Guest Article

Best Practices in Employee Financial Education for Different Generations

By Liz Davidson, founder and CEO of Financial Finesse.

When designing financial education programs for employees, companies that keep in mind generational differences in viewpoints, learning styles and adaptation to technology build more effective programs. Every individual is unique but at the same time, generations undeniably share a world view and have their own unique group characteristics. These unique traits have implications for not only how each group learns, but how they communicate and how they like to be communicated with. Personalized communication better resonates with employees who may otherwise dismiss the messaging or the education, thinking it doesn't apply to them, or even worse, that it applies to others and excludes them. Participation in financial education and employee behavioral change are both significantly higher when programs are designed to effectively meet the needs and priorities of specific generations.

Gen Y Employees:

Best practices in financial education for Gen Y employees:

This generation responds to ongoing education sent in snippets with powerful messages. Send in a social media format so they can see what others are reading, what they like and recommend so they can also recommend it to others.

Topics that would resonate with Gen Y would have an emphasis on money management subjects not taught in school, such as budgeting, debt management and saving. Early career topics such as introduction to retirement planning and investing basics are a fit for this age group.

Gen X Employees:

Best practices in financial education for Gen X employees:

Provide unbiased financial education. This age group is cynical and untrusting so they are unlikely to trust information from a source they perceive as having a "hidden agenda." Since they are highly independent, provide education they can try on for size without forcing it on a certain path such as self-directed education through phone-based financial coaching, online tools, and voluntary workshops/webcasts.

Topics that would resonate with Gen X are overall financial planning and balancing different financial priorities to make room for retirement savings. Mid-career topics such as learning strategies for building a retirement nest egg and choosing the right investments are appropriate for them.

Baby Boomer Employees:

Best practices in financial education for the Baby Boomer employees:

Address the retirement gap by providing an annual retirement planning check-up conducted either in person, on the phone or online. Provide personalized coaching that allows them to interact with the same planner multiple times.

Topics that would be useful for Baby Boomer employees would be workshops that provide answers and analysis for retirement preparedness: saving more, adjusting asset allocation, retiring later and using funds from other sources (i.e. cash value life insurance, real estate, inheritance, etc.). Any workshop topic for late career about distribution and protection strategies in retirement such as retirement readiness, estate planning, tax planning, and investing in today's market is a fit for this generation.

About Financial Finesse

Financial Finesse was founded with a single mission: Provide people with the information they need to become financially independent and secure. Today, we are the leading provider of unbiased financial education for large companies and municipalities. Our financial education services are fully integrated programs designed to address the strategic goals of the organizations we service and are delivered by on-staff Certified Financial Planner™ professionals as an employee benefit. If you are interested in learning more about workplace financial education programs, contact one of our education consultants at AskFF@financialfinesse.com.

The Ask Financial Finesse Q&A service is designed to provide general information on trends and developments in workplace financial education programs and participant education strategies. Due to the complex nature of financial benefits and/or workplace financial issues, the information contained in this document is not to be construed as advice.

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