Mariner Wealth Advisors has launched a financial wellness platform that aims to provide wealth planning and financial guidance for employees across the U.S., according to a news release.
The platform, Mariner Financial Wellness, grew out of the firm’s recent acquisition of Spring, a Chicago-based financial wellness benefits company. The deal closed in January. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition “is the first of its kind for Mariner Wealth Advisors,” the company said, noting that “the offering nicely complements its preexisting service offerings for businesses and business owners, which include wealth and tax planning for executives, retirement plan solutions, and other specialized services such as cash management and complex tax and business advisory services.”
Mariner Financial Wellness, the release said, has two components for employees: an online portal that includes customized educational content, budgeting tools, goal setting and tracking; and a financial health and progress summary, complemented by holistic one-on-one financial wellness coaching from a licensed, trained and dedicated coach.
“Businesses will simultaneously be able to see data-driven insights through robust reporting that aggregates their employees’ financial concerns, showing results such as declining debt and increasing savings, while still keeping the individual employees’ information confidential,” the release said.
Joe Holberg, who founded Spring in 2015, will continue at Mariner Wealth Advisors as managing director, overseeing operations of Mariner Financial Wellness, the release noted.
“Throughout the entire journey from the foundation of Holberg Financial in 2015, to its rebrand as Spring in 2021, and now to this next phase with Mariner Wealth Advisors, I have relentlessly focused on building and enhancing a platform that improves employees’ financial education and wellness,” Holberg said in a statement.
Mariner Wealth Advisors cited a recent CreditWise survey that found that finances including debt, savings and general money management, are the No. 1 cause of stress for adults ages 18 to 57. “When companies incorporate a financial wellness program into their benefits, it fosters increased morale, higher productivity and stronger retention,” the company said, adding that 60% of employees have said they are more likely to stay with a company that offers a money management program.
Overland Park, Kansas-based Mariner Wealth Advisors was founded in 2006 with $300 million in assets under advisement. Along with its affiliates, the firm advised on more than $110 billion in assets at the end of March.