Monthly Archive for June, 2009

New Solution for Benefits Communications and Financial Wellness

Published by JLarocque on June 17, 2009 in Solutions and for Employers. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

employee-benefits-open-enrollment-forms_smallToday, GuideSpark announced two core products focused on the issues of corporate benefits education and employee financial wellness.  Over the last 18 months, we’ve had a chance to meet with many employers – from small businesses to large enterprises, from Silicon Valley technology companies to retail chains to government organizations.  Not surprisingly, each of these employers carries a similar burden – how to reduce the cost of benefits while continuing to offer a competitive compensation package.

While many HR professionals concede that their employees have a poor understanding of their benefits package, most underestimate the impact of this situation on their bottom line.  Employees who don’t understand their benefits are more likely to:

  • Make poor election decisions, driving up benefit costs
  • Access benefits information in the most costly way possible – through calls to your human resources staff and call center
  • Be less satisfied with their compensation and more likely to leave

Benefits communications is a critical tool for managing costs in this environment.  Our offerings are targeted at improving the failing rates of benefits understanding among employees today to help employers realize the full value of their considerable investments in benefits.  We move far beyond the standard fare of thick benefits handbooks to provide a comprehensive curriculum of engaging multimedia education for today’s employee.  By providing more modern and more effective benefits communications, employers can cut the cost of benefits, while motivating and retaining employees.

Financial Wellness and Unintended Consequences

Published by JS Wolff on June 8, 2009 in Economy and Financial Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , .

If my brother-in-law was lined up with 10 people and you were asked to pick out the economist, he would be easily identified. In the 35 years I’ve known Mitch, he has never cared a lick about the clothes he wears or the car he drives.  There is no pretense or image thing going on whatsoever.  He’s just a solid, albeit quirky guy who happens to be intellectually brilliant. And doing things his own way,  he retired early, owns a free and clear home in beautiful La Jolla, CA (my sister’s influence) and accumulated a fair amount of wealth, while never wavering from his extreme aversion to risk.

Since I’m in the financial education business, you can imagine that our conversations have touched on current economic events from time to time. He generally replies like the university professor he once was, exploring all the possible outcomes and remaining specifically non-committal. However, I was a little surprised by his very direct response to my most recent question…”What will be the most pronounced effect of the government’s stimulus package?”  “Inflation”, he replied.

While we don’t always agree, I totally concur that the recent government bailout actions will have inflation as their unintended consequence.  And if we think that a 40% market correction is bad, couldn’t a 40% devaluation of the dollar create the same effect?  The principles I learned in Econ 101 taught me that you can’t just print trillions of dollars and inject them into an economy without devaluing the underlying currency.  And it even feels more intuitively uncomfortable that we are using this “monopoly money” to buy assets that nobody else wants.

As Warren Buffet stated last month when commenting about where the bailout resources will come from, “I haven’t had my taxes raised,” said Buffet, “My guess is the ultimate price will be paid by a shrinkage of the value of the dollar.”

There are recent examples of country’s running into problems in this same way. In the early 90′s, the Yugoslavian government ran a budget deficit that was financed by printing money. This led to a rate of inflation of 15 to 25 percent per year.  The numbers actually got worse as they were dealing with other problems like socialism and rampant corruption… that are hopefully not part of our future.

Please hear me clearly, I don’t think the government should have stood idly by while the markets were imploding and institutions were failing at an alarming rate last year.  But for main street folks like you and I, it’s a good time to be thinking about measures to combat the potentially devastating effects of inflation.  Warren, Mitch and I are apparently not the only ones who are on this track. You may want to peruse this Journal article to learn more about some inflation fighting “vitamins” for your personal consumption.