Financial anxiety – including an unsettled feeling about not doing enough to prepare for retirement – could be crippling the nation's workforce, according to a survey from State Street Global Advisors.
Student loans, mortgages and health care costs were acknowledged as taking an emotional toll on 60 percent of the respondents surveyed. Thirty-seven percent admitted financial stress was causing their productivity to suffer.
Half of the 1,000 workers surveyed said they live paycheck to paycheck, and 25 percent said their financial stress is so overwhelming that it has caused them to miss work.
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Fredrik Axsater, who heads SSGA's defined contribution division, said the study confirms what he hears from sponsors.
"We need to address workplace financial demands beyond retirement savings," said Axsater. "A more holistic approach is needed, providing tools and opportunities for employees to reduce stress and improve their financial well-being."
Half of the respondents said they could cover a financial emergency up to $1,000. Debt burdens affect workers through their professional lives, cycling from student loan obligations for younger workers, to mortgage stress, and then ultimately back to costly higher education burdens, as Gen Xers and pre-retirees struggle to foot the bill for their children's college expenses.
Gen X workers in the survey were most receptive to financial wellness programs, like budget workshops, stress management counseling and savings programs.
Others, however, cited cost and convenience as deterrents to not participating in such programs.
But the bottom line, according to the survey, is that before sponsors try to address inadequate retirement savings, they first have to foster a financially healthier workforce.
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Nick Thornton
Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.
