By Tanya Ladha, Senior Director at Financial Health Network Saving money is hard. So hard, in fact, that experts and academics have spent decades studying human behavior in an effort to make it easier for us, designing tricks and hacks that help us save — automating savings (think 401k retirement plans, created for us to set-it-and-forget-it), turning…

By Hannah Gdalman, Stevenson Fellow, Financial Health Network The recent open enrollment season means that for many of us, insurance is still top of mind. Other key moments such as the start of a new year, tax season, a new job, or family additions also provide a chance to reflect on insurance throughout the year….

By Chandni Ohri, Director, Financial Health Network In October 2019, Etsy signed on to BlackRock’s Emergency Savings Initiative as one of the inaugural partners because they recognize the challenge and importance of emergency savings for their sellers. Emergency savings is one of the building blocks to improving financial health. In fact, the recent U.S. Financial…

With 70% of recent graduates going into the workforce saddled with student debt, Laurel Taylor saw a massive opportunity to rethink the way debt repayment, roundup, and refinancing was handled. Her startup, FutureFuel.io, uses machine learning and technology to reimagine how employers can use student debt repayment as an attractive recruiting and retention tool. Taylor […]

By Thea Garon, Director, Financial Health Network A few weeks ago, the Financial Health Network released new data from the U.S. Financial Health Pulse, a groundbreaking study designed to provide ongoing snapshots of financial health in America. Launched last year, the study draws upon consumer surveys and transactional data to assess how people are spending,…

By Jose Galindo, Workplace Financial Health Program Director, Financial Health Network I know first hand — as the founder and former CEO of moneymio.com, the first bilingual online platform dedicated to empowering Latinos in the United States with personal finance education — the challenge young fintech companies face, especially those who are focused on improving the financial health of…

How do we open up our industry’s mindset and encourage banks to restore choice to consumers who want to retake control over their own financial behavior? I have two modest proposals for banks and credit unions to adopt the retronovations as part of their account offerings.

The Financial Health Network joined forces with BlackRock and fellow nonprofit leaders Commonwealth and Common Cents Lab to address the savings challenge with a focus on finding corporate and organization partners that are committed to helping their employees, students, and communities change their savings behavior and thrive.

Ronnie Washington founded Onward to enable workers of all income levels to build financial security. Onward is a non-profit employer-based mobile savings and credit app that helps workers save effortlessly, build financial knowledge, and access responsible credit when emergencies strike. What the 401k is for long-term retirement savings, Onward is for short-term emergency savings. Ronnie […]

By John Thompson, Chief Program Officer, Financial Health Network A main goal of the BlackRock Emergency Savings Initiative is to build and integrate better savings tools to help individuals, especially those with low-to moderate-income, save. My team at the Financial Health Network has done extensive research on the current savings crisis to better understand the…

The features of the financial services landscape that have brought today’s consumers convenience, reduced friction, and easily accessed revolving credit have now been with us for so long that we view them as fixed infrastructure. These gains have been accompanied by a loss of some of the tools and habits of mind that helped the grandparents and great-grandparents of today’s Millennials make it through two world wars and the Great Depression.

By Tanya Ladha, Director, Financial Health Network Financial technology companies, or fintechs, have altered consumer’s approach to their financial lives and financial health. Whether someone wants to save more, budget better, track their spending, or all of the above, there are many apps to support those efforts. Fintech companies can reach consumers anywhere, anytime, with…