“And just a few years ago, a staggering 56% of student loan borrowers said they’d take a punch in the face from boxing legend Mike Tyson if it meant they could get out from under their student loans,” Daniel Bryant wrote in The Financial Wellness Mandate: Be the Employer of Choice by Offering the Benefits Today’s Workers Want and Need Most.
Featured heavily at the Wealth@wor(k) conference in Nashville this week, Bryant, a co-founder of Sheridan Road (sold to Hub International in 2019), has heavy-hitters like Art Laffer on board with the book.
He outlined four primary obstacles that prevent people from making better financial decisions:
- Credit card debt
- Student loan debt
- Medical expenses
- Housing-related debt.
“Those four pieces of the puzzle impact our daily, weekly, and monthly cash flow,” Bryant said in an interview from the floor of the conference. “If it impedes our cash flow, we cannot save for the future. We can’t save more tomorrow unless we borrow less today, referencing the book of the same name from UCLA behavioral economist Shlomo Benartzi.”
He argued that employers are the most logical distribution vehicle for financial literacy and wellness solutions because employees largely value, respect, and trust their employer. “It’s where we work and spend most of our waking hours.”
“The reason why advisors care about this is that the healthier the workforce, the more present and productive they are, and the more disposable income they have to save for retirement.”
Daniel Bryant
“I remember talking to Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, who runs a wonderful financial wellness firm called Wellthy,” Bryant recalled. “It’s headquartered in New York and it’s in the caregiving service business. They were founded in 2013, successfully raised venture capital, and originally had a B to C model, which as we know, is incredibly difficult. They then partnered with Prudential and Fidelity, began distributing through the employer and their services have taken off. This is where decisions are made. Employees say, ‘Hey, I’m 28. I can solve student loan debt at the employer. I need an emergency savings vehicle. I can solve that at work through a payroll deduction program. Or “I’m 45 and I have aging parents who need caregiving services. It’s just an easier way to do it.”
The book addresses how companies can compete in an era where there’s low unemployment. A salary is merely a contract, but benefits are where we can show employees that employers care and are empathetic. They understand what they are going through and what stresses they carry, he claimed.
“What we found is that if you’re 22 years old and entering the workforce, 75% of you that went to college have, on average, $29,000 of student loan debt and $6,000 of credit card debt,” he noted. “So, you’re 22 with $35,000 of debt, and you’re trying to figure it out. Good luck with that. We’re living in an era of eighth-grade literacy in this country, but sixth grade from a financial literacy standpoint, and only 53% of Americans can answer five basic financial literacy questions, like how to budget.”
Universities and schools are buying the book and giving it to students entering the workforce, as are HR associations, traditional employees, and advisors and consultants.
“The reason why advisors care about this is that the healthier the workforce, the more present and productive they are, the more disposable income they have to save for retirement, and the better we can manage those assets,” Bryant concluded. “We’re nudging people to make decisions that they wouldn’t ordinarily make.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
