Financial Wellness Is Not Just About Retirement

BALTIMORE -- The definitions of financial wellness are all over the place, according to panelists at a LIMRA Marketing Conference session. But the panelists agreed on one thing -- financial wellness is more than hitting a target savings number.

A great deal of attention has been paid to financial wellness in terms of retirement readiness, but financial wellness is about more than retirement, said Jeff Tulloch, head of PlanSmart at MetLife.

"We define financial wellness as every employee trying to get well with their day-to-day finances while saving for future milestones," he said during one of the opening day panel discussions, "Financial Wellness Matters," on Wednesday. "And in the middle, you have all these unexpected things happen -- the furnace goes out or whatever -- and people need to be prepared for those things as well."

Employees need to strike a balance between living for today and planning for tomorrow, said John Steber, vice president of customer solutions for Voya.

He said Voya developed a pillar strategy with concepts that advisors can build a conversation around. Those pillars include protection, basic spending and saving, an emergency fund, retirement, managing debt, and other goals.

"The goal is to help employees find that sweet spot where they have enough money as well as have complete peace about their finances," he said.

David Flores, vice president of sales and marketing with MoneySteps, described financial wellness as "a sense of control over today's finances and a plan for the future."

"It's the minimization of financial stress," he said.

But financial wellness isn't only about the future, Steber said. "When people think about their finances, we don't want them to think it's all about sacrificing for the future. We want them to remember that today is important too."

MetLife's research found that employees understand the need for a long-term plan, Tulloch said. "But if they can't handle their short-term needs, they can't get to long-term."

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at Susan.Rupe@innfeedback.com. Follow her on Twitter @INNsusan.

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