financial stress Archives

How Employee Benefits Changed Over 20 Years

by Emily Pfund | Sep 30, 2016 | Blog

A lot of things have changed since 1996. Cell phones are smaller and smarter, the Internet is a whole lot faster and superfoods like kale are now in everything from cookies to chocolate.

Welcome to the new age. It turns out that in the same 20 years employers have also made some big changes in the benefits they offer their employees. In its 2016 Employee Benefits research report, the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) looked back at some of the changes in the industry since the organization started issuing these reports in 1996.

While it doesn’t mention a change in the number of office ping pong tables or La Croix-filled refrigerators, it does illustrate some big shifts in the benefits employers choose to focus on.

What’s in:

Telecommuting. In 1996, only 20 percent of companies offered employees the opportunity to work remotely. Thanks to the internet, that number has tripled to 60 percent, giving employees more flexibility.

Professional development opportunities and memberships. Three quarters of companies offered to cover additional training and education for their employees in 1996. Now 86 percent of employers offer this benefit, encouraging more workers to continue learning and adding to their skill sets. In addition, 88 percent of today’s employers cover the cost of membership to professional organizations and trade groups for their employees, up from 65 percent in 1996.

Health Wellness benefits. Over half (54 percent) of employers offered some form of health wellness program in 1996. Now, 72 percent of employers offer such programs. Popular plans include giving discounts on insurance premiums or adding cash to health savings accounts (HSA) plans if certain health goals are met, such as reducing cholesterol and giving up smoking. In addition, nearly a third (31 percent) offer weight loss programs, up slightly from 29 percent in 1996.

What’s out:

Employee stock purchase plans. Very few companies – just 9 percent – offer employees stock purchase plans in 2016, but more than a quarter (28 percent) did in 1996.

Credit union membership. Employers in 1996 loved credit unions (they often offer lower interest rates and fees than other banks) and 70 percent offered credit union membership as an employee benefit. Today, only 23 percent offer these memberships.

Health care premium flexible spending accounts. The health insurance industry has changed drastically since 1996, especially with the 2010 Affordable Care Act, and fewer employers are offering flex spending accounts to help employees cover their healthcare expenses. Only 39 percent of employers offer the benefit now, compared to 54 percent in 1996.

What’s next:

Most companies offer a handful of financial wellness programs, notably a 401(k) account. And, many employers will contribute to the employee’s account, usually in the form of a match or profit-sharing. But employers know that matching contributions doesn’t mean that employees will take advantage of what is essentially free money.

That’s why more than 90 percent of employers are looking to add to their financial wellness programs. Because while the programs are being offered, employees don’t have the cash leftover at the end of the month to participate.

At Best Money Moves, we believe employees are under tremendous financial pressures. So, we focus on helping employees take a deeper look at what’s causing their financial stress. And, then we dial it down by pushing relevant information, tools and calculators that can help solve the problems.

Here’s the good news for employers: If your workforce has less financial stress, they’ll be more productive and engaged, retention will rise and absenteeism will go down.

We can help. Email us at info@bestmoneymoves.com for a free trial and to learn how we can help your employees be happier, healthier and more productive.

Feeling Sick? Financial Stress Isn’t Just About Numbers

by Ilyce Glink | Sep 28, 2016 | Blog

Are you feeling sick? Do you find yourself just sniffling away, coughing and sneezing? Unable to shake what should be a two-day head cold? The problem might not be germs, but what’s in your wallet.

There are plenty of money-centric benefits to lowering your financial stress, from increased savings to cutting out monthly debt payments, but we don’t often talk about the health benefits that go along with them.

Imagine if your heart didn’t race when you opened up your bills each month or got sick to your stomach thinking about your next mortgage payment.

While it’s easy to write these worries off as purely mental or emotional problems, they can cause serious physical problems over time. The latest research ties your health to your level of financial stress: Lower your level of financial stress, feel better.

Here are some of the major physical benefits researchers have linked to lower financial stress levels and how you can help your workers (not to mention you and your family) achieve them.

Feeling the symptoms

According to the Mayo Clinic, stress manifests itself in all sorts of ways: anxiety, heart disease, depression, headaches and problems with memory and concentration are all common symptoms. These can come from any kind of stress, but with so many Americans reporting elevated levels of financial stress, there’s a good chance your employees have felt sick and experienced these health issues because of their finances.

According to the American Psychological Association’s annual ‘Stress in America’ survey, ‘Money’ and ‘Work’ are the top causes of significant stress for adults-67 and 65 percent-and they’re seeing the effects on their health. More adults reported their health as being ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ in the past year than ever, 23 percent of adults, and there were increases in physical symptoms of stress and poor health as well, including chronic illnesses, high blood pressure, poor sleep, overeating habits and mental health concerns.

According to the survey, nearly one-third of adults claim that their stress has a strong or very strong impact on their physical and mental health, so when your employees face these symptoms they could have problems focusing, feel depressed or even face heart disease in part due to their inability to properly manage their finances.

So, imagine what happens when they lower their level of financial stress – whether by creating a budget that works for them or paying off a longstanding credit card debt – these physical symptoms might start to go away.

If you’re wondering whether you should offer help, consider this: If the choice is between seeing your employees healthy-both physically and financially-or hurting in these ways, the decision is simple.

Changing the system

Too often, we experience the physical symptoms of stress and think the only solution is to breathe deeply and find time to calm down. While dealing with stress in the moment is a good thing (and research shows daily meditation helps, “even a few minutes” according to the Mayo Clinic), it doesn’t solve the real issue: the underlying financial worries causing the stress.

We think financial stress is solvable and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do it. Maintaining a positive attitude while solving financial problems is tougher, and we’re sure your employees are doing what they can to keep focused and productive.

But that’s pretty tough, especially if you’re wondering whether you’ll have enough money to pay both the rent and the babysitter at the end of the month. So, without taking action to ease or eliminate their financial problems, the stress will keep coming back and cause more health harm in the long run.

As an employer, financial anxiety distracts your team, decreases retention and increases unexplained absences and health costs. If reducing financial stress also positively impacts these metrics, it’s well worth the time to figure out this piece of the puzzle.

Best Money Moves – helps reduce poor health outcomes caused by financial stress

If your employees are less financially stressed, they’ll experience fewer stress-related physical issues. This means your employees are more likely to be focused, productive and healthy overall, which translates to a more positive work environment. It also means they’ll have lower healthcare costs.

As an employer, you can help by encouraging your employees to not only find ways to manage their stress throughout the day but to eliminate it entirely. Best Money Moves is designed to guide your employees in targeting the areas which cause them the most stress and work to solve them.

You can also help in other ways. Encourage your workers to take advantage of their vacation days or lead by example. Keep an eye on how your own stress manifests itself and show empathy when your employees display similar signs. The more tools they have-and the more support they feel-the better chance your workers will have at lowering their financial stress and enjoying better physical health.

3 Simple Budget Saves That Will Lower Your Financial Stress

by Ilyce Glink | Sep 21, 2016 | Blog

Financial stress is overwhelming – and more so when every little thing seems to pile on top of each other.

With so many financial issues for you to tackle, sometimes it seems like a miracle is the only possible way forward.

Not so. While financial stress can be overwhelming, small budget saves can help you re-float your boat, save and pay off debt. In short, small changes actually can make a huge difference over a relatively small period of time.

You’ve got to keep it simple. Much like paying off a smaller debt first to gain a sense of victory and motivation, your employees can revise their financial strategies in small ways to make things easier for themselves.

Here are three budget saves you can put into place today that will put you on the path to financial success. They won’t alter everyone’s money situation overnight, but give them some time, and keep working at it, and the benefits will show up.

1. Switch to a cash budget. When someone can’t get their spending under control, they end up compounding their problems by piling up credit card debt and high-interest charges. Switching to a cash budget removes these risks by giving them a limited amount to spend that they know they can afford. Here’s how it works: Decide how much you’re going to spend each week, then take out that cash from the bank or ATM and commit to not spending any more until the next week. It’ll take time to get used to having cash in your wallet (we’ve all become so used to the cashless society) and you’ll need to adjust to new spending habits and plan around what you can and cannot afford. Even if you blow your budget for the first few weeks, just stick with it. You’ll soon see positive changes. One study by the Urban Institute showed that those who were reminded throughout the month to choose cash over credit were able to lower their credit card debt. And, that’s key.

2. Make savings – and payments – automatic. Staying on top of multiple monthly payments, from utilities and rent to credit cards and student loans, can be difficult and barely leaves room for you to think about savings. Switching to automatic payments and savings, however, gives you a chance to avoid late charges and increase your savings without thinking about it. Often, employers will allow employees to set up recurring deposits from their paycheck to a savings account each payday to build up emergency or retirement savings without any additional steps. They can pick an amount that’s affordable and realistic, even $20 per month, and over time they may be surprised by how that amount grows. Using automatic payments for recurring monthly expenses can do the same, streamlining payment processes and giving your employees more time to focus on lowering their stress in other ways.

3. Cut out or reduce one expense each month. If you’re in serious money trouble, nothing dashes your hopes for a solid financial future faster than believing that you’re powerless to change it. One way you can take back control is to identify and reduce – or cut out entirely – one expense each month. This could be your cable or cell phone package, commuting costs, money spent dining out or even a morning coffee. Encourage your family (if you have one) to find ways to lower their monthly bills, whether it’s avoiding a splurge or calling the relevant company to ask about other options. Not only will you lower your overall expenses it will help you reduce your financial stress because you’re in much more control of your cash.

Your Best Money Moves: If your employees are struggling with their finances, gaining some knowledge and feeling support from their workplace can make a big difference in their stress levels, if only by letting them know they’re not alone. You can start by sharing small changes like these and encouraging and celebrating the efforts of your workers. Even when the solution is simple, the work behind it can be difficult and your employees will appreciate your support when it comes to their financial stress.

Why 50% of Americans Can’t Understand Their Credit Cards

by Ilyce Glink | Sep 14, 2016 | Blog

Remember life before credit cards?

Best Money Moves Founder/CEO Ilyce Glink remembers her grandfather carrying around a wad of fresh $20 bills, peeling them off one by one to pay for dinner.

Credit cards changed the way we pay for everything. Credit card companies made them easy to use – too easy. That’s why so many of us are carrying around so much credit card debt.

To responsibly use a credit card you have to understand its terms. Unfortunately, many credit cards don’t make their terms and conditions easy for customers to read.

According to a recent study by Creditcards.com, the average credit card agreement is written at an 11th grade reading level and would take 20 minutes to decipher. That might seem okay (after all, most people have graduated from the 11th grade), but 50 percent of Americans read at a 9th grade level or lower, making it difficult for most people to fully understand their rights as a cardholder.

This helps explain why employees repeatedly rank paying off debt as a top source of financial stress: if they can’t understand their credit cards, they can’t use them responsibly. This results in issues with debt, late payments and confusion about how they can pay off their debt quickly.

Missed information

If you don’t read your credit card agreement, you might wind up in trouble: You won’t know the terms and details unique to this card and your usage will be driven by your general credit card knowledge, rather than the habits that work best for this specific card and financial situation.

We learn by observation: If you grow up with parents who regularly carried balances on their cards, you might think this is a perfectly normal way to manage your financial life. It’s not until you read the fine print and see how fast the interest rate charges will rack up and how long it will take you to pay off that debt that you might change how you manage your credit card relationships. This isn’t just about missing out on reward points because of a misunderstanding about how they’re earned, it’s about consumers never learning their rights and responsibilities when it comes to credit card usage, and exposing themselves to unnecessary financial risks.

According to the study, only 26 percent of those surveyed said they regularly read their credit card agreements. If you or your employees or colleagues only read one quarter of the contracts used in your office, your company would pretty quickly find itself in a load of trouble.

Financial stress at work

The study also claims that the less familiar card users are with their credit card’s terms and rules, the more they’ll end up paying to use that card over time in interest charges and fees. The more debt employees carry, the more financial stress they’re going to feel. This stress doesn’t stay confined to their finances – it also spills over into their work and their day-to-day lives. If you want to help, you have to provide your employees with assistance they can use. You can’t change how credit card companies write their contracts, but you can help boost the knowledge your workers have.

Here’s your Best Money Move: The more you know about financial stress and your options when dealing with money, credit cards and debt, the better prepared you’ll be to deal with these issues when they arise.

What’s the Biggest Source of Financial Stress in Your State?

by Ilyce Glink | Sep 9, 2016 | Blog

Are you financially stressed? Do you know what’s causing it?

A recent study by GoBankingRates.com asked Americans to identify their biggest financial stressor and then broke down the results by state. Check out the map above to see which financial issues are keeping your neighbors awake at night.

The most common stressor cited was paying off debts (including credit cards), with 20.6 percent of respondents saying this was their biggest financial concern. It topped the list in 30 states and tied with other issues as the most common stressor in another three states.

The stress of paying off debts, as we’ve discussed in earlier blog posts, can negatively impact many different aspects of your life, from your personal relationships to your job performance.

What can you do to reduce this stress? Clearly, paying down (or off) your debt will help. There are two big steps you can take to start whittling away at your debts.

Build a budget: Track all of your income and spending for one or two months straight – every single dollar that comes in and (even more importantly) everything you spend. You can use a spreadsheet, pen and paper or our Best Money Moves Budget Tool, whichever is easiest for you. Look at your expenses and decide where you can cut some of your spending, whether it’s making your coffee at home instead of paying for it at Starbucks every day or finding something to watch on Netflix instead of going to the movie theater every weekend. The more you cut, the more progress you’ll see.
Pick your payoff strategy: If you have a lot of different debts, it probably feels like you’re just throwing your money at them with no real idea of how long it will take to pay them off. Choose a strategy for making your payments, continuing to pay the minimum on each but focusing any extra you have on one of the following methods:
1. High-interest first: Concentrate on paying off the debt with the highest interest first, then moving to the next highest; or
2. The snowball strategy: Tackle the smallest debt first, then “snowball” the money you were putting toward paying off that debt into the next-smallest debt after you pay off the first, continuing upwards until you’ve paid off all of your debts.

Want to learn more about how to tackle your debts and reduce financial stress? Email us at info@bestmoneymoves.com to be included in a free trial!