MetLife Studies Underscore Importance of Employee Financial Wellness
Financial Wellness — the proactive management of income and expenses to maintain financial health — is starting to gain momentum. While employers have been implementing health-related employee wellness programs for years, two recent studies from MetLife (The MetLife Study of the American Dream, 2010 and the 9th Annual MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends) show mounting evidence for the growing popularity and effectiveness of employee financial wellness programs.
Among MetLife’s findings:
• Investment in employee financial education can realize a 3:1 return in improved workplace productivity;
• Nearly three-quarters of employees are very interested in having their employers provide financial education ...
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Americans More Worried About Retirement than Ever Before
According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans are more worried about retirement than at any time in the past 10 years. Gallup has tracked eight aspects of personal finance since 2001, and “maintaining their current lifestyle in retirement” has made a huge leap in just the past four years. In 2007, only 41 percent of respondents were very/moderately worried…today, that number is 58 percent.
And, it’s not just aging Baby Boomers with that worry. Among those ages 30-49, a whopping 77 percent said they were worried about retirement.
There are several factors creating this phenomenon. First, Americans have never been great savers. In fact, the average American has higher credit card debt than retirement savings. Second, plummeting ...
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Let the “Tribal Leaders” Help Build Your 401(k) Participation
I’m an engineer by education…studied mechanical engineering at Kettering University. Like a lot of engineers, my natural inclination is to believe that if you build a better mousetrap, people will put it to use.
Despite my technical inclination and years of leveraging technology to improve processes and take humans out of harms way, one of my favorite classes was Behavioral Sociology…why do people react the way they do based on society’s norms and values? Without question, it’s the Behavioral Sociology class that has been most beneficial in launching Levanto Financial. On the surface, the services we provide and the results clients achieve should sell themselves…for example, we’re helping our clients save on ...
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University of Phoenix on Track with Personal Financial Literacy Workshop
Any parents out there who help their kids with homework on a regular basis? How’d it go when your child needed help with the lesson on how to balance a check book? Or that paper they wrote on the dangers of credit card use? How about that project on how to maintain a good credit score?
What’s that you say? You’ve never helped your child with their Personal Finance homework?
Of course not. Because most schools spend little or no time on this crucial educational element. Financial literacy is completely lacking in our schools, and as a nation we are paying a steep price. On average, American consumers have more credit card debt than their 401k savings.
Given the woeful state of personal finance education, it was refreshing ...
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Look to 401(k), Pension Funds to Provide Employees with Financial Wellness Programs
Posted By Paul Cloutier, 04/12/11 at
05:11 PM
Remember January 1, 2011? What were your resolutions? Quit smoking. Eat better. Exercise more. Spend more time with family. Spend less, save more.
These are probably just a few of the things your employees vowed to do at the start of the year. Now, a little more than 90 days later, how many of these resolutions have been kept? How long did it take you to break yours and how long do you think it took for your employees to break theirs? Let’s face it…it is a time-honored tradition to almost instantly break New Year’s resolutions; if it wasn’t, we’d be a nation of happy, healthy overachievers!
One of the biggest challenges to KEEPING a New Year’s resolution — or making any type of ...
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You Don’t Want Randy Quaid to Kidnap You on Christmas Eve, Do You?
I was watching the movie "Christmas Vacation" recently and a big part of the plot reminded me of how millions of consumers approach a plan for using their holiday bonus:
Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) p>ordered a new swimming pool for his family, assuming that the annual holiday bonus would be more than enough to cover the costs. Unfortunately for Clark, his holiday bonus turned out to be membership in the ‘Jelly of the Month Club,’ leaving him stuck with a bill he couldn’t pay and in a jam with his family (pun intended).
A similar scenario plays out every day in many households across the country. With economic challenges facing most employers, the annual bonus often is a fraction of what it used to be, if there is a bonus at ...
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Surviving in the 80 Percent World
Posted By Paul Cloutier, 11/04/10 at
08:54 AM
I recently attended the WWJ 950 Michigan Money Summit at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts in Clinton Township. The Summit was made up of an all-star lineup of personal and business finance experts and the discussion topics were both insightful and relevant. At one end of the spectrum there was representation from private wealth management, investing and taxes — for people doing very well. At the other end, there were discussions and resources for individuals who find themselves in overwhelming financial distress — people in trouble. However, there was a glaring hole in the middle of the spectrum — representation for people doing “okay” who want to step up to the next level or not fall into the troubled level.
Within this gap, ...
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