Happy weekend, PLANSPONSOR readers! This week we’ll be focusing on financial wellness and participant education. According to a Financial Finesse survey, participants repeatedly engaging in financial wellness programs offered by their employer are more likely to be on track for retirement and have higher confidence in their investments. Next, some companies are executing new participant education communications—behavioral economics. The education method merges psychology and economics to understand specific decisions, says the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP). Employees are also crediting health savings accounts (HSAs) and wellness programs for empowering them to make better health and financial decisions, and employers are looking to offer total well-being programs rather than solely physical. All this and more on this edition of PLANSPONSOR Weekend.
Compared with new users, repeat users are 24% more apt to be on track for retirement and 21% more apt to have confidence in their investments, Financial Finesse research finds.
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Some companies already employ the theories of behavioral economics in various strategies that push their workers to make healthier decisions, says the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
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However, EBRI found plan participants who have owned a health savings account (HSA) for 10 or more years are very likely to report (71%) that having an HSA has empowered them to make better health and financial decisions.
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Fifty-three percent of people with access to wellness programs said the initiatives have made a positive impact on their health, which can save both employees and employers money.
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Broadening the focus of traditional, physically focused wellness programs to become more holistic (adding financial, social & mental well-being) is leading more employers to ask about a platform/hub to combine all of their benefits initiatives, a survey found.
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Industry expert replaces BPAS SVP of Fiduciary Services; USI Consulting employs VP of Retirement Services; Cafaro Greenleaf announces addition of investment analyst; and more.
Among the bills approved by the House Ways and Means Committee is one that would qualify significantly more health treatments, services and over-the-counter drugs for HSA spending.
Commenting on the decision, Segal Consulting says it is “consistent with every other decision handed down in similar cases except for one,” the Southern District of New York Court’s decision in The New York Times Company v. Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’-Publishers’ Pension Fund, which is being appealed.
