In this Expert Interview, AdvancingWellness CEO Mari Ryan is joined by financial advisor Jon Bicknell, CRPC, CFP.

Mari Ryan: Welcome to the Workplace Well-being Essentials Series. I’m Mari Ryan. I’m the CEO and founder of Advancing Wellness. It is my pleasure to welcome you today to this expert interview where we explore topics that impact employee well-being. My guest today is Jon Bicknell.

Jon is a certified financial planner. He has over 24 years’ experience in helping clients achieve their financial dreams. Jon’s goal is to act as the client’s financial guide and advocate. He and his team offer a comprehensive approach to retirement and financial planning so clients can gain financial clarity and retire with confidence. The financial plans he creates with his clients blend tax, investment, insurance, and estate planning advice along with a bit of coaching.

Jon graduated from the University of Vermont in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Finance. When Jon is not working he can be found spending time with his wife and two teenage children, or out on his bike, or skiing in the winter in his free time.

Jon, I’m so excited to have you here today for this conversation.

Jon Bicknell: Absolutely, Mari. Great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Mari Ryan: Let’s dig into our topic today. We know we are living in unprecedented times, a perfect storm has wreaked havoc with our world, with the pandemic which has created economic downturn, resulting in significant unemployment. Stress is at an all-time high, and a large part of that may be due to financial stress. In today’s conversation we are going to dig into financial well-being, which is a major pillar of overall well-being.

So Jon, let’s talk about why is financial well-being so important?

Jon Bicknell: Obviously, you’ve been talking about well-being for a while, and my perspective is certainly from the finance end. I looked to a couple of the experts in preparing for this podcast and there’s some really neat research that has been going on for years and years in the workplace and there are a lot of interesting things to come out of them, somewhat scary things, I think.

There are two sides of financial wellness. There’s the employee side, and then the employer side. I think from looking at some of the studies, the employee side is pretty clear. Anxiety, nervousness, feeling overwhelmed, headaches. Fifty-eight percent of the people in the John Hancock survey that I’m referring to – it’s a financial stress survey – 58% of them said they experience some of these symptoms due to their personal finances.

I think that one of the things from the employee perspective is general nervousness and discomfort.

Mari Ryan: There is such a great impact on your physical … I think that directly translates to your physical health. The financial well-being or the financial status is the source of the stress and the anxiety. That certainly can also cause significant impact on your physical health as well.

Jon Bicknell: For sure. Yes, absenteeism in the workplace, all the things that affect a person’s physical well-being are part of this well-being that is finances.

Mari Ryan: What are you seeing with your clients, Jon? I’m curious, in general with regards to financial well-being, are your clients anxious, are they nervous, are they stressed? Tell us, what are you seeing?

Jon Bicknell: I think that my perspective may not be the entire perspective. I tend to work with folks that have been working with me or have a financial plan. But I know that everyone out there is thinking about well-being. I just met with some clients who didn’t have any reason to worry. They had some family wealth and had been saving for a good long period of time. This gentleman asked me, “hey, am I okay to retire? Am I okay?” It’s definitely nothing I’ve ever heard from him before.

Yesterday I was with some folks who were worried about their jobs. I was helping a business owner that was transitioning to his employees’, this business, and they were looking at buying into this business to make sure that the big guys, the consolidators in this case, healthcare consolidators didn’t just gobble them up and replace them with technology. I think that is a concern in the back of people’s minds, technology and the speed at which business is moving these days.

Mari Ryan: I would think that this question about can I retire? Am I okay to retire? I think this is one that a lot of people have started to contemplate with the job insecurity that is going on, with the state of the economy, if you are lucky enough to have your portfolio bounced back after the depths that they hit earlier this year, then you might feel okay. I think a lot of people are feeling insecure. Are you seeing that as well?

Jon Bicknell: Definitely, there’s no doubt about it. Whether people are saying it or not, I think we’re all feeling a bit insecure at all levels. Folks that have a good financial plan going and folks that don’t. That’s one of the things that I refer to in this study, or look at in the study, over 50% of people don’t know how much they need to retire. How can you possibly feel comfortable if you don’t know where you are on the path to retirement.

Mari Ryan: What do you think gets in people’s way from preventing them from creating these kinds of plans and understanding what it is going to take to live a life beyond working and to really plan for that? Why are people not doing this?

Jon Bicknell: The biggest concerns that were out there for planning, I think it’s really going to come down to education. Education in people’s finances, I think that’s the biggest hurdle. They are in one of several places, they either have a whole bunch of concern around spending and saving for – or making their expenses to income work. Often times the folks who are just starting out are saddled with some debt. So I think that’s one of the things that impedes them. But the plain old answer to that question, it’s education. They need more education.

Mari Ryan: That’s one of the things that employers can do to help. It might be fair to say that many people are not thriving in terms of their financial well-being right now. Let’s explore this idea of financial stress and what does it take. Education is one element, but what does it take for people to get to a place where they are comfortable from the financial stress perspective? They can manage their debt, they can manage to have savings, and have enough money for an emergency and those kinds of things? What does it take?

Mari Ryan: I always say financial planning, it’s not really that simple so let’s get back to basics. Let’s get first to the lever of income. I think that’s one of the things for employers that might be watching is from an employee’s perspective, increasing income can make their financial plan better. So we don’t want them to leave the current employer and go look for more income. And again that is why they should be in these financial wellness programs.

The second lever of financial planning is always expenses. Oftentimes people just don’t realize that it’s the Starbucks coffee, or living in too big of an apartment or a house, or having too big of this or that. That makes income and expenses not line up so they don’t have something left over, which is savings. That’s always the third part of a financial plan, is how much savings you are able to generate, or in retirement, have.

Mari Ryan: Those are good reminders of the basics, but one of the things that I’m curious about is whether people have the skills, especially when you talk about education, but I think there is a skill gap here as well, especially for individuals at lower income levels. When I was graduating from high school, graduating from college, there weren’t those management of life courses where they taught you how to build a budget and manage debt and those kinds of things. Do you see this as well, is there a skill gap that is perhaps existing there?

Jon Bicknell: Yes, can I ask you a question? 

Mari Ryan: Sure!

Jon Bicknell: Do you know how many states in the United States have a mandated high school finance program?

Mari Ryan: I have no clue, no. Are there any?

Jon Bicknell: Only 17 out of 50. So you are totally right. This is something that unfortunately doesn’t get taught in … again, it’s just the basics. How do we … really, the statement is simple. It’s that income minus expenses equals savings. It’s got to be that basic. I think that’s the thing that people miss out on because they get into the “well everyone else is going out for Starbucks coffee,” or “everyone else is doing this” and they don’t put their minds to it.

When I was looking at this study that John Hancock had out, you realize that 50% of the retirement plan participants that they studied didn’t have enough savings to cover a $2000 emergency expense. That’s scary.

Mari Ryan: That’s very scary, yeah. I’ve heard that number even lower, that people wouldn’t even have the money to cover a $400 car breakdown expense.

Jon Bicknell: So, what is it? It’s making sure that you understand the basics.

Mari Ryan: Beyond the basics, what is it that employers can do? My audience is often the employer and they’re in a position, certainly the employer plays a huge role in everyone’s financial well-being, since there are so many … not just compensation, but benefits and other elements that come into play. So, we can’t overlook this employer role.

What would you say to employers that they could do to support their employees in this financial well-being realm?

Jon Bicknell: Well, it’s have a plan. Fortunately, versus five years ago, many more employers are understanding the loss in productivity that financial stress has on people. It’s been estimated essentially that each employee costs about $1900 a year in those kinds of expenses, loss of productivity or absenteeism. So without these programs, the employers are only hurting themselves.

I think that’s the first thing is to understand it, and then to realize they have to do something about this. The do-something is really the workshops, creating a workshop program that is tailored to the type of employee that the company has.

Mari Ryan: When you say the type of employee the company has, meaning based on their education level, their earning level, what would be the criteria?

Jon Bicknell: Those would be the things that you would look at. If it’s a lower-skilled workplace then it’s more about the basics. Budget, cash flow, what an investment is, what a retirement plan is. Maybe up the line a little bit might be saving for college, or home ownership, or life insurance if you are married. Then obviously, the one that hits everybody no matter what bracket they are in, it’s retirement income planning, retirement planning, getting there so you have enough money and can eventually create the income that will replace your job income.

Mari Ryan: Are these types of programs often … we have different needs at different ages, so what the millennial or the college graduate is looking at, or the new family trying to buy a home, versus someone who is trying to pay off their kid’s college loans and getting to their secure retirement. Do these programs vary across the life spectrum?

Jon Bicknell: Definitely. I think that’s the key is that the employer would work with whatever professional they are doing. The retirement plan folks are starting to pick up on this and they are creating these financial literacy programs for retirement plan employees because those employees are the ones that are exposed to the company retirement plan. The customization is there. There’s a lot more ability with technology these days to have that augmented with online tools, financial planning tools that are self-service. Videos that cover different topics. Single item planning tools, like a college education plan or even a retirement income type of plan that would require more inputs, typically. Kind of individual topics.

Mari Ryan: Lot of great things that employers can do to support everyone and this is the time to bring in all that to the employees, to the workforce so that they can start to be thriving in this area.

Jon, if our audience wants to learn more about you and the work that you are doing, where can they find you?

Jon Bicknell: Sure, I’m jonbicknell.com. I’m with Cetera Advisors. Thanks.

Mari Ryan: Excellent. Thanks so much for being here. It’s always great to spend time with you, Jon.

Jon Bicknell: Mari, same with you. Thanks for having me.

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