We present CoFaçade, a novel approach to helping elders reach their goals with IT products by working collaboratively with helpers. In this approach, the elder uses an interface with a small number of triggers, where each trigger is a single button (or card) that can execute a procedure. The helper uses a customization interface to link triggers to procedures that accomplish frequently-recurring high-level goals with IT products. Customization can be done either locally or remotely. We conducted an experiment to compare the CoFaçade approach with a baseline approach where helpers taught elders to perform IT tasks. Our results showed that CoFaçade can reduce helpers' time and effort, reduce elders' frustration, and improve elders' success rate in completing IT tasks.

Increasing number of older adults manage their retirement savings online. A crucial element of better management is to take rational financial risk -- to strike a reasonable balance between expected gain and loss under uncertainty. With the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies, social trading networks can help individuals make better financial decisions by providing information about others' actions. It is, however, unclear whether these resources is beneficial to older adult's own financial decisions, especially because older adults are vulnerable to poor risk management. To address this question, we devise an experiment that improves upon an existing experimental economic task. We find that both peer information (detailed choices by a few individuals) and majority information (aggregated choices of the crowd) help older adults make more risk-neutral decisions. Furthermore, the combination of peer and majority information corrects more mistakes of more risk-averse older adults.