Employers who offer personal finance education to employees convey that they are concerned with their long-term welfare. Employers offer financial education because of poor participation by employees in 401(k) retirement plans and fear of lawsuits from former workers claiming negligence for having a poor pension plan. As a result, employers typically offer narrowly focused financial education about retirement. Employers should offer comprehensive personal finance employee education because the cost is low and the benefits are high. To strengthen the case, more research on the bottom-line benefits of personal finance employee education should be accumulated.
Key Words: Financial education, Employee education, Savings, Investment, Retirement, 401(k), Cafeteria plan, Credit management, Money management, Work-family
1. E.
Thomas Garman, Author, Researcher and Advisor; Fellow and
Professor
Appreciation is extended to key people at Virginia Tech for their valuable comments on this work: (1) students Carey E. Tennyson, Dorothy C. Bagwell, and So-hyun Joo, and (2) faculty members Constance Y. Kratzer and Irene E. Leech. Ms. Bagwell also provided helpful research assistance.