Garman, E. T. (1997). Personal finance education for employees:
Evidence
on the bottom-line benefits. Financial Counseling and Planning,
8(2), 1-8.
Personal Finance Education For Employees:
Evidence On The Bottom-line Benefits
E. Thomas Garman(1)
Employers who offer personal finance education to employees
convey that they are concerned with
their long-term welfare. Employers offer financial education because of
poor participation by
employees in 401(k) retirement plans and fear of lawsuits from former
workers claiming negligence
for having a poor pension plan. As a result, employers typically offer
narrowly focused financial
education about retirement. Employers should offer comprehensive
personal finance employee
education because the cost is low and the benefits are high. To
strengthen the case, more research
on the bottom-line benefits of personal finance employee education
should be accumulated.
Key Words: Financial education, Employee
education, Savings, Investment, Retirement, 401(k),
Cafeteria plan, Credit management, Money management, Work-family
1. E.
Thomas Garman, Author, Researcher and Advisor; Fellow and
Professor
Emeritus, Virginia Tech, 8044 Rural Retreat Court, Orlando,
FL 32819,
Phone/Fax: 407-363-9048, E-mail: tgarman@bellsouth.net, Web:
www.EThomasGarman.net.
Appreciation is extended to key people at
Virginia Tech for their valuable comments on this work: (1) students
Carey E. Tennyson, Dorothy C.
Bagwell, and So-hyun Joo, and (2) faculty members Constance Y. Kratzer
and Irene E. Leech. Ms. Bagwell also provided helpful research
assistance.