Financial Confidence

Financial Confidence
and the Workplace
Financial stress in employees’ personal lives can
have significant ripple effects in the workplace,
including declines in productivity, focus and
performance. A variety of recent studies have
explored the extent and impact of financial stress
in the workplace. Studies have also looked at
companies that have started adding financial
wellness programs to their benefits package to
help improve employee engagement—and, ideally,
their bottom line. 1
In this whitepaper, we examine an interesting
trend in how people feel about their finances
over time. While it might be assumed that
financial confidence increases with time—along
with wisdom and salaries—our research found
the opposite. Specifically, we explore the sharp
decline in confidence after age 25, and how
increased financial responsibility paired with
stagnant income growth can culminate in a crisis of
confidence for people in their mid-30s and 40s.
By illuminating what may hinder financial
confidence across a range of age groups, this
report can help provide a deeper understanding
of how we might approach financial wellness in
the US, thereby mitigating the negative effects of
financial stress.
7 out of 10 workers say
financial stress is their most
common cause of stress 2
In 2012, about 1 in 5
employees admitted they
had skipped work in the past
year to deal with a financial
problem 2
Over 60% of human
resource professionals say
financial stress is having an
impact on employee work
performance 2
55% of employers believe
financial wellness leads to
greater productivity 3
26% of small companies, 43%
of medium companies and
46% of large companies have
a financial wellness strategy
in place for their employees
or plan to add one in the next
two years 3
1
Data is from 9/1/2013–7/15/2014 and aggregate
of 78,717 users.
2
Consumer Finance Protection Bureau Report,
Financial Wellness at Work (August 2014),
available at http://www.consumerfinance.gov/
reports/financial-wellness-at-work/
3
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Workplace
Benefits Report (December 2013), available
at http://benefitplans.baml.com/ir/pages/
workplace-benefits-report.aspx
3 Financial Confidence: Examining the U-Curve—and How We Might Improve the Confidence Trajectory