Increased financial education in the workplace is heightening money worries, contends the sponsor of a study, Liz Davidson, founder and CEO of Financial Finesse.

Davidson said more online and workshop offerings on personal finance by employers is a major reason for an increase in financial stress among workers for the first time since the Great Recession. She noted Aon Hewitt has reported the percentage of employers focusing on enhanced financial education has surged to 85 percent last year from 32 percent in 2012.

In the 2013 survey, 23 percent of workers said they were experiencing high or overwhelming financial stress, up from 18 percent the year before.

Likewise, the number of respondents who said they doubt if they will be able to meet future financial goals rose to 42 percent from 35 percent.

On the positive side, she said the worry is leading workers to take more steps to improve their future.

“You don’t know how out of shape you are until you start working out. There is a shifting of the mindset. People are saying they need to take control of their finances,” Davidson said.

As evidence of the increased willingness of workers to be proactive in managing their finances, the executive noted the report showed 36 percent of the respondents last year said they were rebalancing their investment accounts, up from 31 percent the year before with a rise in the number of workers taking risk tolerance assessments to 47 percent in 2013 from 44 percent in 2012.

In addition, she pointed out the number of respondents who said they are on track for retirement increased to 20 percent in 2013 from 17 percent the year previous.


Financial Finesse provides financial education to over 600,000 employees at over 500 organizations. The survey was a poll of approximately 27,000 of these workers.