Financial Wellness Badly Needed

Art by John Cuneo

Financial wellness programs are popular when offered as an employer-sponsored benefit, but few employers actually offer them, says Corporate Insight’s 2018 employee financial wellness survey report “A Roadmap of the Financial Wellness Ecosystem.”

Of the 1,544 employees surveyed, a mere 221 (14%) indicated that their employer offers programs or resources to help improve financial well-being; 63% indicated that they use such programs when offered. More than half (53%) of respondents who said their employer did not offer a wellness program also said it should.

In a comparison of respondents who are enrolled in an employer-sponsored financial wellness program with those who are not, the former tended to report feeling “very confident”—49% vs. 23%, respectively—and more knowledgeable about retirement than did the unenrolled group. The enrolled group was also more likely than the unenrolled group to report having joined their employer’s defined contribution (DC) retirement plan, not to mention contributing more to retirement and having more saved overall.

Forty-four percent of respondents in total indicated they are very concerned about budgeting, while around 40% expressed being very concerned about health insurance, health care costs, emergency savings and the length of time they have to save. Around 38% said concerns about credit and debt management are top of mind.

When it comes to financial and retirement planning and savings topics, more than half of respondents reported being a novice or having limited understanding of asset allocation, market volatility, stock options and estate planning. Forty-seven percent said they had limited knowledge about general investing strategies, while the same percentage reported limited knowledge about pensions and the effects of working in retirement.

Overall, the largest percentage of respondents said they had saved less than $10,000 for retirement. Baby Boomers are the only age demographic that reported greater savings: 20% indicated having between $50,000 and $100,000 saved. Across all survey respondents, the most common savings rate was 4% to 6%