2026 MARKET TRENDS

Financial Well-Being

Key Takeaways

Financial stress remains a top workforce concern, directly impacting employer performance and cost objectives
Cost mitigation has become a top strategic priority for employers, underscoring the need to strengthen financial literacy within employee communications so workers can better understand, use, and optimize available benefits
Rising cost-of-living pressures and high levels of employee debt highlight the urgent need for integrated, data-driven financial well-being strategies that support both employee resilience and employer cost control
Traditional, one-size-fits-all, retirement-centric education is no longer sufficient; personalized and segment-based financial guidance increases relevance, drives engagement, and helps employees make cost-effective decisions that benefit themselves and their employers

Financial stress continues to be a significant concern for workforce performance and well-being.

Overview

Financial well-being continued its rise as a strategic priority for large and mid-sized employers in 2025. After several years of economic uncertainty, elevated consumer debt, persistent inflationary pressures, and rising healthcare costs, financial stress has emerged as one of the top drivers of disengagement, absenteeism and turnover across industries — costing employers an estimated $200 billion annually.1 With 51% of workers living paycheck to paycheck and 53% reporting decreased savings over the past year2, the need for comprehensive financial wellness strategies, including a focus on financial literacy, remains urgent.

Financial stress remains a top workforce concern, with employers recognizing that 86% of employees worry about personal finances at work and 46% report productivity impacts, directly affecting performance and cost objectives.3 These conditions are pushing employers to shift from episodic financial education toward more structured, benefit ecosystem-aligned financial well-being strategies.

Looking ahead to 2026, several forces are shaping the direction of financial well-being strategies. Cost-of-living pressures and elevated consumer debt continue to shape employee experiences. Regulatory attention on emergency savings and retirement readiness is increasing. Meanwhile, digital financial-coaching tools are advancing rapidly, offering improved personalization based on income, financial behavior and life stage. Together, these dynamics are accelerating movement away from one-time financial education and toward integrated, data-driven financial well-being strategies that support near-term financial stability while reinforcing long-term financial resilience.

Integration of Financial Well-Being and Mental Health

Financial stress continues to be a significant concern for workforce performance and well-being. Alongside rising cost-of-living pressures, employees are increasingly strained by benefit affordability challenges, out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, and escalating medical costs — impacts that are especially acute for lower-income and younger workers.

Recognizing that financial stress and mental health are deeply interconnected, employers are placing greater emphasis on integrating financial well-being initiatives with mental health and holistic support strategies. Beyond providing access to financial tools or legal and budgeting resources, organizations are expanding avenues for employees to cope with stress proactively and holistically. This includes strengthening connections to mental health benefits, such as counseling and behavioral health support, as well as reinforcing human support models to address both emotional and financial challenges.

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Financial Coaching and Artificial Intelligence

Financial coaching is emerging as a core component of modern financial well-being strategies. As employers move beyond generic, retirement-focused education, coaching provides personalized, actionable support that addresses real employee financial challenges — debt, budgeting, emergency savings and long-term planning. Demand is rising as financial stress intensifies, and employees seek advice and one-on-one support. AI-enabled financial guidance and behavioral nudges enhance coaching by delivering tailored recommendations, helping increase engagement and reinforcing positive financial habits.

Coaching, combined with AI-driven insights and behavioral nudges, is replacing one-size-fits-all education with personalized, inclusive support. Consider offering virtual or live financial coaching, integrating AI-driven behavioral nudges into financial well-being platforms and personalizing communication to address life-stage needs such as student loans, caregiving, home buying and retirement.

Decline in Employee Wellness

After several years of improvement, employee wellness showed a troubling decline in 2025. Overall, holistic health among employees fell year-over-year, with particularly sharp declines in social and mental health. Financial health remained essentially flat but stayed at concerning levels, with only 47% of employees reporting they feel financially healthy.4

Employers are starting to expand their benefit offerings beyond retirement-focused benefits to holistic financial wellness strategies. Employers still need to focus on the basics; understanding the stressors and needs of their employee population, implementing benefits and resources that address those needs and removing any barrier or friction associated with access or utilization. Employers can help give employees support and tools to overcome the emotions and physiological symptoms caused by chronic financial stress.

Short-Term Financial Resilience

Short-term cash flow instability is a leading driver of financial stress and retirement-plan leakage. Fidelity research shows employees without emergency savings are twice as likely to withdraw or borrow from workplace retirement plans. Nearly half of workers report insufficient emergency savings, and cost-of-living pressures remain the top stressor for 68% of employees.5 Most employers do not have an emergency savings plan beyond a 401(k), but 79% of employers said emergency savings has become an important focus within their financial well-being programs.6

Short-term tools — emergency savings, earned-wage access, budgeting — are now foundational to a stable workforce. Employers can consider integrating a retirement plan or payroll-linked emergency savings accounts, and pair them with guidance and planning tools.

Student Loan Benefits as a Financial Well-Being Strategy

Student loan benefits are becoming a key component of employer financial well-being programs, addressing one of the most pressing burdens for younger and early-career employees. As the workforce becomes increasingly debt-laden, employers are realizing that student debt has a direct impact on financial stability, productivity and retention. The percentage of U.S. companies offering student-loan repayment benefits nearly tripled from just 4% in 2019 to 14% in 20247 and growing.

Student loan benefits are transitioning from niche perks to core components of total rewards strategies, helping attract and retain younger talent while reinforcing financial resilience and long-term savings behavior. Assess the debt burden across workforce segments, integrate student loan repayment or matching programs with retirement plans under SECURE 2.0, and include student debt education and refinancing tools in financial well-being platforms.

Personalization and Segment-Based Support

Personalized financial well-being support will continue to replace one-size-fits-all solutions that have historically focused on retirement. Most employers offer financial tools — such as budgeting, basic investing education, financial planning and debt management — but 89% recognize the need to expand their financial well-being plans beyond retirement plans in order to increase engagement and meet employees where they are.8 Tailored communication and targeted messaging help to reach and resonate with an increasingly diverse workforce.

Personalization of tools and communication drives engagement by meeting employees at their unique life stages and financial situations. Consider evaluating the existing benefit ecosystem, seeking financial well-being partners and solutions that can provide AI-enabled personalization, integrate HRIS/payroll data to tailor content and build demographically segmented communication strategies.

1Forbes. "The Wage Crisis of 2025: 73% of Workers Struggling" by Bryan Robinson, Ph.D. 2The Hartford. 2025 Future of Benefits Study. 3PNC. Financial Wellness in the Workplace, 2025. 4SHRM. Workers Look for Employer Help as Financial Well-Being Dips. 2025. 5PlanSponsor. "DC Plan Loan Usage Correlates with Health Care Spending per EBRI." 6EBRI. 2024 Employer Financial Wellbeing Survey. 7International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP). 2024 Education Benefits Survey. 8Alight. 2025 Hot Topics in Retirement and Financial Wellbeing.

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