Personal Financial Services as an EE Benefit

[Guest HK]

This started as a response to 'Other 'perky' benefits'. IF you are comfortable allowing a financial services firm into your company… you can work with a financial services provider to negotiate reduced minimums and fees. The only cost I can see would be to set up the direct deposits.

This is my first posting. I have opened another topic under Misc. Benefits. I would be interested to hear comments from anyone else who has looked into these services. Why did you decided not to go forward? If you did go forward, do you have any tips?

Thank you!

[Sheila K]

HK:

Are you talking about something like a Credit Union benefit, or am I missing the boat???

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Good Luck!!!

Sheila K 8^)

[Guest Phil Cohen]

Offering employees access to financial planning information is an excellent perk that is well received by the employees. The hard part is communicating the benefit. Knowing the benefit is available and using it are two different things!

One way we use this benefit is to bundle it with a "quality" legal plan. The better programs provide the employees access to firms such as Arthur Andersen. Employees may sit down with a financial planner for a reduced fee or call for financial advice on any topic.

Don't discount the telephone advice portion as many people do! Being able to call a professional and ask how to sell the 10 shares of AT&T they inherited from Grandma is a great service.

Phil Cohen

Broad Reach Benefits, Inc.

[Guest nb]

HK, Included in my Employee Assistance Program is access to Credit and Financial counseling. These services are available over the telephone. In addition to that service, our credit union, I got the plug in too Shiela, has Certified Financial Planners available to members of the credit union. There is no charge for the credit union service, either to us the employer or the member of the credit union. The cost of the program that is part of the EAP is negligible.

The EAP benefit appears to be used by employees that have credit issues or problems whereas the CFP from the credit union is more investment planning oriented. If you contract directly with a CFP, be very careful of an endorsement of or the perception of an endorsement of any investment the CFP "sells" to your employee.

[Sheila K]

If you are looking for budgeting assistance for employees, you could also use the services of a non-profit credit counseling service (such as Consumer Credit Counseling Services). Contact the National Foundation for Credit Counseling for qualified non-profits in your area.

We refer employees to our local CCCS if they have an excessive number of NSF checks on their account here. But we also make information available about any classes or seminars being held by CCCS for budgeting/financial issues. In addition to that, we use CCCS to provide seminars to our credit union members.

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Good Luck!!!

Sheila K 8^)

[Guest David Abelson]

The latest trend in benefits is becoming employee financial wellness programs. The Dept. Of Defense for example has found that poor financial habits of service men and women result in a loss of one billion dollars per year. The private sector has similar statistics. Through financial wellness programs the corporation can realize many tangible ( improved attendence and productivity ) benefits and intangilble or invisable benefits such as lower costs in payroll and accounting. One must ask themselves " Is the company in the part time bill collecting business." Through debt consolidation via equity loans or non-profit counseling this problem can be rectified with the added benefit of increased employee loyalty.

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David Abelson