Even smart employers who offer financial wellness benefits for their employees might hit a new challenge: participation in these benefits is not in line with their expectations. One study found that of employees who have access to financial wellness benefits, only 8% said they participated in them. This could be a sign that the employer is not offering the right type of program.

To get the most out of a program, employers need to make sure that their financial wellness offerings check off these boxes.

I’m not sure if you know this, but I still work one-on-one with clients. As the business has grown, I have taken progressively fewer clients, but I’m fortunate enough to be on the financial journeys of about 40 clients, with many of whom it’s been over five years now; and no matter how busy I get, I will always be here for those clients because at this point, they are beyond clients, they’re family.

This past weekend, I had quarterly reviews with two couples who both share 7-year anniversaries of working with me. They started with me at different points in their lives/families and careers, but both have accomplished so much over this time.

Employees and employers alike are struggling with inflation. In the past year, wages have increased 4.5% while the cost of our most basic necessities (groceries, rent, gas, and mortgage payments) has risen between 10%-48%. This has put pressure on employers to increase pay or risk losing their employees to competitors. If across-the-board salary increases in line with inflation aren’t in the budget this year, what else can employers do financially to assist their employees? Inflation hits low-wage workers the hardest because there is often little flexibility in their budgets to begin with.

When it comes to figuring out how to build credit, you might already know that a credit card can be a powerful tool in strengthening your credit profile. If you’re relatively new to using credit cards to build credit or simply want to brush up on better cardholder habits, knowing how to use a credit card wisely is the first step toward your credit goals. Here’s what you should know: Rewards credit cards can help you save money in the long run. Some cards offer tantalizing sign-up bonuses valued at hundreds of dollars and the prospect of getting cash back on basics, like gas. The appeal of earning rewards can compel you to recklessly chase points.

With the stock market recently finishing off a 7-week downward spiral toward a full-on bear market, investors have been scrambling and prices have been rising. You have probably heard of—if not already been feeling—the effects of inflation. Inflation increases the cost of goods and lowers the value of your assets compared to your purchasing power. When this happens, it can cause us to seek ways to preserve our wealth. With this in mind, you may have come across I bonds as a way to earn a return while hedging against inflation. We’re here to clear up some details about what a Series I bond is so you can make an informed decision about whether you should buy into this asset class.

The racial wealth gap is well-documented: the average Black household has a net worth ten times less than the average white household. Also, Black households hold only about 3% of the country’s wealth despite making up close to 16 percent of the population.

Some of the proposed solutions to the racial wealth gap focus on actions that Black Americans can take to improve their own individual financial situation: save more, get more education, buy a home, or start a business. At TFG, we are huge fans of financial literacy and taking control of your personal finances, but we also understand its limitations in overcoming hundreds of years of government-backed discrimination.

It’s Pride Month — a time of year when companies rightly celebrate their LGBTQ+ employees. However, many employers are missing out on ways that they could be supporting their queer and trans employees, especially when it comes to their benefits package. Pay equality is often viewed as the most important financial issue in the workplace, but employer-sponsored benefits can play a huge role in either leveling the playing field for LGBTQ+ employees or perpetuating inequality. Out-of-pocket medical expenses can have huge financial consequences for queer and trans employees.

Despite the economic challenges of rising inflation and the slipping stock market, a high yield savings account is the best place to store cash you might need in the next year. If you are ready to take the plunge and open your first high yield savings account, you are in luck! These days there are plenty of great options and interest rates are rising after two years of stagnation.

FDIC insurance is the fail-safe that would reimburse you in the unlikely event that your bank goes under. This guarantee should help you sleep soundly at night with your money in the bank, rather than under your mattress.

After the last major economic downturn, hearing that the next recession might be around the corner (or already in our midst) can feel unsettling. Despite the buzz of impending recession fluttering across the media, the reality is that so many factors simultaneously influence the U.S. economy no one can truly predict its timing.

The mystery of the unknown — when the recession will hit, how long will it last, and if it’ll even reach our doorstep at the same magnitude as the Great Recession — can be problematic.

Increasingly, employers are realizing the importance of supporting their employees’ mental health and wellbeing, and financial health plays a huge role in that. Thirty-four percent of employees said that financial stress has severely impacted their mental health, according to the 2022 PwC Employee Financial Wellness Survey. That stress extends into the workplace: nearly one-fifth of employees said that financial stress greatly affected their productivity at work.

Employees’ desire for financial wellness programming and resources is also becoming more common.

After two years of canceled and modified vacation plans, many people are excited about the prospect of more “normal” summer travel. Of course, with average flight prices increasing sharply since the start of the year and record-high gas prices, you might be wondering how to get the most out of your summer vacation without breaking the bank.

Being flexible about the dates and times of your flights is one of the best ways to keep your airfare cost as low as possible. Google Flights date grid and price graph can help you easily identify the cheapest dates to fly.

We all know the traditional banking model: one checking account and one savings account to cover all of your needs. Back when everyone received a physical paycheck and banking was done in person, this model made a lot of sense: who wants to run to the bank every week to move their money around? Not me! Fortunately, with the proliferation of online banking, it is easier than ever to manage multiple accounts. This has allowed people to bank in a way that makes sense for their lives, and as it turns out, having all of your money lumped together in one place is not necessarily the most effective strategy.

The three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — recently announced major changes to how they will report medical debt. These changes could have a wide-reaching impact and eliminate about 70% of the medical debt that appears on credit reports in the U.S. Credit scores impact the ability to access housing, own a car, and sometimes even gain employment. These changes will reduce the double penalization of many people who are underinsured or who have struggled to make ends meet.

So what’s changing?

I’ve done a lot of research on the subject and concluded that everyone has that year: the year of all the weddings. Like all of them. At the same damn time. For me, that meant six destination weddings for six people whose weddings I really, really wanted to attend, all of which required plane tickets and hotels for two people since I was married at the time. For a BFF that same year, there were 13 weddings (although if you ask me she got off easy because most of them were in Long Island, which apparently is a place that natives like to return to to proclaim their love for one another, unlike my New Jersey homeland).

Imagine that you are on track with your budget for the month and feeling amazing about it — as you should be! But then you go for your $200 quarterly hair appointment or your $500 annual credit card fee hits, and suddenly, your budget is busted.

These types of expenses feel like surprises, but they aren’t — they are regular, predictable expenses that should be part of your budget. The problem is that we are so focused on monthly budgets that we don’t plan for expenses that occur annually, quarterly, or every few months.

My 5-year-old son saved up enough money for a Nintendo Switch this year. Weirdly enough, my first money memory is also of saving up enough money to buy a Nintendo system (a purple Gameboy at the time) with my own money. I saw the opportunity to give him his first money memory and I ran with it. So how did I talk him through saving up for it? He had received a gift card for Christmas and wanted to go spend it immediately. We walked through each aisle about 4-5 times. He picked up toys in each aisle, all of which he already had. Each time he picked up something I asked him the following questions.

We’ve all seen the news: the last year of Covid-related upheaval has created quite the housing boom. As many people are able to work from home, many have also decided to relocate, moving out of small apartments or cramped cities to have more space and a place to call their own. As we tell our clients, buying a home takes a lot of financial preparation. You’ll need to figure out how much you can afford to pay for your mortgage each month and create savings accounts for your downpayment and a contingency fund.

If you read, this Financial Gym article, then you already know why you should apply for a job you aren’t qualified for, in the eyes of a recruiter. Recruiters and hiring teams look for stand-out cover letters, unique answers to interview questions and interchangeable skills. These are all traits that are not specific to one field or dependent on your background. Meaning the hiring team thinks you can, and should, still apply for the job you aren’t technically qualified for on paper.

Let’s set the context: you have already gone through the homebuying process once, and you probably learned a lot from that experience as a buyer. Now, you’re ready to buy a second home. But here is the kicker: you have to sell the home you’re currently living in to afford the home you want to buy. You may be wondering, can I do that at the same time? The answer is yes and it’s pretty straightforward (in theory) with complexity in the process (in practice). To start, you need to make sure everyone is on the same page.

This month, we’re bringing you bite-sized servings of financial literacy. Each week, we’ll introduce you to a core concept and map out a fun and easy daily action item. This is our third week in the series.

Debt. Most of us have it in some form — credit cards, student loans, a car loan, a mortgage, an outstanding medical bill. Having debt is not a moral failing, but we can get so wrapped up in our feelings about having debt and how we got it that we get in our own way.