Retirement Concerns: Is Financial Literacy the Solution?

Retirement Concerns: Is Financial Literacy the Solution?

Retirement concerns: is financial literacy the solution? Those workers that do have a 401k aren’t saving enough to cover expenses in retirement, even when employers match contributions.

Retirement is a far-off goal most Americans don’t even think about while they’re paying down debts, struggling to pay for childcare and taking care of aging parents. It’s become so disconnected from reality that 20 percent of Americans are actually basing their retirement plans on winning the lottery, according to research by Stash.

Americans Are Not Saving Enough for Retirement

Not saving enough for retirement is the number one fear among middle-income earners, and with good reason. Four researchers at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University recently found three-fourths of American workers with defined contribution plans like 401(k)s aren’t saving enough to maintain their standard of living later in life.

Can Financial Literacy Solve Retirement Concerns?

Nearly half of U.S. adults failed to correctly answer basic financial literacy questions in a recent annual assessment.

The P-Fin Index by the TIAA Institute asks 28 questions across eight functional areas of finance including: earning, consuming, saving, investing, borrowing/managing debt, insuring, comprehending risk and go-to information sources. American adults scored highest in the area of borrowing/managing debt and lowest in comprehending risk.

This year, the P-Fin Index included several new questions indicative of financial wellness. According to the report by TIAA Institute, “Greater financial literacy is positively associated with the capacity to handle a financial shock, saving for retirement on a regular basis, being unconstrained by debt and other indicators of financial well-being.”

Financial Wellness Programs and Financial Literacy

Financial literacy is indicative of financial wellness and high school curriculums across the country are adding personal finance courses as a requirement for high school graduation to start addressing the widespread lack of financial literacy.

What about the half of U.S. adults who couldn’t answer basic financial literacy questions? How can they learn the skills they need when they don’t know where to begin?

Financial wellness programs help workers improve financial literacy, pay down debt and save for retirement. They are a valuable employee benefit and with the right financial wellness program, like Best Money Moves, employees are given the tools and resources to help them attain financial literacy while they better their financial wellness.  

More on Retirement:

How to Help Employees Save More for Retirement

Financial Support Limits Retirement Readiness for Parents

Revealing Research on Financial Stress and Productivity

What Does Financial Wellness Look Like for Women?

What Tops Financial Stress for Employees?

How to Help Your Employees During Financial Wellness Month

How to Help Your Employees During Financial Wellness Month

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

The holidays are over, and everyone is now heading back to work. January is typically the time for New Year’s resolutions, which means many people are looking for ways to eat healthier and exercise more.

But it’s also National Financial Wellness Month, a time to focus on the health of your finances and reevaluate your spending and saving strategies.

One of the most common financial wellness benefits offered by employers is a 401(k) plan, which encourages employees to plan for their financial stability in retirement. These nine 401(k) financial wellness best practices can help your employees better understand their retirement plans, reduce their stress and worries surrounding retirement and help them plan more effectively for the future.

When it comes to communication about employee benefits, Millennials overwhelmingly prefer in-person conversations, but the majority of benefit program managers favor email as their way to communicate with employees. Learn more about the best way to communicate with your employees about benefits.

A French court last week ruled that employees have the legal right to ignore work emails outside of their normal working hours. Union organizers say the ruling will help improve employee health and reduce stress and burnout. Learn more about how the ruling will impact employees and employers.

What’s your employees’ biggest cause of financial stress? GoBankingRates did a survey to identify the biggest sources of financial stress by state. Here’s what they found.

The new year comes with a new set of challenges for employers. In particular, many employers will struggle to retain top talent in a fiercely competitive job market this year. Here are four strategies to keep your employees from leaving.

The newly sworn-in U.S. Congress wasted no time in starting the march to repeal the Affordable Care Act this week. On the first day of the new congressional session, Republicans introduced a resolution that could allow them to repeal any parts of the law with tax or budget implications. Learn more about what comes next and how it might affect your health insurance coverage.

About 70 percent of employees spend more than 40 hours per week in the workplace, and almost half say they do it to finish work they didn’t have time to do during their normal workday. That’s a recipe for burnout and turnover. Focus on these five things to reduce burnout and help your employees be more productive.

Offering employee training programs not only improves productivity, but also encourages loyalty and job satisfaction. Unsure which training programs will work best for your employees? Start out with one of these three types.

Nonprofit organizations often have high turnover rates as a result of stressful work and low pay. Some nonprofits, however, are finding ways to reverse that trend and convince their employees to stick around. These are their five secret weapons in the battle to retain employees.

When employees feel that their managers trust them, they’re more empowered to take charge of their work and be more innovative. This means building an environment of trust in the workplace is good for business. Take these 10 steps to create a culture of trust in your workplace.

Did you find this Best Money Moves roundup useful? Please let us know. Email us at info@bestmoneymoves.com.

It’s hard to stay on top of everything in the news. That’s why each week our Best Money Moves newsroom will bring you the most important news in financial wellness, employee benefits and financial stress. We hope you like the information and, if you do, please spread the word. For midweek developments, follow us on Twitter and on Facebook.