by Joseph P. Trybula, CFP®, AIF®, Diversified Financial Advisors

Your company is likely among the majority that not only want to help employees with their nonretirement financial matters but also are offering tools to make it happen. That statement can be made with some degree of confidence because according to the Aon Hewitt 2017 Hot Topics in Retirement and Financial Wellbeing report, 59 percent of employers recently asked said they are very likely, with another 33 percent moderately likely, to focus on overall financial wellness among employees.

That’s a very strong showing of more than 90 percent. Helping employees take charge of their financial lives isn’t a new idea, of course. But it seems to be gaining more popularity each year: 60 percent of organizations say they believe financial wellness has increased in importance within their organizations in the past two years. Even more startling, the percentage of employers who offer workers a tool to help them with at least one aspect of financial wellness is expected to reach 84 percent by the end of 2017 – up from 58 percent at the beginning of the year.

Most popular among current offerings are services, tools or educational campaigns that address the basics of financial markets/simple investing, offered by 43 percent of employers responding to the Aon Hewitt survey. Other popular items were health care education and planning (37 percent), financial planning (35 percent) and budgeting (34 percent). Among companies that don’t currently offer these services, tools or educational campaigns, many say they are very likely to do so in the future. Among the topics of interest:

• Basics of financial markets/simple investing, 42 percent
• Health care education and planning, 38 percent
• Financial planning, 37 percent
• Budgeting, 36 percent

Contact Joe Trybula at [email protected] or 800.307.0376 for more details.