edu(k)ate Blog

Empowering 401(k) advisors and employers to increase the financial knowledge of employees. Education and data on participant financial wellness.

[edukateblog]

Everyday Financial Wellness Episode 1: Natali Morris & Being a Chief Home Officer

We’re very lucky to have Natali Morris on the show. She’s a technology journalist, and on-air contributor for CNBC and The TODAY Show. She's also the Chief Home Officer of Morris, Inc.

During the first episode we talk quite a bit about this idea of a Chief Home Officer, particularly it’s empowering nature and the importance of knowing where you money is and where you’re letting it go each day.

We also discuss how finances shape household partnerships and hear some of the steps Natali has taken to make sure to cultivate a financially well household.

We also explore the role of parents in helping to shape a child’s view of money and some of the challenges associated with doing so.

[edukateblog]

Boosting Employee Financial Wellness Initiatives with Kate: A Personalized Retirement Experience

Employer-sponsored retirement plans like a 401(k) are great, but getting people into the right frame of mind about their retirement isn’t easy. Kate, our personalized retirement experience, takes a different approach towards helping people start a better relationship with their money and get on track for retirement.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Use Kate to show the power of compound interest.

Use Kate to lead a more practical conversation about retirement readiness.

Use Kate to answer how much people will need in retirement.

Kate helps people understand their future financial self in a different kind of way. This is done by focusing only on the most simple financial wellness metric that people can control: their own personal spending. Out of control spending is one of the biggest culprits preventing a person from reaching their financial wellness zen.

At edu(k)ate, we want Kate to inspire everyday people to embrace a financial lifestyle that supports reaching retirement readiness by putting more of their paycheck into their retirement goals.

Here are three ways Kate can boost an employee financial wellness initiative.  

Discussing Retirement Readiness Differently

Getting employees to understand the steps they need to take to reach retirement - in a way that feels truly doable - is really difficult. Nearly every American knows and feels the relentless pressure to “save more.” And hearing it again and again, well, really doesn’t help. That’s why Kate is designed to lead a conversation focused not on “saving more”, but on “spending less.”

The Kate experience helps highlight how buying lattes or eating lunch out three-days a week is crushing a person’s long term retirement readiness. People are encouraged to play around with their financial information and learn how a small change in their day-to-day lifestyle, can get them where they want to be in retirement.

At the end of the Kate experience, people can request a free guide with both fun and practical tips to help them spend less money each day and reach their financial wellness goal.

Delivering Personalized Retirement Guidance

People have no idea how much money they’ll use during retirement. This is where you can really help address a pressing question that should be on everyone’s mind: Am I saving enough for retirement?

According to LifeCare/Financial Planning Association's 2015 report on Financial Confidence of American workers, 56% of respondents say they want help solving for how much they need to save for a comfortable retirement.

Kate goes beyond basic online tools to not only solve for what people need to save, but shows them how controlled spending over the course of a life-time can really stack up, boosting their overall financial wellness.

Boosting Retirement Contributions

When you’re always using 100% of your paycheck to manage other immediate financial stressors, you’re constantly delaying the long-term benefit of compound interest.

Kate uses interactive visuals to show people the benefit of taking control of their spending, to eliminate major financial stressors like credit card debt, so they can begin to experience the magic of compound interest.

Ready to boost your financial wellness initiative? Try the free version of Kate today. Want a complete financial wellness solution for your clients? Email [email protected].

[edukateblog]

Are “Retirement Readiness Scores” relevant to working Millennials today?

Even with the passage of the Pension Plan Protection Act giving us access to automatic features, there are still a few forces working against employed Millennials who are trying to become ready for retirement.

For example:

Automatic enrollment: 62% of employers set the default savings rate at a meager 3% of salary. A more appropriate savings rate should be in the range of 10 - 15% of salary.

Automatic escalation: Many employers who offer automatic enrollment do not offer automatic escalation as a feature. However, 55% of retirement participants polled suggested they would favor automatic annual increases.

Additionally, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, current employee turnover happens every 4.6 years and the majority of workers will not retire with their current employer.

So, while reaching “retirement readiness” is a worthy goal, it is often times overshadowed by more immediate financial stressors that Millennials feel on a daily or monthly basis - think credit card debt, student loan repayments, and building a cash cushion for financial emergencies.

Understanding these facts and real-world situations of working Millennials, employers should put more emphasis towards helping their Millennial employees lead healthier financial lives in the short-term. This approach will ultimately yield more happy and productive Millennial workers giving employers a better ROI from these hires. That’s why it is critical for employers to offer financial wellness programs in addition to retirement planning.

Let’s use Google Trends to examine search data and compare how many people are looking for retirement planning help versus managing other financial stressors - specifically credit card and student loan debt.

Retirement Planning vs. Credit Card Debt

From the data we can infer that nearly three times as many people are searching for ways to manage credit card debt as compared to planning for their retirement. We see a rise in the search leading up to and a few years after the Financial Crisis (2008-2010), then begin to taper off as the economy began to recover and people got back to work.

Retirement Planning vs. Student Loan Debt

It’s clear that since 2007 more and more people have been searching for ways to manage student loan debt. Now this may mean that students are more internet savvy than others but if you look in 2007 there was a fairly wide gap with Retirement Planning trending 2 to 1 to Student Loan Debt.

What is more interesting is the consistent rise of the student loan debt trend growing from 2011 at a very quick pace. If we dive a bit deeper into the longer-tail search phrases we find the following:

We can see that the top four searches are all related to the forgiveness of debt. Those with student loan debt are looking for a way out and who can blame them. With jobs for graduates at all time lows and tuition at all time highs Millennials are met with a challenging obstacle before they can begin to tackle retirement planning.

It’s time that employers began offering more comprehensive financial wellness programs that address the root cause of why so many Millennial employees either don’t sign up or contribute into a 401(k)/403(b) program. Here are a few actions you can take:

Provide relevant meaningful education and advice on current financial concerns - especially those employees who opt out after being automatically enrolled. This may signal a financial hardship which could be impacting productivity.  

Make financial literacy education available online, mobile and at the employee's convenience. Most importantly education outside the scope of the retirement plan.

Offer financial decision making tools that help employees simulate the impact of tough or complicated financial choices, such as how best to deal with medical emergencies, financial hardships, and broken down automobiles.

Incentivize employees to boost their financial literacy through corporate sponsored contests by offering monetary rewards.

According to the 2015 Millennial Money Report, Millennial workers are carrying on average $36,584 in student loan debt, $3,718 in credit-card debt, and $12,273 auto debt. Forcing them to cope and manage this debt before allocating a portion of their paycheck into their retirement plan. At the end of the day if “retirement readiness” is the end goal, then it's important to boost overall financial literacy levels and help Millennials overcome these escalating debt burdens.

The economic environment and workforce turnover trends for Millennials has changed. Yet, the benefit programs offered by employers have not helped address the root of the problem. In order for Millennial employees to really start participating in their employer sponsored retirement program they must pay down their debt and take control of their financial futures. Start helping your Millennial employees become less financially stressed and more productive by offering a more modern day financial wellness program.

Are you ready to offer for a more comprehensive financial wellness program? Visit us at edukate.com or email us at [email protected].

[edukateblog]

Why April is National Financial Literacy Month

April is National Financial Literacy Month

The term “financial planning” is a vague activity and the term is highly overused by an over-saturated market of providers, so what does the phrase mean exactly? As a basic definition, financial planning is a process for determining whether or not an individual can meet his or her life goals through the proper management of financial resources. Financial planning areas include:

Analysis of personal financial statements

Education planning

Risk Management

Income tax planning

Investment planning

Retirement planning

Estate planning

With a frightening 75% of Americans saving little to nothing for retirement, the White House decided to intervene by promoting personal financial planning, namely retirement saving. At the core of the retirement saving void is a lack of financial literacy. The White House officially proclaimed April to be National Financial literacy Month, here is an excerpt:

“To lay the foundation for continued prosperity, we must expand the availability of financial products and services that are fair, affordable, understandable, and reliable.  We must also strive to ensure all Americans have the skills to manage their fiscal resources effectively and avoid deceptive or predatory practices.” –Barak Obama

Websites like ConsumerFinance.gov and MyMoney.gov are government outlets aimed to promote Americans’ healthy financial lives as well as a direct hotline, 1-888-MyMoney. Other efforts throughout the month of April include:

Money Smart Week: Money Smart Week is a public awareness campaign designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances. This is achieved through the grass roots collaboration and coordinated effort of hundreds of organizations across the country including businesses, financial institutions, schools, libraries, not-for-profits, government agencies and the media. These groups come together once a year to stress the importance of financial literacy, inform consumers about where they can get help and provide free educational seminars and activities throughout the week. Financial literacy topics are offered to all demographics and income levels and covers all facets of personal finance from establishing a budget to first time home buying to estate planning. http://www.moneysmartweek.org/

AskCFPB: Consumer Finance Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray and the staff of the CFPB are taking a leading role in spreading the word about the benefits of knowing more about money. Being informed is your best defense against the tricks and traps found in some financial products. Recently, we launched Ask CFPB, a search tool to help you find plain-language answers to your questions about credit cards, mortgages, credit scores, and more. http://www.consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/

FDIC Money Smart: Money Smart is a comprehensive financial education curriculum designed to help low- and moderate-income individuals outside the financial mainstream enhance their financial skills and create positive banking relationships. Money Smart is delivered through classroom instruction, web courses, and MP3 broadcasts. The goal is to equip families with financial understanding and foster stability. http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/moneysmart/index.html

April as National Financial Literacy Month is an excellent message for the White House to send. However, the typical message is that the economy blossoms through consumer spending. Americans are unprepared for retirement because of a social expectation to spend above his or her means. Until a slow and deliberate shift in social norms occurs, retirement saving will continue to be stunted. American society values material possessions over smart investing habits. Workers earn to spend, not save. They cannot wear, drive, or live in retirement accounts. A basic behavior principle is lacking – motivation. The month of April provides active ways for consumers to organize, participate, and advance the financial literacy conversation.

[edukateblog]

Gamification, the Fiduciary Ally of Retirement Consultants

The biggest asset any person has is his or her ability to earn an income. Over the course of a lifetime, on average, workers will earn millions of dollars before they die, so why is the American personal savings rate so low? Most of us, in fact almost all of us, earn more than enough to pay our bills and take care of necessities so why are we so strapped? Because workers earn to spend and are financially illiterate when it comes to personal saving methods. Workers just don’t know what to do with the leftover income. Who will help them? One of the biggest allies an employee has is her or his retirement plan administrator.

At the onset of 2014, the American savings rate was a stagnant 4% of earned income, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The same bureau also cited a 3% increase in personal wages which translates to wages increasing with no significant saving rate increase. The hard truth, per the American Payroll Association, is that 72% of Americans spend everything they earn immediately and do not utilize employer sponsored retirement plans whatsoever. Corporations willing to match employee retirement saving rates keep billions of dollars each year instead of transferring that money to employees’ balance sheets.

Retirement plan administrators are held to a fiduciary standard to act solely in the interest of plan participants and their beneficiaries and with the exclusive purpose of providing benefits to them. As a general overview that fiduciary responsibility is carried out in the following ways:

A written plan that describes the benefit structure and guides day-to-day operations

A trust fund to hold the plan's assets

A recordkeeping system to track the flow of monies going to and from the retirement plan

Documents to provide plan information to employees participating in the plan and to the government

The key word to note is participants, plan administrators are not focused on acquiring new employee participants. In order to do so would mean increasing financial literacy across the corporate footprint and it clearly shows through economic statistics that is not happening. This lack of employee plan participation has not gone unnoticed by Congress and The Department of Labor. To address the unsustainable American retirement savings rate, The Pension Protection Act of 2006 was initiated. As a response, edu(k)ate has created a financial wellness program built through Gamification that encourages retirement plan participation through employee cooperation and incentives. It is a seamless online interface that easily implements into employee daily routines, and empowers retirement plan consultants to provide more value and excel in their job.

Gamification serves several purposes beyond retirement plan participation:

Retirement plan fiduciaries exceed expectations

Employees discover the power of diversified investing over time

Employee engagement leads to positive company culture

Employee turnover decreases

The distribution of financial literacy is made easy

The Gamification program is a small investment for a business and consultant that offers massive returns. The power of bringing employees together to tackle one of the biggest stressors of their lives, money, will set your business apart from the rest. Employees truly value employers that care, therefore helping workers advance his or her financial literacy through enjoyable camaraderie is an excellent way to prove it.

 Sources: 

United states Department of Labor 

American Payroll Association 

[edukateblog]

America Saves Week: What is it and why it’s important? #ASW2014

By now you may have heard of America Saves Week (www.americasavesweek.org) or have seen the trending hashtag in our industry #ASW2014.   So what is it? and why is it important?  Well to begin we must really understand why this is happening, and why the government and media are finally beginning to understand the urgency in improving America’s financial literacy.  It is apparent that this topic is no longer just for those in the industry, America Saves Week is “sexy” and “mainstream” because it is time for all of us to take control of our financial wellness, know what to do, and in turn lead happier and less stressful lives.

As quoted on their website America Saves Week is:

“America Saves Week is coordinated by America Saves and the American Savings Education Council. Started in 2007, the Week is an annual opportunity for organizations to promote good savings behavior and a chance for individuals to assess their own saving status. Typically thousands of organizations participate in the Week, reaching millions of people.

America Saves is a national campaign involving more than 1,000 non-profit, government, and corporate groups that encourages individuals and families to save money and build personal wealth. Overall management for the campaign is provided by the non-profit Consumer Federation of America (CFA). CFA is comprised of over 270 consumer education, advocacy, and cooperative organizations dedicated to advancing the consumer interest.”

Along with these statistics:

54% said they “have a savings plan with specific goals.”

43% said they “have a spending plan that allows you to save enough money to achieve the goals of your saving plan.”

50% of those not retired said they “save for retirement at work through a 401(k) or other contributory plan.”

41% said that, “outside of work,” they “save automatically through regular preauthorized transfers from checking to savings or investments.”

49% know their net worth.

Why is this important?

As retirement practitioners this opens up two important topics of discussion.

1)  What exactly is the problem?

2)  How can I give my practice a competitive advantage?

The problem highlighted by America Saves Week and choosetosave.org is that we as Americans spend more time thinking about investments and less time promoting “Save Money.”  Further, the general consensus has been to focus on improving investment returns to achieve a successful retirement by allocating assets into riskier investments.  When in reality, if most people reduced their debt and increased their savings they would be on the road to a better retirement outcome (Choosetosave.org resources for better saving).

If we are able to engage employees, to better understand their financial situation. The result will be smarter financial choices and more opportunities for retirement success.  Not only making our job easier but providing high employee satisfaction (as we know, a happy client is the best way to grow our business).

So what can your practice do to help? Simple, education is not longer just a fiduciary duty, it is a requirement in the marketplace.  Provide financial wellness for all employees not just enrollment meetings and participant investment education. Put pressure on us, as an industry, to embrace it and make it a major part of our offering. Ultimately doing this will increase the value we provide and deliver better results.  The combination of expert advice, societal encouragement, and smart tools equals more Americans setting a goal, making a plan and having successful retirement outcomes.

We can help! edu(k)ate is a new tool for retirement plan advisors and employers to increase financial literacy by motivating users with sponsored contests, incentives and awards. By putting financial wellness tools in the hands of qualified financial professionals, we can reduce financial stress, drive down the costs of employee benefits and reduce fiduciary risk.  Learn how you can add edu(k)ate to your services: Schedule a demo.

Do you share our mission? Are you a modern consultant?  Email us at [email protected] and tell us about the strides you are taking to thrive in the digital age.

[edukateblog]

A case for online financial and retirement education: Chris Whitlow CEO of edu(k)ate 

Financial and retirement plan advisors visit edukate.com to schedule a personal demo

Visit edukate.com to learn more

Follow-us on twitter: @teamedukate

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and stay on top of your financial health.

Transcription of video:

"So with the status quo being live meetings, it is very challenging to be able to educate everybody through a live meeting.  And in a one-on-one process I don't think that one-on-one will ever go away, because a one-on-one meeting is a very personal relationship between an individual and the participant or the employee.  But I think in order to encourage those who may not feel comfortable with coming forth one-on-one or going out and hiring someone to help them with their financial decisions, they need a base level foundation in order for them to have the tools necessary to ask the right questions and have the comfortableness. So I think it is important for us to provide education to every single employee. Particularly in an online setting where they can go home and do this at their own pace, so that they can be armed at the questions that are necessary for them to ask of the financial professionals, what it is that they need help propel their financial futures. Important things to get the conversation rolling by employers rolling out an online program like educate, they are able to have the conversations with their participants.

For consultants and employers to be able to provide a contest to those employees in a fun and engaging way, they are able to have the conversation that they've never been able to have before with their participants. And for participants and employees to be able to go home and engaging education like they've never been able to do before, they are able to feel confident enough to go back and ask the questions that they need to have successful outcomes. So I believe in the future were going to have online education live one-on-one meetings, and group education meetings. Or going to enroll more participants than ever and were going to have better participant success than we've ever had before, and it's important that we do all these things in unison that we can have successful participants 20 30 40 years down the road."

Visit edukate.com to learn more

Follow-us on twitter: @teamedukate

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and stay on top of your financial health.

[edukateblog]

What is the biggest problem with today's financial education? CEO of edukate.com 

Financial and retirement plan advisors visit edukate.com to schedule a personal demo

Visit edukate.com to learn more

Follow-us on twitter: @teamedukate

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and stay on top of your financial health.

Video Transcript: 

"Unfortunately I think the biggest problem in financial education right now is that we are not doing enough of it. You know as practitioners were paid to provide a service that is very challenging to actually provide. And to measure the successes of each and every single one of those employees it is almost impossible to do today, so by creating a technology like edu(k)ate, we are truly able to connect to that participant directly to the employer and consultant in the way we've never been able to do before. We are able to measure the successes of each and every one of those participants and create engagement like we've never seen. I think that by tackling the problem we are ultimately going to have more successful participants.

But I think more importantly were going to get more practitioners excited more consultants and insiders are excited about providing education and engaging those participants and creating outcomes that are successful because it is an actual possibility for them now to be able to deliver it. Unlike before where they had to manually go out and he looked every single participant, here they can actually tackle the problem in an efficient manner that is easy to do and fun to engage with."

Visit edukate.com to learn more

Follow-us on twitter: @teamedukate

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and stay on top of your financial health.

[edukateblog]

Modern tools 401(k) Advisors use to improve financial literacy and grow their business

Despite what you have heard about online financial advice and tools, they are here to stay.   Many smart executives all over the country are rethinking the industry and betting big in its transformation.  Creating amazing companies which you may have heard of by now: Personal Capital, Betterment, MarketRiders, Wealthfront, LearnVest, FutureAdvisor, and the list continues. They aggregate your accounts, use technology to show smart investments, and provide helpful investment strategies at lower fees than most advisors could afford to charge.

Although many believe the job of a financial advisor is a narrowing field of the past (we won’t point fingers, just Google it).  We believe all this data and accessibility of information actually enables advisors to provide better education, advice, and engage  individuals in ways that we never could before (Video- CEO of edu(k)ate on enhancing one-on-one meetings).

At edu(k)ate, our mission is simple;  We provide tools to 401(k) advisors and employers empowering them to increase the financial knowledge and success of employees, delivering education in a fun and engaging way so they can live fuller and more productive lives (click to tweet).  We say “provide tools” because research has shown participants achieve more success when guided by real expert advisors, and we aim to empower the experts to continue to be leaders in financial wellness and retirement planning.

Even though financial information is now easily accessible to the masses, it still takes expertise to break down the data and translate it into action.  Successful online platforms should allow for a balance between online and offline in order to achieve optimal outcomes. Here at edu(k)ate we have perfected this balance. By providing consultants and employers a platform that uses engagement techniques to improve the financial literacy of their clients, live-meetings can be more effective. Employees can walk away with a true understanding of their financial position and the ability to make financial decisions that improve their financial health and retirement success.  

Eric Hoffer once said, "In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves equipped to deal with a world that no longer exist." (Click to tweet).  Savvy retirement plan consultants understand that to build sustainable success you have to keep learning and adapting to a changing world.  This change is going to create an environment where industry leaders will flourish like never before, but those who remain static will inevitably become obsolete.

Do you share our mission? Are you a modern consultant?  Email us at [email protected] and tells us about the strides you are taking to thrive in the digital age.

[edukateblog]

PRESS RELEASE: edu(k)ate to offer Wall Street Survivor Courses for Employee Financial Wellness

With America Saves Week Beginning February 24th edu(k)ate Brings Fun to Financial Literacy for Employees.

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- edu(k)ate, the first gamified financial wellness application for retirement plan advisors and employers announced today its release of a new Target Date Funds Course from Wall Street Survivor. Anyone can play the course for FREE at www.edukate.com.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140224/MN70608)

edu(k)ate was launched to address Congressional and Department of Labor concerns of a lack of financial literacy and unsustainable savings rates in qualified retirement plans nationwide and especially amongst the younger workforce. By implementing game inspired techniques edu(k)ate has seen a dramatic increase in the willingness of employees to complete financial learning.

The industry since the creation of the Pension Protection Act in 2006 has focused on providing "investment advice" to retirement plan participants. However, studies have shown the lack of successful retirement outcomes is largely impacted by employee contributions and not the return of investments.

Furthermore, even with the advent of automatic enrollment plans, 401(k) participation is nowhere near 100%. It should be a top priority to provide basic financial education to all employees to give them the information they need to "Start."  Traditional retirement plan education is generally reserved for the participating employees only. Our focus needs to be on how we can help those who aren't saving "Start" and those who are saving, to save more. We know the culprits: high debt, low wages, medical expenses, family needs, high energy and housing cost.

"Financial literacy in the 21st century should be an inalienable right and without it you are at a disadvantage," says Chris Whitlow, CEO and founder of edu(k)ate. "Thousands of Retirement Plan Consultants & Financial Advisors are in the position to tackle this problem and innovative technology like edu(k)ate can help them."

edu(k)ate has seen success in engagement and is off to a great start. The industry average for online participant engagement is currently 7% across major retirement record keepers. Without meaningful motivation employees don't show interest in engaging even though the majority of them have smart-phones and use online banking. However, when employers offer contest, awards and incentives which often is less expensive than one live-financial-seminar we have seen engagement reach over 50%. Our strongest demographic is with 18 to 45 yr. old men and women.

Getting Started

1.   Employers and/or their consultants signup through edukate.com

2.   Employers decide on an incentive (gift cards, lunch parties, vacations days, etc.)

3.   Employees create an account and start to learn, monitoring the leader board all the way!

4.   When the contest ends, employees are awarded, camaraderie is achieved and the employer gets a report of the analytics documenting their efforts. The data is also used to make better decisions around benefits spending and reduce fiduciary risk.

edu(k)ate's platform is record keeper agnostic and education can be added from any source. We provide the points system, badges and contest tools. Our software can distribute and document communication along with the education. The library is open to all employees year round allowing them to tackle problems even when there isn't an incentive. Distributing education should be easy, especially to large employee populations across multiple geographic locations. For Retirement Plan Consultants who have many clients edu(k)ate streamlines the process and makes it possible to connect with thousands of employees.

Courses are available for free at edukate.com. For more information for employers and consultants please [email protected] to request a demo or visit edukate.com/consultant.

About edu(k)ate, Inc.

Founded in 2013, Orlando-based edu(k)ate is an online service that makes it easy for retirement plan consultants and employers to distribute and promote financial literacy to employees. Regardless of the financial institution providing the retirement plan or the geography of employees, edu(k)ate increases financial proficiency by motivating users with sponsored contests, incentives and awards. By putting financial wellness tools in the hands of qualified financial professionals, we can reduce financial stress, drive down the costs of employee benefits and reduce fiduciary risk.

www.edukate.com

About Wall Street Survivor

Wall Street Survivor is on a mission to demystify investing through interactive and comprehensive education. Jargon-free courses, paired with the web's best stock simulator, allows people to learn and practice trading stocks in a risk-free way. Jumping head first into the stock market can be scary. Wall Street Survivor turns that fear into fun, while preparing investors for a successful financial future. 

www.wallstreetsurvivor.com

Media Contact: Christopher Whitlow, Edukate, Inc., 407-474-1976, [email protected]

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

[edukateblog]

How employers can better deliver financial education to employees: Chris Whitlow - edukate.com

Visit edukate.com to learn more and schedule a personal demo

Follow-us on twitter: @teamedukate

Transcription of video: 

"I think currently the way that education is delivered to employees is very challenging right now. Delivering one subject in a live meeting to a diverse group of individuals becomes very hard to connect with each one of those employees in a way that is impactful and meaningful to them. By using technology and providing you with an online environment in place can learn what they want to learn when they want to learn it. They're going through a challenging time with purchasing a car or learning what a 401(k) is they can tackle those issues. Meanwhile that same person who might be 20 or 30 years older who is challenging problems of how to put the kid through college, or get closer to retirement what do we do in the plan for that, they too can tackle those challenges at the same time. So I think using technology and delivered it in a way that is different from the current status quo enables us to make more of an impact for participants and employees."

Visit edukate.com to learn more

Follow-us on twitter: @teamedukate

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and stay on top of your financial health.

[edukateblog]

How technology can solve America's financial illiteracy: Chris Whitlow- CEO of edukate.com

Financial and retirement plan advisors visit edukate.com to schedule a personal demo 

Visit edukate.com to learn more Follow-us on twitter: @teamedukate Subscribe to our Youtube channel and stay on top of your financial health.

Transcription of video:

"So while technology can allow you to distribute education in a way that we've never been able to do before, it also enables us to provide 'gamification' and motivational techniques that truly engage participants. In a live setting you know the best statistics we can get is hopefully like a sign in sheet, but through the online environment can actually see who's been engaged and what they've been engaged with. We can produce and promote ways that we've never been able to do for, and we can have contests that really incentivize those employees to get engaged in those educational incentives. So I think the engagement through online contest through the online environment coupled with the current status quo of live meetings, really produces the best way for an employee or participants have an engagement."

Visit edukate.com to learn more Follow-us on twitter: @teamedukate Subscribe to our Youtube channel and stay on top of your financial health.

[edukateblog]

Rethinking today’s distribution of retirement education

Financial education and financial literacy are the bloodline to long term financial success and stability.  Unfortunately, we are not doing enough of it.  Financial advisors are paid to provide a service that is very challenging to successfully deliver.  Our goal should be to effectively distribute quality financial education to all employees not just those participating in the retirement plan (Click to tweet). But currently it is impossible to deliver the education, measure the success of each and every employee and guarantee a successful retirement outcome.

This creates a challenge for advisors who want to offer a great service, but often struggle with spreading themselves too thin when attempting to reach a wide audience.  As a result, employers and advisors are at a loss with properly educating their entire workforce. Unfortunately, many of the employees who are unable to receive proper financial education are often the ones that need it the most and will ultimately come up short in retirement.

Enter the internet. The single biggest contribution that the internet has brought to society is the ability to put the world's information at your fingertips. Now it’s up to us to structure this information in a way that allows the best available content to reach to the most appropriate audience and measure its effectiveness. This change has transformed some of the worlds biggest industries; from changing the way we buy cars like Cars.com to organizations like Coursera.com who bring education to the masses.  With America’s recent focus on financial literacy and successful retirement outcomes, we believe it’s absolutely necessary to bring quality and easy to understand financial and retirement education to the masses(Click to tweet).

By going online we can distribute education through edukate.com to assure that employees have a solid foundation of financial awareness. Enabling them to gain the confidence necessary to save and invest for their financial futures.  Using technology we can measure the success and “financial health” of an employer population while using gamification tactics to motivate employees in a way we have never seen before.

Ultimately, financial advisors will be working with a more educated pool of employees creating more successful retirement outcomes. The benefits will spread to all stakeholders resulting in happier employees, better retention, and lower benefits cost.

[edukateblog]

Is technology the solution to America's financial literacy problems?

Studies show that millions of Americans lack basic financial literacy.  As a result, this is building a culture of young people who are set back by student debt and older Americans who will face tough challenges when hoping to reach retirement.   

According to a 182 page SEC study, this problem played a role in America's recent financial crisis, prompting part of the Wall Street reform law with a goal to improve Americans knowledge of investment and financial planning.

Why is this happening? Who is responsible for financial education?   

Employers have a fiduciary responsibility to provide financial education, and they do, but with the current status quo education is very difficult for employers to effectively deliver to their employees.  For reason such as;

Live in person meetings are very time consuming, intimidating, and often reserved for active participants who also tend to be one ones who need the least help.

Customized solutions are difficult: Everyone faces unique problems, challenges, and goals.  There is no customizable solution with a proactive approach to help individuals with what they need, when they need it.

Measurement of success:  There is little information  back to the employer and consultants to effectively measure the “health” of their organizations financial education and employee stress levels.

As a result, employers currently spend $5,000 per year/per employee due to financial stress (Financial Finesse 2013 Finesse report). Currently we have a very reactive savings approach, often meeting once a year to talk about enrollment and how to save more money, instead of focusing on the issues at hand.  Our industry has to provide employers a proactive approach to tackle problems and find effective solutions.

“Those challenges are very real and difficult for employees to face on a daily basis.  To expect them to come to work every day and not carry these concerns, is not to be expected.” - (Click to tweet)

“Chris Whitlow CEO of edu(k)ate on employee financial stress”  

A possible solution:

In order to increase participation, reduce employee stress, and even do our part in stabilizing our economy, we have to focus on a proactive approach to promote financial education and provide the tools and resources to overcome the current challenges.   Providing employees a way to engage throughout the year as their problems come to them, will ultimately result in a more productive and happy employee.

Recent advances in technology allow for innovative and easy to use platforms such as edu(k)ate  to empower consultants and employers to provide the best online financial education on-demand.  While feeding back the information employers need to make the most impactful decisions for their success.

“These online education technology combined with tracking methods and gamification tools, are able to engage participants in the ways that they want to learn.” - (Click to tweet)

“Chris Whitlow CEO of edu(k)ate on technology”

Register for a demo and use amazing technologies to solve america’s financial literacy problem.

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Motivation For All!

Our contest system is complete and is now live in the hands of some very motivated employees!

Here is a sneak peek of the leader board view.

Currently, HR can measure a contest on who has completed the most courses or points.  To add to the fun, prizes can be uploaded as a give away.

We anticipate much competitive banter around the water cooler and more fiscally knowledgeable employees.

If you would like to get information on how to create an education contest for your employees or clients. Please contact Chris Whitlow at 407-474-1976.

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A video we put together showing an overview of the services Edukate offers.

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Release the Beta!

Thank you for all your patience, our beta has been released and we are working through each of our beta testers.  Last week we had the privilege of showing our demo to many consultants at the PLANADVISOR National Conference (PNAC) here in sunny Orlando, Florida. We were excited by the positive feedback that we received and look to continue to build out more fun and engaging features. Since our beta is behind closed doors I wanted to provide you with a view of our learning paths.  More to come... Stay tuned.