New resources: Financial wellness guidance for assessing and investing

Financial wellness programs don’t just help your people make the most of their compensation, they actually reduce on-the-job stress and the underperformance it can foster. That’s why we’re proud partners of Mission:Money, the online financial literacy resource exclusively for nonprofit sector professionals.

Two articles authored by the experts at Mutual of America (MoA), another Mission:Money parter, were just added to the “Preparing for retirement” section: one a fundamental financial planning how-to, the other a guide to investing for retirement. 

Both are free and ready to share with your people, whether that’s through a formal financial wellness program or simply as a way to check in and show you care.

A sample lesson from each:

• Your net worth. “When potential lenders assess your loan or credit card application – basically a net worth statement – to decide whether you qualify to borrow, they look at what you already owe. But they may also calculate what you might owe if you charged as much as you could on all your credit cards and drew on all your authorized lines of credit.”

• Personal investing goals. “Investments may grow in many ways: You can beef up your principal on a regular basis by contributing a percentage of your income to your investment pool. Putting $6,000 into an IRA is an example, as is adding an additional $1,000 per year if you’re 50 or older.” Another option: “You can reinvest your investment earnings rather than spend them, either by using a tax-deferred plan or by putting all your taxable interest and dividend payments into an investment account.”

Be sure to review the full range of financial literacy material available on Mission:Money, including our employer guide – a comprehensive resource for planning and launching your workplace financial wellness program.

Marc Schultz is communications editor at Work for Good.