Retirement is the top financial goal of workers across the U.S., but their employers' retirement plans are the toughest benefits to understand.
That's according to the 2016 FSFE Employee Financial Wellness Survey from Four Seasons Financial Education, which found that 35 percent of respondents said their most important financial goal was retirement. The number rose to 70 percent among workers ages 45–59.
Other choices respondents were asked about included budgeting and debt (33 percent), overall financial planning (22 percent), investments (5 percent), college planning (3 percent), insurance (2 percent), and tax planning (1 percent).
Retirement plans were cited by 39 percent of respondents as the most difficult among employer benefits for them to understand. That topped out health insurance, cited by just 26 percent in comparison.
That said, respondents working for an employer offering a financial wellness program indicated an improved understanding of 401(k) plan investment options, with 22 percent of that group saying they understood them "extremely well." Among respondents whose employers do not offer financial wellness programs, just 14 percent indicated that they understood those investment options "extremely well."
And asked what sort of help an employer could offer to help them with their retirement goals, 48 percent of respondents chose access to one-on-one guidance from a financial professional. That was followed by more retirement education (38 percent), a customized retirement plan (37 percent), calculators and tools (23 percent), inclusion of a spouse or partner in retirement education (19 percent) and the unspecified "other" (11 percent).
Employees were considerably more satisfied with their benefits package if it included a financial wellness program; average satisfaction rose 39.5 percent for employees whose benefits included financial wellness, compared to employees whose benefits did not include any kind of wellness program.
Much as employees might take part in a workplace financial wellness program, that doesn't necessarily mean they want to pay for it. Asked how likely they were to be willing to share some cost if the program helped them move toward their goals, 33 percent said it was unlikely, while 49 percent said "possibly. Only 18 percent said it was likely that they'd share some of the cost of such a program.
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