Personal Finance and the Workplace

On March 9, 2010 I submitted this to the head of our office, my union steward and the union staff member that is assigned to our office. I have waited a while but never really recieved a response so I thought I would share it here. Maybe it is a worthy idea. I am not sure.

I just read about a report this morning from CNN Money that 43% of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. Twenty-seven percent of which have less than $1,000 saved. Times are tough. We all know far too well that budget cuts are everywhere. At best, wage increases for employees are on a freeze. It is difficult to expect people to excel with money when very few of us have been shown how to succeed. There is a way however to help people feel like they have more money. We need a coach, a team of coaches. We need some sort of support that helps us win when it comes to personal finance.
 
Many of us have just finished watching the Olympics. Imagine the performance difference of these world ranked athletes without the help of coaches. Work places across America have recognized the value of coaches for health. Personal finance is the same. I think there is little doubt that there is a lot of stress centered around money. In fact when stress levels go down, physical health improves. An argument could be made that as finances of a group of people get better health costs for that group go down.
 
I don't know if a workplace or union should be responsible for teaching this to people but they could help facilitate the lessons. It could look something like helping people become aware that education is available, providing a space for a class to be taught, or perhaps even subsidizing a portion of the cost for the training. The bottom line is nearly everyone needs to learn this kind of information. In the long run it saves everyone money, individuals and employers. I am including some links of some pages where one such course is available.

• An overview of the program
• Some benefits
• About the training
• Other companies, including governments, that have used the program

This is the one course that I am familiar with. I am sure there are others. I thought this might be a worthy suggestion to take under consideration to help our office and perhaps the county.

My thought is that if people know better how to handle their personal finances, they then may be able to handle any workplace finances they are responsible for as well.