Campus Resources for Financial Literacy, Wellness

Over the past several years, our campus has garnered national recognition for our efforts to support our employees:

• The Chronicle of Higher Education named the University of Kentucky a “Great College to Work For.” We were one of only three schools in the Southeastern Conference and the only school in Kentucky to receive the award.
• Forbes magazine named UK among its Best Employers for Diversity in the country. Ranked 41st out of 500, we were the only Southeastern Conference school to be included. 
• INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine awarded UK the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award and named UK a Diversity Champion.
• And UK was recently declared a “Best of the Best” Top 30 LGBTQ-friendly college by Campus Pride.

These accolades reflect our commitment to our people. They illustrate that we are here to provide the best possible environment for our community’s success. And, as I wrote last week, we emphasize various components of well-being for our community, including the importance of financial literacy and wellness.

Throughout the month of April and in conjunction with National Financial Literacy month, we are engaging with our employees about financial wellness in general, as well as the resources we provide to guide individuals toward a healthier financial future.

For example, in 2015, UK hired a certified financial planner as a financial well-being officer for employees. As part of UK’s exceptional benefits, employees now receive up to five free appointments a year with Todd M. Macaulay, CFP®. 

We are extremely excited to offer this benefit as, according to our benchmarking, employers rarely offer free consults with a certified financial planner.

Additionally, we offer employees access to an award-winning financial wellness platform, Enrich.  Enrich, available for free to all UK employees, provides a variety of tools and tips related to saving, debt, insurance, and benefits, among others. 

For example, the Retirement Analyzer shows individuals if they are on track for retirement in two minutes or less. It is important to note that UK’s retirement benefits for regular full-time employees are among the most generous in the region. UK offers a 200 percent employer match. This means that when an employee contributes five percent of his/her base salary, UK contributes 10 percent, resulting in the individual saving 15 percent of the base salary.

Other tools on the Enrich platform include:

• The Saving Now vs. Saving Later Calculator, which visually displays the difference between saving for retirement now or later.
• The Money Personality tool, which allows individuals to understand the “why” behind their money-related decisions through a financial behavioral assessment.
• This video, which provides an overview of ways to create a personal budget and manage a paycheck.    

These are just a few examples of the tools available and initiatives underway to assist employees in their financial journeys.

It all ties back to the idea of community, wellness, and growth. We are committed to supporting our people—those who carry out the mission of our institution—to achieve the greatest levels of success. 

That’s what it means to be Kentucky’s institution. That’s what it means to show the world what Kentucky can do.

Have a great week.

Eric N. Monday

@UKYMonday 

#KYCan