Archive for the 'Financial Tools' Category

How to Get Started with Financial Wellness

A recent study by Fidelity and the NBGH revealed that employer spending on wellness programs grew 43% to $154/employee in 2010. This level of growth and investment provides evidence that wellness

Financial Wellness

Start with a Financial Health Assessment

initiatives are:   (1) becoming much more comprehensive and (2) demonstrating tangible business value.

In our own experiences with HR professionals, we see the expansion every day.  Wellness strategies are evolving and many employers are looking to better understand how employee money issues are impacting the productivity of their organization.

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Published by Joe Larocque on February 25, 2011

Financial Well Being Index

Despite the optimism regarding the economy in 2011, employees are still feeling cautious about their money,

Financial Wellness

Employees Remain Cautious

according to the Q4:2010 Principal Financial Well-Being Index survey.  Here are some of the key takeaways:

  • Half of employees did not feel better about their financial situation than they did a year ago. Nearly 40% of employees were still cautious about the economy.
  • 72% of employees are concerned about their long-term financial future.

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Published by Joe Larocque on December 5, 2010

Financial Wellness – Breaking Down the Barriers to Adoption

In a new study conducted by the Personal Financial Employee Education Foundation (PFEEF) and Employee Benefits News (EBN), 70% of respondents thought that workplace financial education is important or extremely important to the overall level of productivity in their organization.

Other notable findings included:

  • 51% of employers surveyed saw an increase in employee wage garnishments
  • 42% of employers surveyed saw an increase in employee emergency loans
  • 34% employers surveyed saw an increase in employee requests for time off to deal with personal financial issues

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Published by Joe Larocque on August 27, 2010

Financial Wellness – A Key Hiring Criteria?

An amazing 60% of companies used candidates’ credit reports to help make hiring decisions in 2009, according to a recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) poll.

So, the natural question is why a credit score of all things would be used to evaluate a prospective employee?

One likely reason might be that employers worry that a poor credit score indicates a lack of responsibility that could ultimately translate into poor performance.

Credit score indicative of a poor performer?

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Published by Joe Larocque on August 23, 2010

Financial Wellness Eases Presenteeism – Digging Into the Numbers

Historically, presenteeism has been a word used to describe sick employees

Financial Wellness ROI

Financial Wellness ROI

who “tough it out” and come to work but operate far below normal productivity. But, there are many types of presenteeism.  There could be any number of reasons why an employee checks out and productivity suffers.  And, while presenteeism is a relatively new term, you likely have some established policies in place for helping employees stay focused at work.  For instance, over half of US companies have blocked access to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.  Presenteeism, in its entirety, is a huge productivity issue that far exceeds that of absenteeism.

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Published by Joe Larocque on June 9, 2010

Financial Wellness. Why Employees Turn to their Employers.

In 2007, for the first time since MetLife began running their Annual MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends, more than half of employees surveyed indicated that they receive a majority of their financial products from their employer.

For most HR professionals this may seem somewhat intuitive.  Prior to 2008, many employers had built out their benefits, retirement and equity programs to compete in what was considered an all out war for talent.  So, it may not be surprising that the large investments that employers have made to offer a compelling total compensation package have made employers the number one source of financial products for their employees.

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Published by Joe Larocque on March 29, 2010

April is Financial Literacy Month

Back in 2000, April was declared “Financial Literacy for Youth Month.”  Now, it’s just “Financial Literacy Month.”  Over the course of the last decade, it seems that us grown ups have shown that we really don’t know much more about money than our kids do – and therefore the Senate decided to drop the “youth” bit and include us adults in their call for better financial education.

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Published by Joe Larocque on March 22, 2010

Financial Wellness for 2010 & Beyond – The Decade of Roth Savings Plans

A real change over the next decade could be a massive reconsideration of tax deferred savings plans. Exemplifying this shift, the new 2010 Roth IRA conversion rules seem to be getting lots of press and stirring widespread investor interest. So what’s behind the buzz?

In our September 09’ blog, “Rethinking the 401(k) Pitch”  , we underscored how the tax landscape had changed since IRA’s were introduced in the early 80’s.  We recounted that federal income tax brackets reached as high as 70% when 401(k)’s and IRA’s were introduced and it made perfect sense to shield everything we could from the taxman and bank on taking the money out at lower tax rates in the future

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Published by JS Wolff on January 19, 2010

Financial Wellness for 2010 & Beyond – Interest Payments

The next few entries look at creating a positive financial future into the next decade by employing some common sense financial wellness principals.

First let’s consider using someone else’s money for to finance our stuff.

The financial wellness rule of thumb is that borrowing money to make a purchase only makes sense if the commodity to be purchased has a realistic chance of appreciating in value.

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Published by JS Wolff on January 2, 2010

Financial Wellness in 2010 – Open Enrollment Tips

As November fast approaches, you are likely beginning to receive important communications about Open Enrollment. If you’re like many employees, you may have already decided to just stick with your current elections – after all, they seem to have worked out well enough. This year, more than others in the past, taking a passive approach to Open Enrollment may be an expensive decision.

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Published by Joe Larocque on October 25, 2009