TL;DR: Blue Monday, on the 19th of January in 2026, is a time for consumers to reflect on their finances and set their year up for success. Pension providers can contribute meaningful support by enabling members to connect their financial accounts perform income and spending analysis and set budgets and goals. Learn how L&G has successfully made this implementation, alongside personalised in-app content, leading to triple the usual in-app engagement
Blue Monday: the ‘most depressing day of the year’, according to some. It describes the perfect storm: a long wait for January payday combined with potential overspending in the month prior, the height of grey and gloomy weather, and the pressure of New Year’s resolutions.
For many, Blue Monday is dismissed as a clever bit of PR or marketing. But for millions of households, the mid-January crunch is a very real, very measurable period of financial anxiety. As holiday credit card statements arrive and energy bills peak, the pensions industry has historically stood on the sidelines, offering static balances and reactive advice.
At Moneyhub, we believe this isn’t just a seasonal dip in mood, it’s a failure of data connectivity. We must move beyond the Blue Monday gimmick and provide consumers with the real-time, holistic visibility required to turn anxiety into action.
We sat down with Matt Kirwin, Digital Product Director – Workplace Savings at L&G, to discuss how the pension provider uses data and personalisation to cater for a holistic budgeting view. L&G ensures users can see their full financial picture, and feel confident in the savings, pensions and investment decisions they will make.
For Matt and the team at L&G, the goal is to move beyond the traditional view of a pension pot and provide a suite of tools that empowers employers to support their people, not just on the toughest day in January, but every day of the year, and for their lifetime.
Why is Blue Monday a key time for pension firms?
Feeling the financial stress
Around Blue Monday, more typical mental health worries are heightened by added financial stress. As Matt says, “it’s a day that some people might feel the pinch the most”.
A key stressor is the long five-week wait for January’s payday. This is exacerbated by many feeling like they’ve entered the year on the back foot – with 30% more households than usual admitting to overspending in December.
Looking forward: financial goals
Many people take the time to perform a financial reset around the new year:
“The tools that we’ve created aren’t just designed for Blue Monday”, Matt notes. “They’re designed to support people with their finances, keeping track of where and how they’re spending, and being able to save for the future throughout the year, and throughout their lifetime.”
Employees that feel financially secure perform better at work
The impact of feeling financially secure cannot be understated, with psychological effects that transcend financial settings and into social situations, work and leisure environments.
In workplace settings in particular, 89% of people say that financial stress impacts their work. Of those already struggling financially, two-thirds of employees report at least one sign of poor mental health. Factors like a loss of sleep, poor concentration and reduced motivation have all been referenced – and are all components that affect productivity and performance levels at work.
What can pension firms do to support members through financial wellness?
Pension firms can support members to reduce financial stress by empowering them with a suite of financial health and wellness tools, which get people genuinely thinking about their options, help drive financial education and encourage action.
Employers are increasingly recognising that it’s not just about paying market-rate salaries, because historic financial behaviour, debt and the cost-of-living can also play into employees’ financial wellbeing.
In fact, many now use the employer pension mandates process to actively evaluate these member experience factors before choosing a provider for their workplace pension scheme.
Supporting employees through financial wellness means:
- Providing a holistic view of finances to help uncover their true financial position with income, spending, savings, debts and investments data to show the full picture
- Providing detailed and accurate spending and income analysis to provide a clear foundation for budgeting and offer insights on potential savings
- Enabling savings goals and sweeping payments to reach them faster, safely, and automate savings without manual intervention
At a time when users are likely to be setting short, mid and long-term goals in their planning for the year ahead, providing a holistic view ensures goals are top-of-mind and feeling achievable.
“The reason we’ve created these tools is to provide something that goes beyond offering a simple snapshot of pension savings. We’ve developed a digital platform that delivers actionable insights, guidance and capabilities to help our members plan and improve their view of their finances here and now. If they can do that, it will help them plan for the long term and hopefully put more aside for their future.“
– Matt explains.
However, the precursor to any of these pension platform features is that the data must be both whole and accurate, and its analysis must be meaningful.
Exploring what works with L&G
L&G has worked with Moneyhub to implement the following in-app tools:
- Income analysis
- Spending analysis
- Spending budgets
- Savings goals
Income and spending analysis
L&G has implemented spending and income analysis, giving members full visibility over what they spend and where the money comes from.
“It’s about understanding” explains Matt. “Sometimes we all forget to sit and go through our bank statements, because it’s not the most interesting thing in the world, but it’s a useful exercise.Our app brings it to life a bit more, offering personalised insights and guidance, tailored to each user’s financial situation.”
Spending budgets and savings goals
L&G has implemented the ability to set spending budgets by category, enabling users to track their spend monthly. “It helps people control their finances more effectively”, Matt points out.
Savings goals allow users to set a target for their savings, and can link this to the banking products they hold elsewhere. “Members can track how they’re progressing against their goals, ensuring they achieve what they want to achieve”, he adds.
Personalised content segmented by cohort
L&G isn’t only leveraging the data to help users with their actions, they’re also using the insights from user connections journeys to personalise the in-app content.
Users are segmented into different cohorts, based on information like their time-to-retirement. L&G then promotes the most relevant content to each cohort, rotating it once it has been read. Soon, even the call-to-action buttons will be personalised, depending on what is most relevant to the individual member.
L&G has left the idea of static, vanilla pensions apps behind. “Depending on who you are, you’ll start to see different flavours of the app. With smart dynamic technology, we quickly show members relevant content when it matters most“, Matt adds.
What’s the impact of financial wellness tools for L&G and their pension-holders?
Partnering with Moneyhub and implementing these tools has allowed L&G to turn Blue Monday from a day of dread into a day of proactive engagement. The impact of this shift is twofold: immediate relief for members during peak stress periods and long-term behavioural change across the entire workforce.
Peak engagement rates
The most compelling evidence for this approach is the sheer increase in platform activity. By solving ’here and now’ problems, L&G has fundamentally changed member habits.
“We’ve seen the people that have the mobile app engaging over three times more often with their pension than our other digital channels. The ease and simplicity of the App combined with the tool and personalised content are all contributing to this.“
– Matt reveals.
This peak engagement rate proves that when you give members a reason to check their app on Blue Monday and throughout the year, they are more likely to engage with their pension and interact with their finances.
Bridging the generational engagement gap
Perhaps the most surprising impact has been who is using the app. Traditionally, pensions are seen as a ‘50+’ concern. However, by integrating daily wellness tools, L&G has successfully reached the younger demographic.
The implementation of personalised content has seen the biggest increase in engagement from under-35s.
“It shows that it’s really hitting the mark with that younger demographic,” Matt notes. “It’s much more than just ‘here is your pension pot.’ It’s about support, no matter what stage you’re at.”
And by helping a 25-year-old manage their rent or holiday savings on Blue Monday, L&G is building a relationship that will endure up to and into their retirement.
Recognised by industry bodies
The results of this holistic approach are now being recognised by the wider industry. Following the rollout of these features, the L&G app was named the Most Engaging App in the BehindLogin awards 2025.
How you can support pension-holders around Blue Monday and beyond
To bridge the gap between financial stress and long-term security, pension providers must evolve into proactive partners. Here is how you can empower your members during the January pinch and throughout the year:
- Deploy digital wellness tools: provide immediate value by integrating Smart Data tools. Access to real-time budgeting apps, savings calculators, and financial planning software allows members to navigate the Blue Monday stretch with data-driven confidence.
- Host educational sessions: host sessions on budgeting, debt management, and tax efficiency positions your firm as a source of clarity.
- Audit benefit awareness: use Blue Monday as a hook to ensure members are fully aware of their financial wellness benefits through targeted communications.
- Promote holistic wellbeing: highlight the full spectrum of workplace benefits as a healthy, active member is more likely to be an engaged, productive one.
By implementing these strategies, pension firms can transform a day of financial difficulty into a year of financial wellness.
Discover how Moneyhub can help you win more employer mandates and deliver an award-winning member experience. L&G has proven that when you empower members with a holistic view of their finances, engagement doesn’t just creep up, it triples. And more importantly, it leads to meaningful action, with members actively taking steps to improve their financial wellbeing.
Don’t let your members feel the pinch alone. Provide the tools they need to budget, save, and plan for a more secure future starting today.
Learn more about how to win schemes.
About Matt Kirwin
Digital Product Director – Workplace Savings, L&G
Matt Kirwin is the Digital Product Director for Workplace Savings at L&G, having joined the organisation in June 2023 as Head of Mobile App before stepping into his current role in January 2026. He brings more than 17 years of experience from Barclays, where he most recently served as Head Digital Product Owner for the Retail Mortgage business, leading product strategy across the Mobile App, Web, and Secure Web channels. His earlier career at Barclays included senior digital product roles in Wealth Management & Investments, leadership of Client Onboarding for Business Banking, and relationship management positions within Corporate Banking.
Matt holds a Master’s Degree in Digital & Technology Solutions with a specialism in IT Systems Strategy, further strengthening his expertise in digital transformation and enterprise technology.
In his current role at L&G, Matt is responsible for the full development and delivery of the Retail Mobile App and all digital customer journeys for DC & Workplace Pensions. His remit spans strategic ownership of digital channels, ensuring alignment with Workplace and Retail Customer Strategy, optimising and enhancing customer journeys through leadership of the Product Owner team, and guiding feature development in line with modern engineering and architectural best practice. His focus is on delivering scalable, high‑performing digital experiences that serve both customers and clients effectively.
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