It may sound creepy, but smart data can help people saving for retirement modify their behavior and savings rate by knowing so much about them it can customize how to manage their retirement plans and asset allocations.

Smart data is, roughly, information collected and formatted for immediate analysis near its source, enabling it to be quickly acted upon. Later it may be sent "downstream" to be consolidated for deeper analysis.

Investment News reports that, in place of averages used to guide participants, smart data can leverage data from a recordkeeping system about plan participants, and then go deeper—mining available data about the individual and his or her family: outside assets, credit card and other debt such as student loans, plus spending habits, health care data and social media profiles.