Recommendations

Our app’s proposed primary navigation and layout is Option 2: Home · Portfolio · Transact · Discover · Profile. It is the preferred IA for scalability, advisor-controlled visibility, and investor actions. Option 1 (LOB-named tabs) remains documented below as a research-derived alternative for reference.

Option 2 (preferred): Home · Portfolio · Transact · Discover · Profile

This IA is more scalable and fits advisor-controlled visibility and investor actions. The same five tabs are shown to all users; content within each tab is filtered by advisor permissions and user holdings (no conditional tab bar). Portfolio consolidates all account types in one place; Transact is the single action center for move-money; Discover combines goals, research, and news.

Option 2 (preferred) – Bottom navigation (5 tabs, fixed)
            ┌──────────┬────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬─────────┐
            │  Home    │ Portfolio  │ Transact │ Discover │ Profile │
            └──────────┴────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴─────────┘

Option 2 – Tab contents

Tab	Contents
Home	Net worth ($ value + graph). Investing card (total $). Insurance card (if applicable). Banking card (if applicable). Market news card. Recent activity card. Financial advisor card with contact info. Cards respect advisor permissions; empty states + CTA when no accounts in that LOB.
Portfolio	Accounts tab: Investment accounts list (tap → detail); Insurance accounts list (if applicable); Banking accounts list (if applicable). Positions tab. Balances tab (Current, Historical). Activity tab. Lists show only enabled LOBs; empty states when no accounts.
Transact	Between internal accounts (→ form). Contribute to retirement account (→ form). Withdraw funds (→ form). Bill pay (→ form). Single action center for move-money; scales by adding more entry points.
Discover (or Plan)	Goals tab. Research tab. News tab. Combines planning (goals) and learning (research, news).
Profile (or More)	Documents. Settings. Beneficiaries. My Team (financial advisor and contact information). Links to legal disclosures.

Why Option 2 scales well

Fixed tabs: Same 5 tabs for everyone; no tab bar changes when permissions change. Simpler deep links and implementation.
Permission filtering: Home cards and Portfolio > Accounts show only LOBs the advisor has enabled. Empty states with a clear CTA when the user has no accounts in an enabled LOB.
New LOBs: Add a new account type by adding a list under Portfolio > Accounts and an optional card on Home; no new tab required.
New actions: Add move-money actions under Transact (e.g. external transfer, wire) without changing the nav structure.

Option 1 (reference): Home · Banking · Invest · Plan · More

Based on the competitive research, this bottom navigation uses 5 tabs with LOB-named labels: Home (hub: net worth, account list, quick actions), Banking (pay & transfer, deposits, bills), Invest (portfolio, trade, research), Plan (goals, financial planning, protection/insurance), and More (profile, settings, documents, help). Insurance lives under Plan (e.g. Protection) or More. Advisors can disable visibility to Banking and/or Plan, so the tab bar may show 3–5 tabs depending on permissions.

Option 1 – Bottom navigation (5 tabs, permission-driven)
            ┌──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
            │  Home    │ Banking  │  Invest  │  Plan    │   More   │
            │  (hub)   │ Pay &    │ Portfolio│  Goals   │ Profile  │
            │          │ Transfer │ Trade    │ Planning │ Settings │
            └──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘

Option 1 – Home / dashboard

Above the fold: Net worth or total picture; optional balance chart.
Account list: Banking + investing + retirement in one list or cards.
Goals: Snapshot with link to Plan tab.
Alerts / quick actions: Notifications, pay bill, transfer.

Option 1 – Hierarchy principles

Minimize hierarchy: Critical tasks in ≤2 taps from Home or relevant tab (Financial Confidence Playbook).
Contextualize: Home and tab content adapt to what the user has.
Alternate paths: Key actions from Home and from dedicated tab (e.g. View portfolio from Home card and Invest tab).

Option 1 – Navigation specs (handoff)

Spec	Value
Tab IDs / deep links	home, banking, invest, plan, more
Max depth	3 levels from tab root for primary flows
Critical task depth	View portfolio, pay/transfer, set/view goal: ≤2 taps from app open or Home