With the Bank of England forecasting inflation could climb to about 13% later this year, and interest rates now at their highest level since December 2008, financial wellbeing is very much front of mind.
So, it’s good to see that multinational imaging and electronics company Ricoh UK has partnered with financial wellbeing and advice platform Wealth Wizards, to help its employees improve their current and future finances.
Getting to grips with current realities
MyEva, the financial wellbeing application from Wealth Wizards, initially takes Ricoh employees through an automated, easy to complete financial health check, asking non-intrusive questions that help to build an overview of their current financial wellbeing.
Once complete, employees are presented with a health check score and a personalised dashboard highlighting areas of strength, as well as opportunities for improvement. Employees are then directed to financial topics relevant to them, with bite-sized tasks to complete, helping them to get more from their finances, such as increasing savings, reducing debt and saving for retirement.
Planning for the future
A retirement lifestyle tool, based on the Pension and Lifetime Saving Association’s (PLSA) Retirement Living Standards, enables employees to explore the kind of lifestyle they’d like in retirement and suggests the monthly contributions required to meet their goals.
Employees can return to MyEva at any point to review and update their circumstances, which then automatically updates their financial wellbeing score. As well as automated financial guidance, MyEva offers FCA regulated financial advice on pension contributions and employees can adjust their workplace pension scheme contributions via the application.
A personal approach
There is also the option to speak to a human financial adviser for regulated financial advice, should employees require more help or support with their financial affairs.
Mark Kiddell, Chief Commercial Officer, Wealth Wizards said:
“We’re delighted to be working with Ricoh UK and helping its employees improve their financial wellbeing and retirement prospects. Having control over our finances and becoming more financially resilient is directly related to our mental and physical wellbeing. This is particularly true with the current economic turbulence and cost of living crisis, and we developed MyEva to enable employers to help as many people as possible manage their money more effectively for themselves and their families.”
Commenting on MyEva, Toni Smith, Rewards & Insights Manager at Ricoh UK said:
“MyEva helps our employees co-ordinate their spending and work out weekly or monthly budgets to help manage their bills. While saving during the current cost of living crisis can be challenging, several of our employees are actively seeking regulated advice on areas such as mortgages, savings, and pension contributions and consolidation. Employees can access MyEva 24/7 which provides them with a continuous, real-time overview of their current and future financial wellbeing, which in turn helps to improve their mental and physical wellbeing”.
You can find more information about WealthWizards and MyEva here.