While the terms “financial wellness” and “financial well-being” are similar but they mean different things. Financial wellness is more action-oriented and is the positive steps a person can take to lead a healthier financial life. Financial well-being is more of a holistic, emotional state that focuses on contentment, balance, positivity and confidence. Said differently, financial wellness is process-focused (“what you do”) and financial well-being is outcome focused (“how you feel”). Financial wellness influences financial well-being. For instance, if you pay off your credit cards every month you are not likely to worry about short-term debt.
Greenspring Advisors conducted this survey during the month of May 2019 aimed at providing a comprehensive, multi-dimensional assessment of employee perceptions about their financial well-being. The survey included over 70 questions in 10 different categories and we received responses from 1,872 U.S.-based employees of Greenspring Advisors corporate retirement plan client base. The average completion time for the survey was 11 minutes and 45 seconds and the average completion rate was 89%. They required respondents to provide the name of their company but other than that, the survey was anonymous. Throughout the survey, we have used gender, age and income as dimensions to categorize and analyze the data. We summarize the survey demographics below.