
Deb Pont, 401-292-5318
Deborah.Pont@fmr.com
or
Joe Madden, 617-563-9598
Joseph.Madden@fmr.com
or
Corporate Communications
617-563-5800
Source: Fidelity Investments