Strategies and tools for building financial wellness intended for customers.
One of my best read (and Forbes.com Editor’s Choice) articles last year was about how the financial health crisis in this country is hurting our physical and mental health. When this happens, our financial health can be stressed even more, causing the circle to begin again with even worse effects. We can turn these vicious circles … Read more
…and Will Likely Stay That Way In January 2016 I founded a tech start-up help Americans make better financial decisions. I’ve since learned that most people are stressed out because they save little, have enormous debt, don’t know where their money goes and feel they’re not on track to meeting their long-term goals. I also found that … Read more
How You’ll Know There’s a Problem Sometimes employees’ financial stresses get so intense, they become unavoidable management issues. They can reduce productivity and engagement and increase turnover, healthcare utilization, absenteeism and worse. Employers’ resources for addressing this kind of issue are typically very limited. It’s not unheard of for employees to directly ask their managers … Read more
Can financial education/coaching break the financial stress, declining health cycle? In a previous article, I outlined three vicious cycles affecting financial stress, physical and mental health. They are vicious because, once financial stress occurs, the health impacts can lead to yet more stress, which can further impair health, causing additional financial stress as the cycle begins … Read more
Do you know someone going off to college who’s clueless about money? What if they’re clueless about why they’re going in the first place? Then Finance is Personal by Kim Stephenson and Ann Hutchins should be on their summer reading list. Even those further along in their careers will benefit from portions of this book (as I … Read more
Feedback loops are powerful forces of nature. Melting polar ice caps reduce the earth’s reflectivity, causing it to absorb more heat from the sun, which accelerates the melting. The cumulative, accelerating aspects of such loops make it imperative to break the cycle before it gets out of control. Below, I identify three feedback loops among financial … Read more
Budgets. Yawn. Why bother? I prefer the uncertainty and anxiety of never knowing that I have enough money to pay rent (said no one ever)? My Paris Budget So, I created my first budget when I went to Paris during my junior year in university. I had limited funds, an exchange rate to manage and I was … Read more
You’re saving too much…said no financial expert ever. It’s America Saves Week, which is all about saving more. If you’re in your twenties, you’ll be told to save ten to 15 percent of your income. Older? You’ll be advised to save 20-30 percent or more! At the same time, one-third of Americans have saved precisely … Read more
Saving money is hard. It requires self-control in the face of continuous bombardment by scientifically engineered marketing messages, peer-pressure and brains “designed” for immediate gratification. For many of us, it requires investing some quality time to mindfully design a sustainable budget that’s in line with our values. (We think we’ve figured out how to make … Read more
The Budgeting Blues. Like flossing one’s teeth, everyone knows we’re supposed to budget regularly. Yet it’s not surprising that less than 40 percent of Americans floss daily and a similarly low proportion have saved enough to meet an unexpected $500 bill. Coincidence? The benefits of both are intangible and in the future, while the inconvenience … Read more