1. Financial stress increased in 2013 to 23% reporting high or overwhelming financial stress vs. 18% in 2012, despite improvements in actual financial wellness and increased engagement in financial wellness programs. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that employees are becoming more focused on their financial wellness and realizing how behind they really are.
2. Employees with overwhelming financial stress are nearly seventeen times more likely to have debt problems, sixteen times more likely to have money management problems, twice as likely to lack confidence in investment decisions, and fifty percent more likely to be unprepared for retirement than those with no financial stress.
3. There is a dramatic disparity in financial stress among different employee demographics. Fifty-eight percent of women under age 30 with minor children and making below $60,000 per year reported "high" or "overwhelming" levels of financial stress. This was a huge disparity from the group least at risk—only 6 percent of men ages 55 and older who had no minor children and made over $100,000 per year reported "high" or "overwhelming" financial stress levels.
Research Report: 2014 State of Employee Financial Stress at: http://bit.ly/2014_Financial_Stress_Research