Move over, financial wellness. It’s time for financial flexibility

Are your employees stressed out about their personal finances? Many find it hard to believe that a majority of employees live paycheck-to-paycheck, despite the fact that most Americans have recovered from the Great Recession. Continue reading to learn about financial flexibility.


It’s somewhat hard to believe that most employees today continue to live paycheck-to-paycheck. Despite the fact that Americans have recovered from the Great Recession a decade ago and that the unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in many years, employees are essentially making the same amount of money they did during the pre-recession “good days” many years ago. Of course, living costs have gone up in this same period.

That means employees are stressed about their finances. They don’t have enough emergency savings for unexpected expenses and struggle to make minimum monthly payments on credit cards and loans. And the problem is bigger than that because their financial stress also distracts them at work. Whether it’s student loans, car payments, mortgage/rent payments, credit card debt, an unexpected expense or some other financial matter that they are worried about, the bottom line is they are spending time at work on these issues rather than doing the job employers are paying them to do.

Thus, employees’ personal financial stress affects employers as well. When employees bring that financial stress to work, it results in low productivity, absenteeism and, in many cases, higher healthcare costs.

Today’s employees want to make their money to do more. Financial flexibility can help them get there.

So what is financial flexibility? It’s the ability to manage expenses and make everyday life affordable. It’s the financial stage beyond living paycheck-to-paycheck. It means being smart about how we use our monthly income and finding ways to make our money do more so that we are able to pay bills on time, take a vacation, have an emergency fund for unexpected expenses and perhaps splurge on something small occasionally. Financial flexibility is the stage between living paycheck-to-paycheck and financial security (a level few employees ever achieve).

Being financially flexible means finding ways to make our money do more by following a monthly budget, being wise shoppers and taking advantage of employer-offered financial wellness tools and voluntary benefits such as financial counseling, student loan refinancing programs, employee purchase programs and payroll-deducted savings programs.

Providing financial flexibility at work

Financial education benefits can help employees with budgeting and debt reduction needs, and over the past several years, growing numbers of employees have begun using the services their employer provides to assist them with their personal finances.

But it takes more to have financial flexibility. While financial education benefits can help employees with budgeting and debt reduction needs, employers should adopt additional voluntary benefits that provide employees the opportunity to have some financial flexibility.

Among these are:

  • Low-interest installment loans and credit that help employees avoid payday loans and cash advances from credit cards when they have emergency needs such as unexpected out-of-pocket medical expenses.
  • Student loan repayment benefit programs in which employers are making contributions to loan balances or providing methods for employees to refinance their debt.
  • Automated savings programs that encourage employees to start taking control of their financial future by saving money each month from their paycheck. Many employees don’t have $1,000 or more in savings to use for emergencies and saving a little each month can help build that emergency fund.
  • Employee purchase programs that allow workers to purchase consumer products and services through payroll deduction when they are unable or prefer not to use cash or credit. The program is an alternative to high-interest credit cards and other sub-prime financing options for customers desiring to pay for a purchase over time.
  • Bill payment programs that empower employees with debt paydown strategies and the ability to make recurring bill payments on-time each month through payroll deduction

Today’s employees want — and need — their money to do more so they aren’t living paycheck-to-paycheck. Employees who are less financially stressed are happier. That results in more engaged, productive workers and an increased bottom line for employers. The new normal is financial flexibility. And there’s a role for voluntary benefits in helping employees get there.

SOURCE: Halkos, E. (23 April 2019) "Move over, financial wellness. It’s time for financial flexibility" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/opinion/use-voluntary-benefits-to-help-employee-financial-wellness


Do paycheck advance apps improve financial health?

Do you allow your employees access to draw money from their paycheck before payday? Many apps now let workers have early access to their money. Read this blog post to find out more about paycheck advance apps and how these may improve financial health.


Fintechs that let workers draw money from their paycheck before payday through an app are having a moment.

Such apps, including Even.com, PayActiv, EarnIn, DailyPay and FlexWage, are designed for consumers who live paycheck to paycheck — roughly 78% of the U.S. workforce according to one study.

More than 300,000 Walmart employees, for example, use this feature, called Instapay, provided by Even and PayActiv. PayActiv, which is available to 2 million people, announced a deal with Visa on Thursday that will let people put their pay advances on a feeless prepaid Visa card.

Earnin, which lets consumers retrieve up to $100 a day from upcoming paychecks, received $125 million in Series C funding from DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, Matrix Partners, March Capital Partners, Coatue Management and Ribbit Capital in December. The Earnin app has been downloaded more than a million times.

In theory, such apps are useful to those who run into timing problems due to large bills, like mortgage and rent, which come due a few days before their paycheck clears. Getting a payday advance from an employer through an app can be less expensive and less problematic than taking out a payday loan or paying overdraft fees.

But do these programs lead to financial health? Or are they a temporary Band-Aid or worse, something on which cash-strapped people can become overdependent?

Volatile incomes, gig economy jobs

One thing is clear — many working poor are living paycheck to paycheck. Pay levels have not kept up with the cost of living, even adjusted for government subsidy programs, said Todd Baker, senior fellow at the Richman Center for Business, Law and Public Policy at Columbia University.

“That’s particularly evident when you think of things like home prices and rental costs. A large portion of the population is living on the edge financially,” he said. “You see it in folks making $40,000 a year, teachers and others who are living in a world where they can’t handle any significant bump in their financial life."

A bump might be an unexpected expense like medical treatment or a change in income level, for instance by companies shifting to a bonus program. And about 75 million Americans work hourly, with unstable pay.

“Over the last several decades, we’ve changed the equation for many workers,” said John Thompson, chief program officer at the Center for Financial Services Innovation. “It’s harder to have predictable scheduling or even income flow from your job or jobs. But we haven’t changed the way we pay, nor have we changed the way bills are paid. Those are still due every month on a certain date. This income volatility problem that many people experience hasn’t been offset by giving the employee control of when they do have access to these funds.”

Where on-demand pay comes in

Safwan Shah, PayActiv's CEO, says he has been working on the problems for consumers like this for 11 years. The way he sees it, there are three possible ways to help: by paying these workers more, by changing their taxes, or by changing the timing of when they’re paid.

The first two seem out of reach. “I can’t give more money to people; that’s not what a Fintech guy does,” Shah said. “I can’t invent money. And I can’t change the tax laws.”

But he felt he could change the timing of pay.

“I can go to employers and say, your employees are living paycheck to paycheck,” Shah said. “They’re bringing that stress to work every day. And you are suffering too, because they are distracted — a Mercer study shows employers lose 15 hours a month in work from these distracted employees.”

Shah persuades employers to let their employees access a portion of the wages they have already earned. His early wins were at companies whose employees frequently request paycheck advances, which generates a lot of paperwork. Employees can access no more than 50% of what they have already earned — a worker who has earned $300 so far in a month could at most get $150.

Employees pay $5 for each two-week period in which they use PayActiv. (About 25% of the time, the employer pays this fee, Shah said.)

PayActiv also gives users unlimited free bill pay and use of a Visa prepaid card. In July, PayActiv became part of the ADP marketplace, so companies that use ADP can use its service.

PayActiv's largest employer is Walmart, which started offering it via the Even app in December 2017. In October, Walmart began allowing employees to pick up cash through the app in Walmart stores, so users who were unbanked could avoid ATM fees.

Shah said the service helps employers reduce employee turnover, improve retention and recruit employees who prefer real-time pay. He also has a guilt pitch.

“I was first in the market to this, in 2013,” Shah said. “People looked at me and said, ‘What? I’m not going to pay my employees in advance. Let them go to a payday lender.’ Then I’d show them pictures of their offices surrounded by payday loan shops. I’d say, ‘They’re here because of you.’ ”

Does early access to wages lead to financial health?

When Todd Baker was a Harvard University fellow last year, he studied the financial impact of PayActiv’s earned wage access program. He compared PayActiv’s $5 fee to payday loans and bank overdraft fees.

Baker found that a $200 salary advance from PayActiv is 16.7% of the cost of a payday loan. Payday lenders typically charge $15 per $100 borrowed, so $30 for a two-week, $200 loan. If the borrower can’t pay back the amount borrowed in two weeks, the loan gets rolled over at the original amount plus the 15% interest, so the loan amount gets compounded over time.

With PayActiv, "there is always a full repayment and then a delay before there is enough income in the employee’s payroll account for another advance," Baker said. "It never rolls over.”

Baker also calculated that the PayActiv fee was only 14.3%, or one-seventh, of the typical $35 overdraft fee banks charge.

So for people who are struggling to manage the costs of short-term timing problems and unexpected expenses, Fintech tools like PayActiv’s are a lot cheaper than alternatives, Baker said.

“Does it create extra income? No. What it does is help you with timing issues,” he said.

Aaron Klein, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said workers should have access to money they’ve already earned, whether that’s through real-time payments or through apps that provide pay advances.

“I also am on board with the idea that by saving your $35 overdraft and saving your payday loan rate, you’ll be better off,” Klein said.

But he’s not willing to say these tools solve the problems of low-income people.

“If the core problem is I used to make $35,000 a year, now I make $30,000, and because of that shock I’m going to end up accruing $600 of payday loan and overdraft fees, eliminating that $600 makes you a lot better off,” Klein said. “But it doesn’t negate the overall income shock.”

Thompson at CFSI says it’s too soon to tell whether earned wage access brings about financial well-being.

“We’re just beginning to explore the potential for these tools,” he said. “Right now they feel very promising. They could give people the ability to act quickly in an emergency and have access to and use funds in lieu of a payday loan or some other high-cost credit or consequence they would rather avoid, like an overdraft fee.”

What could go wrong

Thompson also sees a potential downside to giving employees payday advances.

“The every-other-week paycheck is one of the few normal structures we have for people around planning, budgeting and managing their money,” he said.

Without that structure, which is a form of savings, “we’re going to have to work hard to make sure we don’t just turn people loose on their own with even less structure or guidance or advice on their financial life.”

Another common concern about payday advance tools is that if you give people access to their money ahead of time, they’ll just spend it, and then when their paycheck arrives, they will come up short.

But Klein, for one, doesn’t see this as an issue.

“I trust people more to manage their money,” he said. “The people who work paycheck to paycheck spend more time budgeting and planning than the wealthy, because it’s a necessity.”

A related fear is that people could become addicted to payday advance tools, and dig themselves into a deeper hole.

Jon Schlossberg, CEO of Even.com, somewhat surprisingly acknowledges this could happen.

“Getting access to your pay on demand is a tool you can use the right way or the wrong way,” he said. “If you offer only on-demand pay, that could cause the problem to get worse, because getting access to that money all the time triggers dopamine; it makes you want to do it more and more. If you are struggling with a very low margin and you’re constantly up against it, getting more money all the time accelerates that problem."

Quantitative and qualitative analyses have borne this out, he said.

Even has granted users $700 million worth of Instapays; they typically use Instapay 1.4 times a month. Schlossberg doesn't see high use of the feature as success.

“You shouldn’t need to be using Instapay,” he said. “You should be becoming financially stable so you don’t have to.”

Baker said addiction to payday advances isn't a danger because they don't roll over the way payday loans do. With a salary advance, “It’s conceivable you could get $200 behind permanently, but it’s not a growing obligation and it’s not damaging,” he said.

Shah at PayActiv said users tend to withdraw less than they're allowed to — about 75%.

“When it comes to usage of their own salary, instead of asking for more, people behaviorally ask for less,” he said.

They see PayActiv more as a headache reliever like Tylenol, rather than an addictive candy or drug, Shah said.

Pay advances are just one of many tools that can help the working poor. They also need help understanding their finances and saving for goals like an emergency fund and retirement.

“This conversation about on-demand pay is a double-edged sword because people are paying attention to it now, which is good, but they’re viewing it as this magic tool to solve all problems,” Schlossberg said. “It isn’t that. It is a piece of the puzzle that solves a liquidity problem. But it is by no means going to help people turn their financial lives around.”

SOURCE: Crosman, P. (14 March 2019) "Do paycheck advance apps improve financial health?" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/news/do-paycheck-advance-apps-improve-financial-health?brief=00000152-146e-d1cc-a5fa-7cff8fee0000

Editor at Large Penny Crosman welcomes feedback at penny.crosman@sourcemedia.com.


Today’s workforce never learned how to handle personal finances

A bill was recently proposed in South Carolina that would require all students to take a personal finance course before they graduate. Continue reading to learn how this proposal could help today's workforce learn how to handle personal finances.


A bill was recently proposed in the South Carolina state legislature to require all students to take a half-credit personal finance course and pass a test by the end of the year in order to graduate.

This proposed legislation could prove to be a breakthrough idea because frankly, much of the high school-educated—or even college-educated—workforce has never had a formal education on how to take care of their personal finances, pay off their student loans, open an appropriate retirement account, select an insurance provider or generally prepare for personal financial success.

Without taking these now-required personal finance classes in high school, how is the current workforce expected to learn how to stay afloat and become financially stable?

For those in other states or for individuals who are past high school, the most logical solution for solving this problem is to put the onus on employers and business owners to teach their employees how to properly handle their financial well-being.

Having a staff full of financially prepared employees is in any businesses’ own interest, and there are statistics to show it. Numerous research studies have proven that companies with robust employee financial wellness programs are more productive because employees don’t have to spend company time handling personal financial problems. This results in an average three-to-one return for the organization on their financial wellness investment, according to studies from the Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp.

Employees who practice good financial wellness are also proven to stay with the company longer, be more engaged at work, less stressed and healthier—all of which add significant dollars to a company’s bottom line.

While understanding that HR, executives, and accounting have little time to spend teaching lessons in the workplace, how does a company go about offering financial wellness information to their employees?

There are several options available to companies when it comes to financial wellness. One of the most sought-after benefits in recent years is online financial wellness platforms that digitize the financial education process. This allows employees to work on their financial education on their own time from the privacy of their home computer, using a friendly and simple interface. And benefits solutions providers have access to a number of these resources – all companies need to do is inquire with their provider.

It is important to remember that not all financial wellness platforms are created equal in what they offer. Depending on the specific needs of an organization, they should assess the offerings available through each service provider to ensure they receive the program they intend to offer to their employees. Most platforms offer partial solutions and tools that could include financial assessments, game-based education, budgeting apps, student loan assistance, insurance options, savings programs, and even credit resources to help those who don’t have money saved to afford an emergency cost.

Not everyone goes to school to learn accounting, so we can’t assume that everyone knows what they are doing when it comes to personal finances. South Carolina is taking a major and important step towards improving their citizen’s futures by suggesting everyone take a personal finance course in high school. This could have a massive and positive effect on the economy in the future.

Finding a financial wellness solution that checks most, if not all, of these boxes will enable employees to take the initiative to either continue what they’ve learned (in the case of South Carolina students) or start down the path of gaining financial independence. Implementing a complete financial wellness toolset to give employees the ability to prepare for financial success is a huge step towards significantly increasing productivity.

As an engaged employer who cares about the well-being of their employees, it is important to offer as many resources as possible to encourage employees to stay financially well, decrease stress, and increase productivity in the workplace.


7 principles for helping employees deal with financial stress

More than 60 percent of survey participants are seeking support from their employer for all aspects of health with financial health as their priority, according to a survey by Welltok.  Read this blog post to learn more.


Employees are dealing with financial strain -- and they may want some help from their employer to address it.

The results of a recent survey on employer wellness programs from software company Welltok, reveals two important takeaways:

  • More than 60% of survey participants are seeking support from their employer for all aspects of health with financial health as their first priority.
  • If employers offered more personalized programming, 80% of respondents say they would more actively participate in their wellness offerings.

These findings attest to what we already know. First, there is no physical wellness without mental and emotional wellbeing and there is no mental and emotional wellbeing without financial wellness. Second, engagement demands personal relevance.

Today, Americans carry $2 trillion in consumer debt, student loan debt has overtaken credit card debt and 50% of consumers live paycheck-to-paycheck. Nearly half of Americans do not have $400 to cover an emergency. Over the past decade, consumers continually report that financial stress is the greatest challenge to their health and wellness.

Struggling with finances is a deeply stressful situation for employees, families, employers and communities nationwide. To date, programs to help employees address their financial concerns have been built on the assumption that if we just teach our employees financial literacy, their financial situations will improve. This ignores the fact that money is deeply emotional—a fact that any effort to change how we deal with our money must address.

When it comes to complex, emotionally-driven issues such as money, there is often a disconnect between knowing what to do, understanding how to do it and actually doing it. In this sense, financial wellness is similar to physical wellness. I may know I need to lose 20 lbs., I may even understand, in theory, how to lose weight. But I still have trouble acting on what I know.

With this in mind, there are seven core principles critical to helping employees make a real difference in their finances and their lives.

  1. Education alone is not enough. Education and financial literacy alone simply do not inspire or empower behavioral change.
  2. Personalization is key. People will engage with a solution when it feels like it’s about them and their particular situation. Support resources need to bring general financial principles home by addressing employees’ individual circumstances.
  3. Privacy matters. Money is a sensitive and emotional subject that is difficult to discuss — especially in a group setting. Support resources need to respect the need for privacy and empower participants to explore financial questions without fear of judgment.
  4. Take a comprehensive approach. Support resources must include participants’ full financial picture to ensure that each individual’s most important issues are identified and addressed.
  5. Behavior change is essential. Established principles of behavior change science work just as well for changing financial habits and decision making. Reinforcing social interaction, peer support, positive attitudes and outlooks, providing small steps and supporting regular accountability are key.
  6. Technology lowers barriers to action and change. Mobile access is key for reaching individuals, meeting them where they are and offering them self-paced, actionable advice in the moment they need it. Learning to deal with money can — and should — be gamified. It takes considerable effort to present complex financial principles in fun, friendly, accessible scenarios or modules that are easy for employees to digest. But the result is worth it: Finances are transformed from difficult and stressful to easy and even fun. Employees develop a sense of competence; their finances become something they feel confident about and want to tackle.
  7. Remember the human connection. Technology transforms the financial services landscape by expanding our ability to provide meaningful personalized advice, consistently and according to best practices. Still, nothing changes the importance of a human adviser who can create a relationship, connection, and the trust to empower behavioral change.

The time has come to give everyone the financial advice and tools they deserve, and that will engage and empower them to improve their situation. Fortunately, much of the necessary technology already exists — and it’s improving daily. At this point, then, it’s key to get these solutions into employees’ hands so they can start their journey.

Change won’t happen overnight, although the smallest insights — setting up your first budget, getting answers from a financial coach — can do wonders to relieve financial stressors. Step by step, change is possible, confidence grows and wellbeing improves.

SOURCE: Dearing, C. (20 February 2019) "7 principles for helping employees deal with financial stress" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/how-employers-can-help-employees-deal-with-financial-stress


Millennials and money — How employers can be a financial literacy resource

Recent reports show student loan debts reached a $1.5 trillion crisis in 2018, leading many to believe Americans need a little help with money. Read on to learn how employers can help with financial literacy.


It’s clear that Americans need a little help with their money — in 2018 student loan debts reached a staggering $1.5 trillion crisis, employees continue to retire at a later age every year, and studies have shown that 65% of Americans save little to nothing of their annual income.

One subset of the American population that has even greater troubles with their finances is millennials, or those aged 23 to 38 as of 2019. This age group has lofty goals — 76% believe that they’re headed for a better financial future than their parents and 81% plan to own a home — but many millennials aren’t saving money in a way that actually leads them towards that future. In the last year, 43% of young adults had to borrow money from their parents to pay for necessities and 30% had to skip a meal due to lack of funds. Where’s the disconnect between millennials’ financial optimism and the reality of their financial circumstances?

Part of the problem lies in a lack of financial literacy. A study conducted by the National Endowment for Financial Education found that only 24% of millennials answered three out of five questions correctly on a survey looking at financial topics, indicating only a basic level of literacy. This same survey found that only 8% of millennials who took the test were able to answer all five questions correctly.

That’s not to say that understanding the intricacies of financial planning is easy. Everything from taxes to investing often requires professional advice. It’s no wonder that millennials are struggling with their finances: only 22% of those in this age group have ever received financial education from an educational institution or workplace. Millennials are struggling to pay for basic necessities and financial advice is simply not a priority. Many avoid seeking the help they need because they perceive it to be too costly.

This is an opportunity for employers that want to provide valuable resources to their employees, as financial wellness programs are likely to be the next employee benefit that millennials ask for.

Right now, millennials are the largest segment in the workforce, and by 2030 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that this age group will make up a staggering 75%. In a tight labor market, current job seekers can be more selective when deciding where they want to work. For employers, studies have shown that 60% of people report benefits and perks as a major deciding factor when considering a job offer.

To stand out from competitors and provide true value to young employees, companies should consider including financial wellness plans in their overall benefits package. The most comprehensive financial wellness plans generally include access to advice from a certified financial planner in addition to legal, tax, insurance and identity theft support. For millennials trying to get in control of their finances, these types of programs can be invaluable. For example, young employees can get assistance setting up a 401(k) account, dealing with taxes for the first time or learning to save and invest.

In 2019 and beyond, millennials are going to be looking for employers that support them not only in the office but outside the office as well. By providing financial planning tools in the workplace, companies can be a valuable resource to younger employees who will appreciate early and frequent conversations around how to manage their money.

SOURCE: Freedman, D. (19 February 2019) "Millennials and money — How employers can be a financial literacy resource" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/how-employers-can-be-a-financial-literacy-resource?brief=00000152-14a7-d1cc-a5fa-7cffccf00000


Sidecar accounts can help plug 401(k) leakage — to an extent

Many 401(k) participants often dip into their retirement savings to help fund emergency expenses. In fact, the number 1 financial concern for Millennials and Generation X members is not having enough emergency savings for unexpected expenses. Read on to learn more.


Not having enough emergency savings for unexpected expenses is the No. 1 financial concern for millennials and members of Generation X, and the No. 2 financial concern among baby boomers, after retirement security. These findings from a PwC Employee Financial Wellness Survey released last year shouldn’t surprise members of the retirement services industry, since too many defined contribution plan participants dip into their 401(k) savings —through loans, hardship withdrawals or cash-outs upon changing jobs — to fund emergency expenses.

While 48% of households faced at least one expense related to an unexpected emergency over the past year, according to CIT Bank, a recent GoBankingRates survey has found that a staggering 62% of Americans have less than $1,000 in a savings account. The frequency of unexpected emergency expenses, and the lack of savings to fund them, work in tandem to create a situation where many Americans are forced to withdraw hard-earned retirement savings from 401(k) accounts in defined contribution plans, where they are safely incubated in the U.S. retirement system for future enjoyment. In fact, according to a Boston Research Technologies survey of 5,000 401(k) plan participants, slightly more than one-third of all 401(k) cash-outs upon job change are for emergencies, while the rest end up being used for discretionary spending.

The development of “sidecar” accounts, also known as “rainy day” funds, is a positive trend because these instruments can help plan participants avoid tapping into their retirement savings to pay emergency expenses. Sidecar accounts are set up alongside 401(k) savings accounts in defined contribution plans, and if an employee chooses to set one up, they can allocate after-tax contributions to the fund in order to reach a targeted amount of savings. When a sidecar fund reaches the desired amount, future contributions can be directed to the plan participant’s pre-tax retirement savings. If a participant dips into a sidecar fund, the targeted balance can be automatically replenished over time with future after-tax contributions.

Sidecar accounts can serve as a valuable tool for preserving retirement savings, and fortunately, our elected officials are attempting to make it easier for plan sponsors to offer them for participants. The Strengthening Financial Security Through Short-Term Savings Accounts Act of 2018, a bipartisan Senate bill sponsored by Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), and Todd Young (R-Ind.), would allow sponsors to automatically enroll participants in sidecar or standalone accounts for emergency expenses. The bill would also enable the U.S. Department of the Treasury to create a pilot program giving employers incentives to set up these accounts. The bill hasn’t yet become law, but the fact that it’s been proposed is positive for the U.S. retirement system as a whole.

Vast majority of leakage is from cash-outs

Although a sidecar account could be a useful tool in the ongoing struggle to curtail leakage of savings from defined contribution plans, they won’t plug the biggest hole in the retirement system’s proverbial bucket. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 89% of leakage is the result of premature cash-outs of 401(k) accounts. Loans, hardship withdrawals and other factors contribute to the remaining 11%. As mentioned above, with an estimated one-third of cash-outs taken to cover emergencies, two-thirds of cash-outs are for non-emergency expenses.

Unfortunately, the lack of widespread, seamless plan-to-plan portability causes too many participants to cash out, or simply leave their savings behind in a former employer’s plan, because doing so is easier than consolidating their 401(k) accounts in their current-employer plans.

Thankfully, there is a solution to address the 89% of leakage caused by cash-outs — auto-portability, which has been live for more than a year. Auto-portability is the routine, standardized and automated movement of a retirement plan participant’s 401(k) savings from their former employer’s plan to an active account in their current employer’s plan, and is specifically designed for accounts with less than $5,000. Key components of the auto-portability solution are the paired “locate” and “match” technologies for tracking down and identifying participants who have stranded 401(k) accounts in former-employer plans, which in turn enable the process of consolidating a participant’s savings in their current-employer plans.

Plugging the biggest hole in the U.S. retirement system bucket would help millions of Americans improve their retirement outcomes. The Employee Benefit Research Institute forecasts that, if auto-portability were implemented across the country, up to $1.5 trillion, measured in today’s dollars, would be preserved in the retirement system.

Fortunately for plan participants and sponsors alike, the White House and government agencies also realize the benefits of widespread auto-portability. The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued guidance on auto-portability through an advisory opinion as well as a prohibited transaction exemption clarifying fiduciary liability for sponsors who adopt auto-portability as a new feature of their automatic rollover service.

This crucial DOL guidance helps to clear the way for the nationwide implementation of auto-portability — helping all Americans, and especially women and minorities, save more for retirement. In his remarks at the White House in December (during the signing ceremony for the executive order establishing the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council), Robert L. Johnson noted that 60% of African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans cash out their 401(k) accounts — and the nationwide adoption of auto portability “will put close to $800 billion back in the retirement pockets of minority Americans.”

Now that an innovative solution has been created to address the root cause of the majority of leakage (cash-outs), it’s good to see that a creative tool like the sidecar account has also been developed to help participants avoid making choices (i.e. dipping into their retirement savings to pay emergency expenses) that cause the remaining asset leakage.

SOURCE: Williams, S. (23 January 2019) "Sidecar accounts can help plug 401(k) leakage — to an extent" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/sidecar-accounts-can-help-plug-401k-retirement-leakage?brief=00000152-14a7-d1cc-a5fa-7cffccf00000


It might be time for a financial wellness checkup

Forty-six percent of employees spend two to three hours per week at work dealing with personal finances. Read this blog post to learn what employers can do if they want a stress-free and productive workforce.


We’ve all seen the infamous statistics — 56% of American workers struggle financially, 75% live paycheck to paycheck. A majority of Americans can’t come up with $1,000 for an emergency.

It is quite obvious that financial worries have a massive impact on happiness and stress levels, but what business owners, executives and human resource professionals understand is that this lack of financial wellness in the U.S. has a devastating effect on worker productivity, and therefore, employers’ bottom lines.

Employees who spend time during their day worried about bills and loans are less focused on getting their work done. In fact, a staggering 46% of employees spend, on average, two to three hours per week dealing with personal finance issues during work hours. So what can employers offer their workers to help them become more financially sound?

There are a number of ways to help employees improve their financial well-being – including utilizing the help of a financial wellness benefit platform – but at the very least, there are three major benefits that every business should employ if they want a stress-free and productive workforce.

Savings, investment and retirement solutions. Offering employees the ability to automatically allocate their paychecks into savings, investment and retirement accounts will help them more effectively meet their financial goals without worrying about moving money around. These types of programs should allow employees to make temporary or permanent changes at any time to reflect any immediate changes that may occur in their life.

Credit solutions and loan consolidation. Having a reliable source of credit is extremely important, but access to it can also be dangerous for big spenders. Employers should guide workers towards making informed financial decisions and teach them how to use credit wisely. Employers need to be able to refer employees to affordable and trusted sources for things like credit cards, short-term loan options and mortgages, so employees don’t have to spend time doing the research for themselves (or worse, potentially becoming victims of fraud). Companies should also offer resources that teach employees how to organize their finances to pay their debt off on time without accumulating unnecessary interest or fees.

Insurance (not just health). While many large companies offer the traditional health, dental, vision, disability and life insurance, employers should also be offering resources that give easy access to vehicle, home, renters, boat, pet and other common insurance products. Some insurance carriers even offer volume discounts, so if a large percentage of employees in an organization utilize pet insurance, everyone can save some money.

While it is important for employers to offer these benefits, it is also important to follow up with employees and make sure they are utilizing all of the benefits they have access to. Sometimes people can have too much pride or can be afraid to ask for financial help. The use of these programs should be talked about, encouraged and even rewarded.

Justifying the investment in these benefits is simple. Employers want to increase productivity, and employees want to be more financially sound. The workplace is evolving and so is the workforce, so while you look to add benefits like 401(k), work from home, summer Fridays, gym memberships and free lunch, don’t forget about the financial wellness of the people you employ. Maybe next year, you will see that your workers are focused less on their college loans and are able to put more effort into growing your business.

SOURCE: Kilby, D. (2 January 2019) "It might be time for a financial wellness checkup" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/it-might-be-time-for-a-financial-wellness-checkup?feed=00000152-a2fb-d118-ab57-b3ff6e310000


Overcoming Financial Illiteracy

BY MARTY TRAYNOR

May 9, 2012

Source: Benefitspro.com

 

We’ve all too often heard these assertions: Insurance is not bought, it’s sold. People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. We have a financially illiterate society.

The upshot of these familiar sayings is that in the financial services world, individuals need to be practically forced into understanding even simple concepts. This is an implicit put down of consumers, and in reality, it’s an explicit indictment of us.

We know consumers will go to great lengths to research buying a cell phone, a coffee pot or a microwave oven, but they avoid researching financial products like the plague.  Imagine how few consumers spend time researching a critical illness product, a health insurance plan, disability plan or life plan. And yet the coffee pot or cell phone costs a fraction of the amount entrusted to the financial products we sell.

Perhaps it all starts with our desire to be entertained and pampered. Financial products don’t offer instant gratification. In fact, they generally only deliver value in situations that are either boring or disturbing. Who wants to think about disturbing events such as poor health, critical illnesses, disabilities and premature death? And saving money for the future is boring—you have to save for years and years to have enough to live on comfortably.

Additionally, when a television personality or politician happens to address any of these financial items, it seems to be their mission to make the financial services business look bad. Often, they cast us in the light of our failure to provide benefits to everyone—even those who sat in multiple employee meetings and failed to purchase the voluntary benefits that could have replaced the missing income, paid the uncovered bills and so on.

It’s frustrating, but what do we see when we look in the mirror? In the voluntary benefits arena, we have choices of methods to use in the enrollment process: group meetings, one-on-one sessions, computer systems and IVR systems. We pay a lot of attention to choice of enrollment methods.

But one area we haven’t adequately addressed is helping employees understand the risk/reward of the various products. This is especially true when it comes to disability (income protection) insurance.

I have tried using many variations of this theme: How long can you maintain your standard living without a paycheck?  For most, the answer is “not long.” This is an essential message. Yet in study after study, when employees are asked to rank benefit products, they consistently rank dental (low risk/low reward) and vision (low risk, low reward) over disability protection (high risk/high reward).

Since most of us also sell dental and vision coverage, we’re understandably hesitant to challenge employees to understand this risk/reward relationship. But is this hesitancy in the best interest of our clients? Shouldn’t we point out that you can skip dental coverage and still pay your bills, including the dentist, but if you decline disability coverage you can’t pay your bills at all—at least not for long.

Overcoming illiteracy requires engaging employees in understanding the risks and rewards of various benefit plan options. As in the dental/disability example above, it needs to go beyond “here’s a product to consider” into better understanding—and less illiteracy.