Family Finances

Employers Help Workers Build Household-Emergency Funds

June 13, 2019  • Financial Security Program & Anne Tergesen

A growing number of employers are helping workers start emergency savings accounts, reflecting concern over the impact money problems are having on productivity levels and workers’ ability to retire.

Companies including Levi Strauss & Co., SunTrust Banks Inc. and Kroger Co. are encouraging employees to fund emergency accounts, in some cases by offering them cash and other incentives. Others are diverting a portion of employees’ paychecks into rainy-day funds related to their 401(k) plans.

The aim: encourage employees to get their finances in order on all fronts.

“There is a growing recognition on the part of employers that people cannot save for retirement if they don’t also save for emergencies and figure out a way to pay down debt,” said Ida Rademacher, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program.

Read the full article here.