PLANSPONSOR Roadmap 2024: Defining Financial Wellness

No single definition applies to financial wellness, but across plan sponsors, familiar financial issues affect their employees’ progress towards reaching long-term goals such as the ability to save for retirement.  

For sponsors, defining plan goals helps to frame the wellness programs and financial well-being resources they provide to participants, said a group of speakers at PLANSPONSOR’s Roadmap livestream on March 7. 

“At Fidelity, how we define success for an individual isn’t about a dollar [amount saved or invested] per year, it’s more about that person understanding where they are, where they want to go [financially] and having the confidence to follow that journey,” said Christine Chiulli, vice president of financial wellness at Fidelity Investments.

Kerry Woods Tapia, a vice president of participant education and engagement at SageView Advisory Group, agreed with Chiulli about the definition of financial wellness and added her own thoughts.

“What we’ve tried to do is to create [financial wellness] pathways…through a multifaceted approach in order to ultimately create better [financial] habits, mindsets [and] outcomes, through one-on-one [financial] coaching,” with certified financial planners, she said.

Financial wellness-specific

A November 2023 survey from the American Psychological Association found that 63% of Americans report that money is a source of stress, identifying it as either somewhat or a significant source, noted session moderator Rebecca Moore, managing editor of custom content, of PLANSPONSOR parent ISS Media.  

This is one reason why an increasing number of plan sponsors are focusing on the financial wellness of their employees.

For sponsors, approaching financial wellness “has evolved over time to encompass so much more in the form of reducing stress and how that can lead to changes within [a sponsors] overall benefit system and more productivity at work,” Tapia added.  “[Currently], we’re thinking of it through a web of things that are tied together and not necessarily only retirement.”

“Generationally, there are so many [workforce] differences—from a geographic location there may be differences or an organizational lens, there may be differences,” said Tapia.

For sponsors, focusing on select aspects of financial wellness can simplify what is included in their corporate wellness programs.

“We really focus on how we give that holistic help to meet people where they are. And that could be addressing budgeting…and then moving further along [to items] like setting an investment strategy for a long-term goal such as [buying] a home or certainly living in retirement,” said Chiulli.

SageView focuses on “helping people through those different life phases, whether they’re new to an organization, or leaving the organization for retirement or otherwise,” Tapia said.   

For individuals near to retiring, SageView provides transition solutions, which can help participants to understand their options.

“We also have national wellness workshops for all of our [sponsor] clients. We encourage their employees to join on a monthly basis, and that creates a baseline layer of education,” Tapia added. “And then, we have our various web-based solutions where [one shows how to] log-in,” to their retirement account.  

Maximizing value

Sponsors want to know their investments in financial wellness are positively effecting employees, explained Jake Spiegel, a research associate at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, and a speaker on the livestream.

“We’re seeing some appetite for measuring cost-benefit analysis for financial wellness initiatives,” he said. “One of the ways that employers can realize that this is a serious benefit is through increased productivity.”

Employers will gain a better understanding of what employees need by using surveys of workers and employee focus groups. Sponsors will study usage of employee benefits to analyze the effects of financial wellness programs on employees, said Spiegel.  

“If a company is rolling out a high-deductible plan with a [health savings account], they would define higher HSA enrollments and contributions as a measure of success; and they’re also looking at things like improved employee retention,” explained Spiegel.

The full livestream is available on demand.