financial stress Archives

Millennials Turn To Employers For Financial Wellness

by Ilyce Glink | Nov 16, 2017 | Blog

Who cares most about money? Millennials do. And in a twist, they’re turning to their employers for financial wellness information and tools they can trust.

According to new findings from Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s 2017 Workplace Benefits Report Millennial Supplement, Millennials spend more time at work worrying about their personal financial wellness than their older counterparts, and they are actively looking to their employers for tools, education, support and guidance.

Around 40 percent of employees say they would like their employer to provide additional help with financial matters, but an even higher proportion of Millennials are asking for help.

According to the 2017 Workplace Benefits Report, a significant number of Millennials say they feel unprepared to manage their finances and need help with topics across the financial wellness spectrum, including saving for retirement (43 percent), general savings help (40 percent), paying down or managing debt (34 percent), saving for major expenses (36 percent) and budgeting (31 percent).

The report also found that:

More than 40 percent of Millennials say that they left high school and college unprepared for the real world
43 percent want more help with investing
40 percent wanting more information on how to do their taxes
21 percent of Millennials say they want more help with saving for a home
18 percent want help with their student loans

Nearly half of Millennials want their employer to provide access to a variety of financial wellness tools, including a financial professional who can help create a personalized financial strategy. Forty-six percent of Millennials want their employer to bring in financial experts to provide additional training and education about financial matters. And, 45 percent want their employer to provide education and tailored training that is tailored to specific age groups or that is customized to financial issues they’re currently facing.

Financial stress is a huge issue for employers and employees. Mercer recently released a study that concluded that $250 billion is lost to financial stress each year, with employees spending an average of 12 work hours each month focused on their financial issues. PwC’s 2017 Employee Financial Wellness Survey found that 53 percent of employees are stressed about their finances.

Millennials, who are burdened with the weight of student loans, are more financially stressed than any other generation, so it’s not surprising they spend more work hours than average focused on their personal financial issues.

One of the surprising findings of the Bank of America Merrill Lynch report is that the lack of confidence in financial matters affects Millennials’ workplace behavior. On average, employees spend 3 work hours each week (12 hours per month) dealing with financial stressors. However, more than 60 percent of Millennials are spending an average of four work hours each week on personal financial matters, the study found.

Changing the Financial Wellness Paradigm at Work

Thirty years ago, employees would have never dreamed of asking their employer for help in reducing financial stress and solving big financial problems. And, employers wouldn’t have thought to offer.

Today, more employers have made the connection between financial stress and lower levels of productivity and retention, higher absenteeism and health care costs, and their related outcomes. They’re listening to their employees who are asking for a best-in-class solution that identifies the underlying causes of financial stress and proffers personalized solutions to dial it down.

But providing reading material doesn’t help employees reduce financial stress. Measuring financial stress and then creating personalized action plans based on deeply specific, personal insights is what Best Money Moves does best.

Best Money Moves is an award-winning, cloud-based, mobile-first platform+coaching program that provides unique insights about money and financial stress to employees and employers, and uses machine learning to drive personalized information and solutions.

Find out how we can help you reduce financial stress for your employees, customers, faculty and students. Visit BestMoneyMoves.com for details or email info@bestmoneymoves.com.

Ilyce Glink is the Founder/CEO of Best Money Moves, an award-winning financial journalist, radio talk show host and the author of 14 books on personal finance and real estate topics.

Financial Stress and the Workforce: Your Employees Are Worrying About Money Troubles

by Ilyce Glink | Sep 28, 2017 | Blog

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.

Your employees are worrying about money. And, they’re spending a lot of their working hours each month distracted by financial stress.

It’s widely accepted that financial stress has permeated the workforce. Human Resources professionals discuss the effects of financial stress, including everything from lower levels of productivity and retention to higher costs of healthcare, higher levels of workplace accidents, and more unexplained absences.

Mercer, a global consulting company, recently published a new study, Inside Employees’ Minds: Financial Wellness. After surveying more than 3,000 employees, Mercer concluded that employees spent an average 13 working hours each month thinking about their financial troubles, while 16 percent spent more than 20 working hours a month worrying about their personal financial stress.

That means they’re not thinking about the company or focusing on their job. The study concludes that these lost 13 hours per month is “enough of an incentive for employers to help employees address financial concerns.”

The company has created a Mercer Financial Wellness Index to measure and assess an employee’s overall financial wellness. Those with lower levels were preoccupied with paying their monthly bills and those with higher levels were preoccupied with retirement, the study found.

The study also found that some of those employees who are the most stressed earn a significant amount of money. “As measured by the Mercer Financial Wellness Index, 14 percent of those in the two lowest financial wellness groups have household incomes of more than US $100,000.”

The study concluded that traditional means of financial education, often referred to as financial literacy, isn’t enough on its own. Using a program that focuses solely on education won’t help employees reduce financial stress. Successful programs must have the ability to personalize to an employee’s needs and individual financial stressors.

Mercer concluded that finding programs that create “financial courage” will help employees engage in issues at a deeper and more meaningful level, and they have created the Mercer Financial Courage Index to try to help employers engage in financial wellness.

Read Inside Employees’ Minds: Financial Wellness.

Ilyce Glink is the Founder/CEO of Best Money Moves.

LendEDU Finds Student Debt is Down, But Financial Stress is High

by Lauren Kocher | Aug 16, 2017 | Blog

For new graduates entering the workforce, student debt is still a major cause of financial stress.

The average student debt per borrower for the Class of 2016 is $27,975, according to LendEDU’s second annual Student Loan Debt by School by State report. That number is actually down 1.5 percent from 2015, but it isn’t quite enough to lift the stress from graduates starting their careers with significant student debt.

The five states with the highest average student debt per borrower are probably not what you expect. Most of them are on the East Coast, and for all of them, the proportion of graduates who carry student loan debt is 60 percent or higher — some even reaching as high as 75 percent. Take a look:

Pennsylvania
($35,185 average debt per borrower, 69 percent of grads have student debt)
New Hampshire
($35,143 average debt per borrower, 75 percent of grads have debt)
Delaware
($33,650 average debt per borrower, 63 percent of grads have debt)
Connecticut
($32,326 average debt per borrower, 60 percent of grads have debt)
South Dakota
($31,518 average debt per borrower, 75 percent of grads have debt)

It would be easy for employers to read the headline “student debt is down” and think of it as good news — and it is. But looking more closely at the numbers, it’s clear that student debt is a serious problem that’s not going away anytime soon. Shouldering the burden of student debt impacts your employees’ stress levels — and overall well-being — every single day.

Understanding your employees’ financial needs is the first step to helping them overcome these hurdles and stay more focused, productive and happy at work.

Financial stress is the top cause of lost productivity. Shifting the perspective of your employee benefits program to address it isn’t just good for employees, it’s good for business.

It’s almost time to make big decisions about your 2018 benefits offerings. While the possibility of health care reform generates a lot of uncertainty among today’s workforce, there are ways you can prepare them for the long term.

College costs are increasing far faster than income growth. It’s no wonder that students struggle to pay off hefty student loan bills for years afterward. Luckily, parents can help.

Voluntary benefits are growing in popularity, but many employees don’t really know or understand the options available. Five ways to educate your team.

Is your company “aging-friendly?” Almost 70 percent of employers believe their employees won’t be able to afford to retire at 65. It’s time to adapt to your older employees’ needs.

Language training improves employee engagement and retention. Research shows that 70 percent of employees with language training feel more confident in their work and interactions with their teams. Is it right for your employees?

Nearly 30 percent of the U.S. population is responsible for the care of a family member. A survey by Northeast Business Group on Health and AARP ranked caregiving as one of the top 10 employee health and wellness benefits priorities for employers. Here’s how you can assist those who assist.

Are your employees leaving money on the table? Among employees who participate in 401(k) programs, roughly one in five don’t take advantage of their full employer match. That missing money adds up.

Not all states are created equal when it comes to health care. A new report from WalletHub, 2017’s Best and Worst States for Health Care, compares states across three areas: cost, accessibility and outcome. Where does your state rank?

Have something to add? Email info@bestmoneymoves.com.

Retirement Literacy Quiz: Are You Really Prepared?

by Emily Pfund | Jul 12, 2017 | Blog

Retirement literacy is lower in this country than most people think.

Each day, about 10,000 people hit the magical retirement age of 65. But most people have no idea how much money to set aside for the future.

In a recent retirement literacy survey conducted by the American College of Financial Services, only 5 percent of respondents got a grade higher than a “C.”

A lack of savings is one of the biggest sources of financial stress, and there are few things more stressful than worrying about running out of money too early in your golden years. To know how much money you’ll need for a financially stable retirement, it’s good to understand some basic (and often uncomfortable) facts – like how long you can expect to live.

Think you know how to build a nest egg that will last? Test your retirement literacy with this six-question quiz.

Baby boomers aren’t saving enough for retirement. While they expect to need about $658,000 in their retirement accounts, they’re only averaging $263,000 — less than half of what they’ll need.

Job insecurity makes employees more likely to get sick. A new study from Ball State University found people who reported job insecurity were more susceptible to a number of physical and mental health problems. Help your employees feel more secure during times of workplace transition.

How much should 20-somethings be saving for retirement? It can be hard to focus on a retirement that’s decades away. Here’s what millennial employees want to know about retirement planning.

How can you build a better employee training program? Focus on the areas where your employees struggle most. Learn how to identify where your team could improve.

Which benefits bring in top talent? A top-notch benefits package can help a company attract and retain workers. Check out 11 benefits for which employees will leave.

Retirement plans are leaking money, jeopardizing your employees’ retirement security. The culprit? Loans and early withdrawals. Help your employees save more.

Uber’s workplace struggles offer a great example of what not to do. How can you build a culture of diversity and inclusivity in your workplace? Take a hard look at your office culture.

Employees don’t quit out of the blue. There are usually signals visible long before they put in their two weeks’ notice. Seven signs your employees are leaving.

Building a new well-being program for your employees? Make sure you’re getting the most impact from your investment. Three traits of successful well-being programs.

Have something to add? Email info@bestmoneymoves.com.

Why Millennials’ Financial Health is Stressing Them Out

by Emily Pfund | Apr 26, 2017 | Blog

Millennials are less satisfied with their overall financial health and face more financial stress than other generations, a new study found.

Only 20 percent of Millennials are satisfied with their financial health, according to financial services technology company Fiserv’s Expectations and Experiences Survey.

That’s significantly lower than the overall population, in which 36 percent of people are satisfied with their financial health.

Some of Millennials’ financial stress comes from the economic environment that was in place when they first entered the workforce, while other aspects stem from financial concerns previous generations didn’t face, said Matt Wilcox, senior vice president of marketing and strategy innovation at Fiserv.

“I think when you think about this financial crisis in ‘07, ‘08 [and] ‘09, that was during a time where a lot of the Millennials were in school or getting out of school,” Wilcox said. “I think that created an unease in the marketplace for them.”

This makes Millennial consumers less likely to make big purchases and go into debt, although they’re already carrying significant debt, Wilcox noted.

“Student loans are a big component [of their financial lives],” he said. “I think they’re starting in a bit of a hole, whereas other generations didn’t have that concern. It’s not necessarily that they don’t know how to manage their finances, as it is they’re starting from a negative perspective.”

Still, the overall population isn’t doing so great when it comes to financial health. If 36 percent are satisfied with the state of their finances, that means 64 percent – almost two-thirds – aren’t.

Fiserv also found that 39 percent of people surveyed would have trouble coming up with the cash to pay back a $500 loan today. If they got an unexpected $1,000 windfall, almost half (47 percent) would use it to repay a debt.

So what can be done to reduce these feelings of financial stress and insecurity?

“In my opinion it’s about more education,” Wilcox said. “The mindset is, if they get a check for $500 then they have $500 to spend and they don’t understand that that has to last for, say, two weeks.”

“They just haven’t had that core [financial literacy] foundation,” he added. “I think you’re gonna see more and more financial literacy programs and required courses take shape at the junior high, high school and college level. We’re all better off if we have a better understanding of how to manage our finances.”