Personalized Benefits Drive Participant Success
A new report tells two distinct stories between generations, underlining the need for thorough personalization in benefits.
The study from Financial Finesse’s Financial Wellness Think Tank shows that Gen Z workers under age 30, with a household income of less than $60,000, saw financial levels improve in 2025. On the other hand, Millennial workers ages 30 to 44 and with a household income between $60,000 and $100,000 felt an increase in financial stress.
The findings emphasize the impact of personalization in benefit plans, and how different generations will have distinct financial wants and needs that will need tailoring.
“This is just one example highlighting the very different experiences of two cohorts, but there are a myriad of others to consider,” said Liz Davidson, founder and CEO of Financial Finesse. “To effectively reach all employees across all cohorts, financial wellness programs need to flex to the individual level, and the most successful programs pair AI and human coaching to achieve mass personalization at scale.”
Benefit-integrated users likelier to hit financial milestones
Offering financial wellness platforms with integrated benefits, rather than generic financial content, could lead to higher participation engagement and satisfaction, notes Financial Finesse. The findings show a 79% increase among benefit-integrated users who reached a Financial Wellness Score of 5.0 or higher, compared to a 55% surge among those using non-integrated platforms.
Benefit-integrated users were likelier to hit milestones across retirement readiness, emergency savings, and benefits utilization, Financial Finesse reports.
Employers could also drive impact by consciously timing marketing and communication strategies, the report notes. For example, employers who offered retirement education “at a true moment of need,” like during a voluntary separation decision, saw a 72.4% attendance rate compared to 5.6% for plan sponsors who delivered the same content through standard promotional channels.
AI support mixed with human guidance
Employers who offered artificial intelligence (AI) assistance along with one-on-one human support, like AI coaching with human guidance, also saw 40% better outcomes on average compared to companies who used AI tools alone.
These employers had a greater number of participants with emergency savings of $1,000 or more (at 36% of companies with AI and human support vs. 22% with just AI), who were on course with retirement needs (53% vs. 38%), and who eliminated high-interest debt (58% vs. 42%).
The findings emphasize collaboration between AI tools and professional advice, adding that offering the technology as another channel, along with human support, could better help participants.
“The data doesn’t suggest AI lacks value,” said Davidson. “It suggests AI works best as an access point, not a replacement, when financial decisions become complex or emotionally charged.”
Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with nearly a decade of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news.