Products October 28, 2015

GuideSpark Launches Financial Wellness Product

The product delivers personalized, interactive content to employees.
Reported by

Workforce communications provider GuideSpark launched its Financial Wellness Product.

The solution enables companies to provide tailored financial wellness education to their employees through a comprehensive financial assessment, personalized action plans, engaging informational videos, and direct integration to actionable, employer-provided programs and tools. With GuideSpark’s personalized mobile and video solution, the aim is to inspire employees to take action and gain control of their financial futures.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

The impact of employee financial stress, such as worrying about bills, making mortgage payments or saving enough for retirement, can be detrimental in the workplace, GuideSpark notes. A recent survey found finance is the No. 1 cause of stress among employees.

GuideSpark’s Financial Wellness product provides employees with a simple way to assess their own financial wellness and learn how they can improve, subsequently guiding them toward taking the appropriate actions.  Designed to meet the needs of workers whether they are based in a physical facility, on-the-road or remotely, GuideSpark’s mobile-first solution is available anytime, anywhere. It includes an extensive interactive video library covering important financial topics such as 401(k) programs, retirement planning, estate planning, budgeting, investing, and much more.

NEXT: Product featuresKey features of the solution include:
  • Financial Wellness Assessment: Through a short, yet detailed, self-service questionnaire covering all aspects of financial health, employees receive their personalized financial health score and a financial stress score, highlighting the specific areas impacting stress levels and identifying gaps in their financial understanding.
  • Personalized Content: Based on their employee assessment results, users are presented with engaging content recommendations, enabling employees to understand where to focus and what steps they can take to improve their financial health. Short videos introduce key concepts, and multiple engagement styles are used to provide depth and education exactly where needed.
  • Easy Integration for Action: GuideSpark’s Financial Wellness product is incorporated into the employer’s existing partner tools and resources that support financial wellness, such as 401(k) providers, financial coaching solutions, employee assistance programs (EAPs), legal services, and many more. As a result, employees benefit from a multi-faceted and personalized experience that drives to action and utilizes often dormant employer-provided resources.
  • Reporting and Analytics: Aggregated reporting and analytics provide employers with key insights that can be used to build and improve more targeted financial wellness programs. They are able to pinpoint stressors and financial hardships that may be unique to segments of their workforce.
  • Cloud-based Service: The financial wellness product is delivered through the GuideSpark SaaS Platform, which is offered as a cloud-based subscription to facilitate rapid deployment and ease-of-purchase. It easily scales across any organization, and provides 24/7 access from all devices such as smartphones, iPads and PCs, ensures employees can view content and videos when and where it is most convenient. Automatic, ongoing updates from GuideSpark ensure the most up-to-date education and communications minimizing on-going maintenance efforts and costs.

Additional information about GuideSpark’s Financial Wellness Product can be accessed at http://www.guidespark.com/solutions/financial-wellness/.

 

Products October 28, 2015

Fidelity to Offer Envestnet Workstation to Advisers

The move is in response to a growing number of advisers offering retirement services.
Reported by

In response to witnessing a growing number of advisers actively developing their retirement practices in the past three years, Fidelity Clearing & Custody has partnered with Envestnet Retirement Solutions to offer Envestnet’s new workstation. Available through Fidelity’s WealthCentral and Streetscape platforms, the workstation will provide advisory firms access to retirement plan data and service providers.

Fidelity says that since 2013, it has seen a 51% increase in the number of advisers merely accommodating retirement plan requests to strategically growing their retirement plan business, and that these advisers are looking to manage that growth in an efficient and strategic way. In a survey of 933 advisers that Fidelity conducted in October 2014, the firm learned that 40% believe that technology can help them streamline their time and create efficiencies. Thirty-two percent agreed that technology can make client communications more convenient, 31% said it can help them increase frequency of communications with clients and 29% said it can help them increase quality time with clients by reducing administrative tasks. However, only 36% of retirement advisers said they are using all of the technological tools they need to effectively run their practice.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

“The industry has realized the opportunity that retirement plans present,” says Meg Kelleher, senior vice president, retirement adviser and recordkeeper segment at Fidelity Clearing & Custody. “Now many firms are focused on scale and asking, ‘How do we grow this side of the business efficiently?’ We see this workstation as the first important step in our open architecture platform, which will drive efficiency for retirement plan advisers.”

Fidelity said the new workstation will be available to Fidelity Clearing & Custody clients in the first quarter of 2016.

«