Financial Wellness: Vital for Employee Well-being
Financial wellness is of critical importance for employees as it directly impacts their overall well-being and quality of life. Achieving financial stability and security reduces stress and anxiety related to money matters, allowing individuals to focus better on their work and personal lives. Employees with strong financial wellness are better equipped to handle unexpected expenses, emergencies, and future financial goals, providing them with a sense of control and peace of mind. Moreover, financial wellness even contributes to better physical health as financial stress has been linked to various health issues like heart disease, insomnia, and depression. Employers recognizing and investing in their employees’ financial wellness demonstrate a commitment to their team’s holistic health and satisfaction, which can significantly improve employee morale, productivity, and retention rates.
At the conclusion of The Plan Sponsor University (TPSU) Fiduciary Education Program held on the campus of The University of North Florida, in Jacksonville, Florida, Fred Barstein, founder, and CEO of TPSU, interviews Jason Hamilton, the Director of Retirement nationally at MII Capital. Jason explains MII Capital’s transition from West Point Business Group to a larger national RAA, allowing them to handle not only retirement but also wealth management. Fred and Jason discuss the convergence of wealth, retirement, and benefits at the workplace, emphasizing the integration of financial wellness programs and leveraging health savings accounts (HSAs) with insurance programs to address rising healthcare costs. Jason highlights the importance of personalizing the financial wellness experience for employees and measuring its impact, ultimately promoting overall emotional and financial wellness.
Read the Full Transcript Here:
Fred Barstein:
Greetings. This is Fred Barstein, Founder and CEO of TPSU and 401k TV here at Jacksonville at the University of North Florida, where we just completed a TPSU program here are one of the adjunct collectors, Jason Hamilton.
Jason Hamilton:
Yes.
Fred Barstein:
Jason, okay if we ask you a few questions?
Jason Hamilton:
Absolutely.
Fred Barstein:
Very good. So before we do, Jason works at MII Capital that used to be called West Point.
Jason Hamilton:
They used to be West Point Business Group. Yep.
Fred Barstein:
Right now they’re part of a much larger national RAA, so they can deal with not just retirement, but also wealth. What’s your role there at MII?
Jason Hamilton:
I’m the Director of Retirement nationally.
Fred Barstein:
Okay. So first question, and I know you wanted to talk about this is sort of the convergence of wealth, retirement, and benefits at the workplace.
Jason Hamilton:
Yeah.
Fred Barstein:
What does that really mean and how can plan sponsors leverage that?
Jason Hamilton:
No, that’s a great question. It’s interesting. We’ve been hearing about this in the industry for a number of years now. I’ve been in this industry 28 years, and probably the last three or four you’re hearing about this convergence, and I really didn’t experience it until we began working with our affiliate company, Epic Insurance Brokers. So I’m able to meet with a lot of employee benefits clients, and what you’re hearing from the HR team, the HR directors, is this desire to assimilate health and wealth together, whether it means financial wellness programs, leveraging HSA with high deduct insurance programs.
Fred Barstein:
Right.
Jason Hamilton:
And how we can project out retirement income needs, right around really the healthcare costs, as there’s rising healthcare costs, and that’s becoming more of an issue for these HR directors.
Fred Barstein:
Right.
Jason Hamilton:
Is trying to deal with that for their employees.
Fred Barstein:
Right. So give us an example of something, financial wellness on the wealth side, a tangible feature on that.
Jason Hamilton:
Yeah, I know, and it’s kind of this vague term, financial wellness. What does this mean? And I think it becomes really individualized. You see in the financial world, in the retirement plan space with a lot of the providers offering these real personalized education strategies, and what financial wellness does in my mind and kind of in our group’s mind is personalize the experience for the individual, meaning trying to determine what’s important for that particular employee, whether that be basic budgeting, insurance planning, income needs, whatever the case may be.
Fred Barstein:
Okay.
Jason Hamilton:
And identifying a solution around that to directly address that need for that individual employee.
Fred Barstein:
And doing it at scale, right?
Jason Hamilton:
And doing it at scale, and then being able to report back to the HR group, right? These are the concerns of your employee group, here’s how we’re addressing those concerns, and here’s how we’re moving the ball forward as far as overall wellness, emotional financial wellness, in the individual.
Fred Barstein:
So we’re talking about measurement.
Jason Hamilton:
Measurement, exactly right.
Fred Barstein:
Well, thanks for your time. Final question. You’ve been to a couple of TPSU. Why should a plan sponsor attend that?
Jason Hamilton:
Right. Well, we had an unbelievable event today. I mean, just some robust discussion around Secure Act 2.0, and what I always take away with it is just the employers, the HR directors having discussions with themselves. And I think that was spoken about today is the true value is obviously we talked about Secure Act 2.0 and gave them some best fiduciary practices, but really the value is in them speaking with their peers and understanding that they’re dealing with many of the same challenges.
Fred Barstein:
Right.
Jason Hamilton:
And some of those peer groups have some really good ideas as how they’ve addressed it in the past, and so that information sharing at a peer level, I think is invaluable. Absolutely.
Fred Barstein:
Well, thanks for your time today and thank you for participating in TPSU.
Jason Hamilton:
Well, thank you.
Fred Barstein:
And thank you for watching 401k TV.
