Every year, I see plan sponsors spend thousands on shiny “financial wellness” programs—apps, webinars, and surveys promising to fix participant behavior. Yet, the same plans still have high loan rates, poor deferral averages, and zero engagement. Why? Because you can’t build wellness on a broken foundation.
If your plan design traps participants with high fees, limited fund options, or auto-enrollment at 3%, no amount of budgeting tips will save them. Financial wellness isn’t a motivational poster—it’s a structural commitment.
Start by fixing the plan before preaching the sermon: review match formulas, reexamine defaults, simplify choices, and communicate like humans, not HR bots. Real wellness happens when the plan helps participants succeed by design, not by luck.
In other words, you can’t give people financial peace of mind while quietly making their savings harder to grow. Wellness starts with the plan sponsor, not the app.
