VoiceVest — Making Fidelity Accessible for Everyone

Where it all started

When we first looked at Fidelity's registration process, we noticed something pretty frustrating. You open the app, ready to start investing or planning for retirement, and boom — you're hit with a bunch of account types: brokerage, IRA, 529, HSA... and honestly, if you're not already familiar with financial products, you have no idea which one you actually need.

We did some digging and found that over 60% of users drop off during financial onboarding just because the process feels overwhelming (Signicat, 2023). That's a huge problem — not just for Fidelity's conversion rate, but for people who genuinely want to start investing but don't know where to begin.

Then we came across CDC data showing that around 29% of U.S. adults live with some form of disability, and 18% are over 65. That hit us hard. We realized there's this whole group of people who might want to use Fidelity, but typing through forms or navigating complex interfaces can be a real barrier for them.

So we asked ourselves: what if we could make the whole process feel more human? What if you could just talk your way through it?

What we built

We built VoiceVest, an AI voice assistant that guides users through Fidelity's account-opening process step by step.

Here's how it works:

For people who already know what account they need — they can just go straight into registration. No extra steps.

For people who aren't sure — they can talk to our AI and explain their goals in plain language. Like, "I want to save for retirement" or "I'm trying to set aside money for my kid's college." The AI listens, understands their intent using Gemini API, and recommends the best account type with a clear explanation of why.

But we didn't stop there. After the recommendation, we show users a simple learning interface — either a short video or a card that breaks down what this account actually does and why it fits their needs. We wanted to make sure people feel confident about the choice, not just trust a black-box recommendation.

For seniors and people with disabilities — we added full voice-guided registration. Users can tap a button and just talk. The AI walks them through every step, asking for the info it needs one piece at a time, making the whole process smooth and accessible without any typing or complex navigation.

Tech stack

ElevenLabs API for voice generation and speech-to-text
Gemini API for conversational intelligence
React Native for cross-platform mobile development
Python for backend server

Challenges we ran into

This was a 24-hour hackathon, so time pressure was real.

The biggest technical challenge was getting the voice flow to actually feel natural. We spent hours debugging the ElevenLabs API integration — making sure it could both listen to users and respond in a way that didn't sound robotic. Speech-to-text accuracy, handling pauses, making the conversation feel like a real back-and-forth... all of that took way longer than we expected.

On top of that, building out all the UI components in React Native under 24 hours while also connecting everything to the backend was intense. We were basically coding, testing, breaking things, and fixing them on repeat until it finally clicked.

But when it did click — when we heard the AI guide someone through account selection in a smooth, natural way — it felt incredible. Like we'd actually built something that listens.

What we learned

We learned that accessibility isn't just a checkbox or a design guideline — it's about empathy.

When tech feels natural and human, people feel included. And in finance, where so many people already feel intimidated or left out, that matters a lot.

We also realized that AI voice interfaces have massive potential to make financial services not just smarter, but genuinely more human. It's not about replacing human advisors — it's about meeting people where they are and making the first step easier.

If we can lower the barrier to entry for investing, especially for seniors, people with disabilities, or anyone who's just confused by financial jargon, then maybe we can help more people take control of their financial future.

That's what VoiceVest is all about.