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A Feature on Best Money Moves’ Co-Founder and President, Angus Carroll

A Feature on Best Money Moves’ Co-Founder and President, Angus Carroll

by | Feb 14, 2018 | Blog

Get to know the team behind Best Money Moves!

This week, I’ve had the pleasure of highlighting Best Money Moves’ co-founder and President, Angus Carroll. Before founding Best Money Moves with Ilyce Glink, Carroll held executive positions in technology, marketing and business development at Fortune 500 companies (Dun & Bradstreet, Ceridian) and small technology companies (Medicus, MindLeaders). He was VP of Editorial and Production at Cengage Learning, one of the largest educational publishers in the U.S.

When not overseeing development for Best Money Moves, Carroll lives outside of Detroit with his wife Susan, their son Ian, their two cats Stormy and Marshmallow and an attic full of dinosaur fossils and rare books.

Angus, explain Best Money Moves in one sentence.

Best Money Moves helps people reclaim control of their finances by creating a budget, paying down their debt and saving for their future.

How did you get involved with Best Money Moves?

Well, BMM didn’t come out of the blue. It’s the brainchild of Ilyce Glink, a personal finance expert and consumer advocate with more than 20 years of experience helping people take control of their financial future, as seen in her best-selling book, 100 Questions every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask (now celebrating it’s 4th edition). She knows how to talk to people about their money.

I met Ilyce while we were working on a project for Medicare. We liked working together and made a great team. We knew there was more we could accomplish when it came to financial wellness,  so we built a career successfully managing financial wellness projects for large companies. But, everyone we worked for was trying to use financial wellness to sell something as opposed to just helping people. There was no platform on the market that provided financial advice without a sales pitch – so we built one ourselves.

Why is Best Money Moves the best personal financial wellness platform?

Ilyce’s background as a finance expert along with my experience building online services has helped us create a best-in-class product. We believe that financial wellness is something that every employer should provide to their employee, and now they can – at an affordable price. Our content is unbiased and focused entirely on helping people make better decisions. No ads, no “special offers” – it’s all about quality content and guidance.  

Are there any new features or milestones on the horizon for Best Money Moves?

Yes there are! Mid-year we’ll make it possible to choose to link your Best Money Moves account to your personal bank account and credit cards. That way, you can view  a complete picture of your spending. In March, we’ll be releasing another optional feature allowing users to access their credit score – completely free – and import it to their Best Money Moves account. We are very excited about these new features and how they’ll help complete the journey towards financial wellness.

What’s most exciting about the growth of Best Money Moves to date?

The best part is seeing how engaged our users have been with the product. One of our customers has nearly 50 percent of their employees actively engaging with Best Money Moves. That’s extraordinary. This means people are getting real value from our product.

Where do you think your growth will be next year?

We’ve just hired two account executives and they’re off to an incredible start – they’ve had immediate success. I think they are going to be the key to our growth in 2018, selling into medium to large businesses.

If you weren’t building Best Money Moves, what would you be doing?

I would be digging dinosaurs!  A friend of mine owns a museum and I join his team in the field whenever possible. I usually go at least once a year, for a week or so to dig with them in the badlands of  Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota. A week is about all I can stand – the food is horrible in the field!

Why is now the best time for Best Money Moves?

Companies are realizing how significant of an effect that  employee financial stress has on their bottom line. Financially stressed employees have higher rates of lost productivity and absenteeism and even higher healthcare costs than employees who are without financial stress. It just makes sense to provide tools to help employees lower their financial stress – and that’s exactly what Best Money Moves does.

Employee Student Loan Debt: 10 Things You Need To Know, Part Two

Employee Student Loan Debt: 10 Things You Need To Know, Part Two

by | Jan 30, 2018 | Blog

Employee student loan debt: 10 things you need to know, part two. The student loan debt crisis isn’t going away. This is what employers need to know about it.

This article is the second part of a series on 10 Things Employers Need to Know About Student Loan Debt. Catch up with Part One, here.

Americans owe a combined $1.4 trillion in student loan debt — and employers are starting to feel the burden of that enormous debt. The vast majority of employees are financially stressed, and they are less focused, less engaged and less productive than those without debt and are more likely to take one a second job or skip work due to a stress-related illness.

The student loan debt crisis isn’t going away, but there are ways you help your employees cope with their financial stress and get back to work. Here are 10 important things you need to know about student loan debt and the struggle your employees are facing in paying it back:

6. Student loan debt is not a millennials-only problem.

Younger employees aren’t the only ones dealing with the stress of student loan debt. In fact, 2.8 million Americans aged 60 and older carry outstanding student loans from their own college education. This number is up significantly from 2005, where only 700,000 Americans in this age group carried outstanding loans. Your older employees may be struggling to repay debt from continuing education or are possibly paying off debt from sending a child or grandchild to school.

7. Stress over student loan debt is keeping your employees from major life milestones.

Millennials graduating with student loans are more interested in paying off their loan debt than they are in homeownership, getting married or having children. A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has found that having student loan debt decreases homeownership at every level of higher education. Indebted millennials also less likely to set aside money for retirement or build an emergency fund, creating further vulnerability, possible additional financial debt and significant stress into the future.

8. Stress over student loan debt is making your employees sick.

Over half of young workers with student loan debt worry about it constantly, according to American Student Assistance, a nonprofit specializing in helping consumers finance their higher education. Stressing about massive debt isn’t just an emotional strain, it can also cause significant physical ailments from occasional headaches or gastrointestinal problems, to more chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or depression and anxiety.

9. Most employees wish they had more information about repaying student loan debt, they just don’t know where to look.

Repayment options for student loan debt are often complicated and difficult for consumers to navigate on their own. With private loans, interest rates and monthly payments can change with little to no warning. Certain options, like consolidation or forgiveness, often requires knowledge of how to make negotiations with whoever holds the loan. Don’t let your employees feel overwhelmed by their debt – employers hold a unique ability to help their employees manage their student loan debt and help build their financial literacy.

10. Most employees want their employers to provide them with resources on student loan debt.

Employees already rely on their Human Resources departments for information on workplace safety, benefits and managing retirement plans. Increasingly, they are looking to their employer and HR team to provide debt counseling, financial tools and management options and overall financial wellness. By offering debt counseling and financial literacy services, you show your employees that you understand the financial challenges they face paying back student debt and are invested in their wellbeing. Your employees will not only feel happier to work for an employer who cares about their wellness; as their financial wellbeing grows and their student loan debt decreases, your employees will be healthier, more present, more productive, and ready stick with your company for the long term.

Financial literacy and financial planning are key to reducing financial stress, student loan debt and creating financial wellness. The first step, however, is knowing how to get there. For your employees, student loan debt affects their ability to plan for the future and build productive and meaningful relationships. For employers, it means being able to attract and hold on to talented employees. Consider who in your workforce might be affected by significant student loan debt. The cost of a higher education shouldn’t cost your company a good work force and it shouldn’t hold your employees back from planning their future.

To get the complete picture about student loan debt and your employees, be sure to read Part One of this article here.

More on Student Loan Debt and Financial Stress

Employee Student Loan Debt: 10 Things You Need To Know, Part One

Employee Student Loan Debt: 10 Things You Need To Know, Part Two

Student Debt Financial Stress Haunts Millennials and Older Workers, Too

What Tops Financial Stress for Employees?

The Student Debt Crisis is Growing and Affecting Your Workforce. What Can You Do?

Employee Student Loan Debt: 10 Things You Need To Know, Part One

Employee Student Loan Debt: 10 Things You Need To Know, Part One

by | Jan 29, 2018 | Blog

Employee student loan debt: 10 things you need to know, part one. What employers need to know about how student loan debt affects their employees.

The U.S. has a student loan debt crisis. And employers are paying the price.

Over 44 million Americans are carrying a total of $1.48 trillion in student loans. Forty percent of adults under 30 and 16 percent of adults overall live with outstanding student loan debt, according to the federal reserve’s 2017 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking.

Chances are, your employees are among those affected. Employees facing significant student loan debt are more likely to defer saving for retirement, buying a home, getting married and having children. They’re also more likely to seek out a second full-time or part-time job to cover their expenses. As a result, their concentration, productivity and overall physical health suffers from the accumulated financial stress.

The financial cost of higher education is only increasing with time, matriculating well-educated, inexperienced and deeply indebted graduates into the workforce. In this two-part series, we offer you 10 things you should know about how student loan debt affects your employees:

1. Student loan debt is the second-biggest type of personal debt in the United States.

Student loans are one of the largest contributors to overall household debt among Americans, second only to mortgage debt. While the overwhelming majority of those loans are federally held, there has been an increase in borrowing from private lenders. Private student loans are ineligible for loan forgiveness programs or income-based repayment programs, complicating repayment plans and decisions on where (and how) to seek debt relief.

2. The amount of student loan debt Americans owe is getting worse with time.

In February of 2017, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that student loan debt had grown for the 18th consecutive year and that the amount borrowed doubled in the last eight years, reaching a total more than $1.48 trillion owed. Not only are more students are taking loans for higher amounts but they are paying them back at a slower pace than in the past.

3. Student loan debt is affecting your workforce.

Sixty-eight percent of all new college graduates have student debt. Even if your employees don’t have significant amounts of student debt themselves (which is a relative assessment), they’re likely to have friends or relatives who do. Student loan repayment plans average at $351 per month and that number isn’t going down any time soon. It’s important to note that the average annual US salary for 24 to 35 year olds is $39,000. Student loan repayments are killing your employees’ financial wellness and are averaging nearly 10 percent of their income, replacing retirement contributions, mortgage payments and possibly even monthly health insurance costs.

4. The average debt per student has risen to nearly $30,000.

One fifth of graduated student loan recipients aged 25-39 take on extra employment in order to make payments on their student loan debt. Employees working a second job can mean lower productivity while at work and a difficulty in maintaining a reliable work schedule. Overworked employees are also more likely to experience fatigue and burnout from the added stress of juggling multiple jobs – as well as the stress from their student loan debt.

5. The average interest rate per student loan is approximately 5 percent, meaning your employees actually end up paying back significantly more than what they borrowed.

The interest rate paid by a loan recipient is dependent upon which type of loan and repayment plan that they have been given. For federal loans, the current amount for direct subsidized and unsubsidized (the type provided to undergraduates) loans is 4.45 percent. At the graduate level, the interest rate is 6 percent. For people 60 and over who take out loans to help younger relatives, the rate is 7 percent. Private student loans carry interest rates averaging 9 to 12 percent. Depending on the repayment or consolidation plans, these high interest rates can quickly inflate the initial amount of the loan and add tens of thousands of dollars to what an individual is trying to repay. And, interest and late fees are paid before any monthly payments are applied to the original loan amount.

And there’s even more you need to know. To learn more about student loan debt and your employees, be sure to read Part Two of this article here.

More on Student Loans and Financial Stress

Employee Student Loan Debt: 10 Things You Need To Know, Part One

Employee Student Loan Debt: 10 Things You Need To Know, Part Two

Student Debt Financial Stress Haunts Millennials and Older Workers, Too

What Tops Financial Stress for Employees?

The Student Debt Crisis is Growing and Affecting Your Workforce. What Can You Do?

Looking to Improve Employee Retention? Try This One Thing

Looking to Improve Employee Retention? Try This One Thing

by | Jan 17, 2018 | 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.

Are you looking to improve employee retention and overall employee and workforce wellbeing? Try identifying subtle gender inequities in your workforce.

Nearly 50 percent of women in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) industries have experienced gender discrimination at work, according to a nationally representative Pew Research Center survey with an oversample of people working in STEM jobs. These findings come amid heightened public debate about underrepresentation and treatment of women – as well as racial and ethnic minorities – in the fast-growing technology industry and decades of concern about how best to promote diversity and inclusion in the STEM workforce.

In the workplace, perceived inequities (being denied promotions, earning less than their male counterparts, being treated as though they are incompetent, receiving less support from senior leaders), are especially common among women in STEM fields who work mostly with men. Women in this field are much more likely to have experienced discrimination at work, which reduces overall employee and workforce wellbeing.

The study found that discrimination and sexual harassment are seen as more frequent, and gender is perceived as more of an impediment than an advantage to career success in STEM industries. Not to mention what it does for your employee retention rates.

Workplace equity in STEM fields – what is your HR team doing about it?

Financial literacy in schools helps get students on the road to financial wellness. Millennials in large numbers complain that they have financial stress and are woefully unprepared for the financial realities of life. Education secretary Betsy DeVos formally declared that financial literacy is #4 out of her department’s top 11 priorities. If financial literacy standards are adopted, it should help your future employee feel less financial stress. (Watch for Best Money Moves’ latest white paper on overall college students’ financial stress, to be released later this quarter.) Financial wellness  is high priority.

Financial resolutions can be made all year long! Money is always top of the mind when New Years comes along, but you don’t have to wait another 12 months to begin that process towards your financial goals. Studies show that people with a financial plan are three times more likely to be confident in their retirement goals than those who don’t.   New Year’s Financial Resolutions.

Is financial stress making your employees sick? Over 500 employers were asked to select the top medical conditions that keep company healthcare costs high. Seven of the top ten health problems listed are exacerbated by financial stress. We’ve collected the top health issues caused by financial stress and different ways you can help.  Help your employees reduce financial stress.

Is your small business ready for 2018? Tax reform, ACA, paid leave, I-9 scrutiny… there are so many regulatory changes this year it’s hard to keep track. But, it’s important that you and your small business are up to date and knowledgeable on all updates, changes and possible issues that are waiting in the wings. Navigate the small business regulatory landscape with confidence.

Will medical marijuana be covered in your benefits plan? As openness to alternative medication grows, so does the possibility of it being prescribed to your employees. Company safety concerns and compliance issues need to be addressed – and internal regulations created – before laws change, in order for you to be prepared. Medical marijuana – are you ready for it?

Does your company offer healthcare coverage? After removing the requirement for individuals to have health insurance, Republicans in Congress are taking aim at the Affordable Care Act’s  mandate that employers offer coverage to their employees. Here’s what you need to know.

Did you know? Filling your tax returns ASAP can help prevent identity theft. A common form of identity theft involves criminals filing phony returns using your social security number. But, the IRS can only accept one tax return for each individual.  File your taxes before the criminals do it first.

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

A New Policy is Here to Provide Relief for Employees with Medical Debt

A New Policy is Here to Provide Relief for Employees with Medical Debt

by | Jan 2, 2018 | Blog

According to the CFPB, 43 million Americans live with unpaid medical debt on their credit reports, and as of June 2017, more than $127 billion in medical debt was reported to be in collections. Due to the incredibly complicated ways medical expenses are being billed, collected and reported, debtors inevitably incur damage to their credit report.

Fortunately, as of September 15, 2017, the three major credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – have launched a new policy in order to provide temporary, yet significant relief to those with medical debt. There is now a 180-day grace period (6 months) before unpaid medical bills show up on an individual’s credit report. Make sure that you understand these three important facts about medical debt and how to access this grace period. It can provide your employees not only peace of mind, but will help protect your employees’ credit scores – and maybe your own as well.

1. Medical Debt is Very Common
Not only does medical debt make up two-thirds of all debt in collections, but it’s also virtually impossible to avoid in the instance of an unexpected illness or injury, no matter the size. Over 60 percent of households with medical debt report that the debtor was covered by health insurance at the time of injury – meaning that their overwhelming medical debt is likely a post-insurance-coverage balance. Those who are Insured, often find themselves in the dilemma of being expected to pay the balance of their medical bills upfront while waiting for reimbursements from their insurer, which can take months to years. In the meantime, these large, unpaid expenses (bills often reach into the five and six-figure mark) seriously harm credit scores. Those who are uninsured, have a chronic illness or have a disability – or have a family member who does – have even more of a problem paying back medical debt due to the high, accumulating costs and interest rates.

2. The New Policy Can Help Your Employees
In addition to the 180-day grace period (not adding medical debt to credit reports until the 6 month mark), this new policy will remove any existing or added medical debt from a person’s credit report once the debt has been paid by the insurer. FICO and VantageScore, two credit-scoring companies that create models for calculating credit, have updated their formulas to reflect the reality that medical debt is not an accurate representation of a person’s credit risk. Moreover, individuals whose only debt is medical debt will receive a smaller penalization than those with combined debts – it has been shown that these individuals are much less likely to default on payments. Although this six month period of time will allow consumers to access their insurance reimbursements and pay back bills, keep in mind that many banks and other lenders have not adopted this new scoring model. Which, means that individuals may find that they have different credit scores based on where they look – and there is no way to control which credit score will be used by whom.

3. Awareness is The First Step of Relief
To ensure that your employees reap the benefits of this new policy, make sure that they are aware of the changes. Previous medical debt will not be affected and will only be removed from credit reports seven years after it has become delinquent. Remind employees to check their credit report and monitor it regularly for inconsistencies – whether they have medical debt or not. Knowing the state of your credit report is the first defense against unwarranted debts, fraudulent accounts and other threats to your credit score.