Earlier this year, the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center released its latest findings on Financial Literacy and Economic Outcomes: Evidence and Policy Implications, and the results were troubling. The report by Olivia Mitchell and Annamaria Lusardi found that many people could not correctly answer three basic financial questions.
The report also noted that this deficiency is especially troubling when it comes to saving for retirement since “most people do not understand lifetime income streams.” Thankfully, there was some good news! The study did find that “two initiatives seem particularly well-suited to improve financial literacy. These are financial education in school, and in the workplace.”
A relatively new way to teach financial education in the workplace is with gamification. The concept combines our love of gaming challenges and reward, the growth of mobile apps, and today’s technology to create fun and unique tools for the business environment. Learn how gamification can help improve your employees’ financial literacy and retirement planning by reading Make Learning Fun With Gamification.
A retirement plan committee can also play an important role in helping to oversee employees’ education about their retirement benefits, while also helping to guide the plan fiduciary and regulatory compliance requirements. Whether you have an existing committee or are considering creating one for the first time, be sure to share with your team members my Five Need-to-Know Plan Committee Guidelines.
Your plan committee can also help make adjustments to your current plan before submitting it for the Mandatory Plan Restatement. The April 30, 2016 deadline means you still have time to evaluate your plan based on your key goals and objectives. Read Restatement Deadline Equals Opportunity for specific ways you can update your plan to incorporate many of the latest features.
Providing a quality retirement plan and helping educate employees about financial wellness and future planning are some of the ways we can help curtail financial literacy. By working together we can improve retirement readiness!
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