Employees don’t want to talk about financial well-being.

Even though money is never far from anyone’s mind, particularly if it’s causing stress, people still don’t want to talk about it.

That’s among the findings of the most recent 2017 Financial Mindset study from Alight Solutions, which points out that Americans would rather discuss, by hefty margins, otherwise controversial topics such as religion/spirituality (46 percent said they’d rather talk about that than their personal finances), family/personal matters (45 percent), political/social views (45 percent), weight (42 percent) or mental health (33 percent).

Just 26 percent would willingly get into the weeds when it comes to money.

In fact, among those who do talk about money, nearly all employees noted that their levels of comfort in discussing money matters plunges if they’re not talking to their spouse/significant other on this topic.

Perhaps one reason is due to one of the study’s key findings: that employees find it tough to manage their financial situations.

The study finds high levels of insecurity among employees concerning how they’re managing their money and finances.

They’re also feeling hindered in their ability to change their situations, whether it relates to getting out of debt, managing to save more, or both.

It also finds that employees see financial health as very important to their overall well-being, but they rate this area lowest in terms of how well they are doing.

And that of course makes them uncomfortable with the subject.

In fact, they don’t know who to trust when talking about money, or for that matter, what to do to improve their situation.

However, they’re open to help, especially from employers, in boosting their confidence in managing their finances.

Not that you’d know about this lack of confidence when it comes to how they describe themselves; they express confidence in their own financial acumen even as they fail to answer even basic questions correctly about finance.

So there’s an ongoing gap between perception and reality when it comes to their financial wellbeing. And while employees say they’re going it alone, they’d really like some help with the problem.

When they get that help from employers, the study finds, both benefit.

But only 37 percent of employees say their company provides financial wellbeing programs that extend beyond retirement programs—and 27 percent say they don’t know whether their employer provides those programs.

When employers step in to provide financial well-being programs, employees are not only able to save more and improve their overall financial situation, but also to be more likely to say their employer provides the resources they need for retirement and also to help manage their other financial priorities.

Instant Insights /

Employees would rather discuss their weight or mental health than talk about finances

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