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The monthly amount that you pay on a mortgage for $700,000 covers the principal payment and interest, and your exact payment depends on several variables, including your interest rate. A $700,000, 30-year mortgage with a 6% interest rate, for example, costs around $4,200 monthly. However, there may be additional costs that you have to pay throughout the life of the loan, not to mention upfront costs that you must pay when you first close on the home.

The monthly cost of a mortgage depends on the interest rate, the length of the loan, and any additional costs, such as private mortgage insurance (PMI) charged on some loans. Mortgage loan terms are typically from 15 years to 30 years, and the monthly payments for a 15-year loan can be much higher than the payments for a 30-year loan, although, over its lifetime, the 30-year mortgage is typically more costly because interest costs are higher.

Here’s a look at how much a 700,000 mortgage might cost per month for a 15-year or 30-year loan term with various interest rates.

What Is the Total Cost of a $700K Mortgage?

A $700,000 30-year mortgage with a 6% interest rate (which, as noted above, costs around $4,200 monthly) has a total cost of $1,510,867. The same loan over 15 years would have a $5,900 monthly payment and a total cost of $1,063,260. These amounts are simply estimates; exact costs will depend on interest, escrow, taxes, and insurance. A rule of thumb when buying a home is to not pay more than 28% of your gross monthly income. So someone whose monthly mortgage payment is $4,200 would need to take home at least $15,000 a month.

💡 Quick Tip: Buying a home shouldn’t be aggravating. SoFi’s online mortgage application is quick and simple, with dedicated Mortgage Loan Officers to guide you through the process.

The Upfront Costs of a $700K Mortgage

When you buy a house and take out a mortgage, in addition to your down payment, you will have to pay closing costs. Closing costs are mostly the administrative expenses for closing the deal. They include mortgage lender fees, titling fees, insurance fees, taxes, and appraisal fees. These costs are typically not covered by your down payment. Here’s a closer look at some upfront costs a buyer will face.

Earnest money Also known as a deposit, this is the money you put down to show the seller you’re serious about buying their place.

Down payment The amount you pay as a down payment will depend on the type of home loan. A conventional loan without private mortgage insurance (PMI) may call for a 20% down payment. On the other hand, you might get a conventional loan with mortgage insurance with a 3% down payment. A down payment for a Federal Housing Administration loan is typically around 3.5%, and Veterans Affairs loans or U.S. Department of Agriculture loans have no down payment required.

The more you can afford as a down payment, the less interest you will pay because the lender considers you less risky as a borrower.

Closing costs Your lender will charge you fees for administrative services, such as application, origination, and underwriting fees. And then there are transfer taxes associated with transferring the title from the seller to the buyer.

Recommended: First-Time Homebuyer Guide

The Long-Term Costs of a $700K Mortgage

Your mortgage payments pay down the principal and the interest on your loan. Proportionally, more of your payment will go toward interest rather than the principal at the beginning of the loan term, and at the end of the loan term, more of your payment will go toward paying down the principal.

If you paid less than 20 percent as a down payment, your mortgage lender may also require you to pay private mortgage insurance (PMI) on a monthly basis. However, there are also other long-term costs:

Property taxes These can add up to thousands of dollars a year and can change annually, or as often as your town raises taxes.

Home maintenance One rule of thumb is to set aside 1% of your home’s total value each year for maintenance costs.

HOA, condo, or co-op fees If your home is a condo or part of a homeowners association (HOA) or co-op, you will need to pay a monthly fee. The fee covers services such as grounds maintenance, use of a community center, and snow removal. HOA fees can range anywhere from $100 to $1,000.

Homeowners’ and hazard insurance Some areas are designated “high risk” for natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, wildfires, or severe storms. If your home is located in one of these areas, you will need to pay hazard insurance, which could cost between 0.25% to 0.33% of the home’s value paid annually.

Recommended: Home Loan Help Center

Estimated Monthly Payments on a $700K Mortgage

The table below shows the estimated monthly payments for a $700,000 mortgage loan for both a 15-year and a 30-year loan with interest rates varying from 5% to 8%.

How Much Interest Is Accrued on a $700K Mortgage?

The amount of interest accrued on a $700,000 mortgage will depend on the length of the loan and the interest rate. A shorter loan term will mean less accrued interest. For example, for a 15-year loan for $700,000 with a 6% interest rate, the interest would amount to around $363,259 over the life of the loan. For a 30-year loan with a 6% interest rate, the interest would be more than double at $810,867.

Amortization Breakdown for a $700K Mortgage

An amortization schedule for a mortgage loan tells you when your last payment will be and how much of your monthly payment goes toward paying off the principal and how much goes toward paying off the interest. At the beginning of the loan term, most of your payment will go toward the interest.

Below is the mortgage amortization breakdown for a $700,000 mortgage with a 6% interest rate for a 30-year loan.

What Is Required to Get a $700K Mortgage?

Let’s say you want to buy a home for $875,000 with a down payment of 20% or $175,000. To qualify for a 30-year mortgage loan of $700,000 with a 6% interest rate, you would need to earn around $180,000 annually. For a 15-year loan, you would need to earn around $253,000 annually.

This calculator shows you how much of a mortgage you can afford based on your gross annual income, your monthly spending, your down payment, and the interest rate.

The Takeaway

When calculating how much a mortgage loan for $700,000 will cost per month, the principal and interest are two of the biggest components. However, there are other costs that may be included, such as private mortgage insurance. And don’t forget about closing costs as well.

The length of the loan will drastically affect the amount of interest paid over the life of the loan. For example, the interest paid on a 30-year loan versus a 15-year loan with a 6% interest rate could be more than double.

Looking for an affordable option for a home mortgage loan? SoFi can help: We offer low down payments (as little as 3% - 5%*) with our competitive and flexible home mortgage loans. Plus, applying is extra convenient: It's online, with access to one-on-one help.

FAQ

What will the monthly payments be for a $700K mortgage?

The longer your loan term, the lower your monthly payment on a mortgage loan, but you will pay more interest over the life of the loan. The exact monthly payment for a $700,000 mortgage will depend on the interest rate and the loan term. The payment for a $700,000 30-year mortgage with a 6% interest rate is approximately $4,200. For a 15-year loan with the same interest rate, the monthly payment is around $5,900.

How much do I need to earn to afford a $700K mortgage loan?

To buy a home for $875,000 with a down payment of 20% or 175K, and with a 30-year mortgage loan of $700,000 with a 6% interest rate, you would need to earn around $180,000 annually. For a 15-year loan, you would need to earn around $253,000 annually.

How much down payment is required for a $700K mortgage loan?

The down payment you will pay will depend on the type of mortgage and the lender. Some lenders accept 3%, while some expect 20%. If your down payment is less than 20%, you might have to add private mortgage insurance (PMI) to your monthly payments.

Photo credit: iStock/Xacto
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*SoFi requires Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) for conforming home loans with a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio greater than 80%. As little as 3% down payments are for qualifying first-time homebuyers only. 5% minimum applies to other borrowers. Other loan types may require different fees or insurance (e.g., VA funding fee, FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums, etc.). Loan requirements may vary depending on your down payment amount, and minimum down payment varies by loan type.

Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

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It’s a win-win situation. When employers help employees become homeowners — even in small ways — workers may feel even more loyal to them. And employees who own their homes are far less likely to relocate and change jobs.

The reasons aren’t hard to figure out. Homeownership can be a major contributor to employees’ overall financial well-being, security, and stability, all of which can add to their productivity and satisfaction on the job. Employer-sponsored homeownership benefits also help build strong communities, and strong communities are almost always good for business.

The need for employer help may be greater now than ever. Stubbornly elevated home prices, the uptick in mortgage rates, low housing inventory, and the high overall cost of living have meant that it has been harder for employees, particularly workers under age 35, to afford to buy their own homes. For many first-time home-buyers, the only option is to move to a lower-priced housing market. If those employees can’t work fully remotely, they may simply switch jobs.

The widespread lack of affordable housing in many areas can also make it difficult for employers to attract and retain the best hires. According to data from Gallup, the cost of replacing an individual employee can range from half of to two times the employee’s salary.

The ultimate result? A huge challenge for HR professionals.

Offering home buying benefits can help. Numerous companies, understanding the link between homeownership and retention, have introduced homeownership benefits to help build a loyal, productive workforce that can further advance their business objectives.

Below are some of the ways employers can help their workforce become satisfied homeowners. After studying your workforce demographics and your budget, you may find inspiration among the various approaches below.

Homebuyer Education and Counseling

Knowledge is one of the most cost-effective benefits there is. Consider pairing up with area mortgage experts, financial counselors, and others to produce on-site or virtual information seminars on various homebuying topics. Banks, mortgage brokers, and real estate brokers in your area may be willing to offer free information sessions at your organization in hopes of generating clients. Or you may find one of the many homebuyer consultants available to help educate your workforce.

These programs can provide interested employees with the basics on the local market, different types of mortgages and their rates, mortgage insurance, down payment assistance, legal issues related to homeownership , foreclosure prevention, and much more. And an informed employee can avoid the financially costly mistakes that can so often be part of real estate purchases.

Recommended: How Homeownership Can Help Build Generational Wealth

Credit Counseling

A good credit score is key to qualifying for a mortgage with favorable rates. Employer-sponsored credit counseling can help employees learn how to check their credit scores and, if necessary, take steps to improve them. Consider partnering with a respected credit counseling firm to conduct in-house or virtual workshops or allowing employees time off to attend approved credit counseling seminars outside the workplace.

Recommended: Supporting the Financial Well-Being of Newly Hired Recent Graduates

Down Payment Assistance Programs

With home prices as high as they are in many markets throughout the U.S., saving up a down payment of 10 percent to 20 percent or more can be a barrier to homeownership for many workers.

Employers can help in two ways. They can offer direct financial assistance. This usually entails paying a percentage of an employee’s down payment with a dollar amount maximum.

Employers can also help employees access government-sponsored grants and low-interest loans designed to help first-time homebuyers cover down payments and/or closing costs. Your state’s housing finance agency and your local housing authority likely have first-time homebuyer programs. Many offer qualifying buyers grants that don’t have to be paid back. Others have low or no-interest loans that often don’t have to be paid back until the house is sold or refinanced. As a rule, these programs aren’t broadly advertised, so employers who help workers find and apply for such assistance can play an important role in securing these funds.

Help Finding and Paying Real Estate Professionals

Consider partnering with a local bank or mortgage broker to help employees find home financing. In return for the potential mortgage clients, you may be able to negotiate lower closing costs and fees for your employees that your firm also might or might not help subsidize.

A partnership between your firm and local realtors can provide workers with special help in the house-hunting process. And a relationship with local real estate lawyers or access to your own firm’s legal expertise can help lower legal fees associated with home buying for your employees.

Professional relocation services can help with home buying when an employee moves from one area of the country to another. However, with the rise of remote work, this is increasingly less common.

Important Extras

There are lots of small but important and cost-effective gestures employers can make when employees are finishing up with the home buying experience. Extra days off (with pay) for closing and moving, for instance, can reduce stress and produce goodwill.

When the deal is done, it’s a nice gesture to acknowledge the new homeowner with a card or housewarming gift. Be sure to remind your employees that you or your expert partners can help answer any follow-up questions that come with homeownership.

You’ll also want to make sure that learning to manage mortgage payments and home ownership is part of your employees’ overall financial well-being picture. Your wellness programs may be able to help with budgeting for home improvements, maintenance, insurance, and other costs your employees may not have anticipated with home ownership.

The Takeaway

Employers can’t be the only resource employees turn to when it comes to buying a home. But a company that has a workforce full of employees of home buying age may find that it can fill an important need and, in the process, help keep its workforce steady, loyal, productive, and satisfied.

Products available from SoFi on the Dashboard may vary depending on your employer preferences.

SoFi Relay offers users the ability to connect both SoFi accounts and external accounts using Plaid, Inc.’s service. When you use the service to connect an account, you authorize SoFi to obtain account information from any external accounts as set forth in SoFi’s Terms of Use. Based on your consent SoFi will also automatically provide some financial data received from the credit bureau for your visibility, without the need of you connecting additional accounts. SoFi assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, accuracy, deletion, non-delivery, or failure to store any user data, loss of user data, communications, or personalization settings. You shall confirm the accuracy of Plaid data through sources independent of SoFi. The credit score is a VantageScore® based on TransUnion® (the “Processing Agent”) data.

Advisory tools and services are offered through SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. 234 1st Street San Francisco, CA 94105.

SoFi Student Loan Refinance Loans, Personal Loans, Private Student Loans, and Mortgage Loans are originated through SoFi Bank, N.A., NMLS #696891 (Member FDIC), (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org ). The Student Debt Navigator Tool and 529 Savings and Selection Tool are provided by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal. 2750 E. Cottonwood Parkway #300 Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121. ©2024 Social Finance, LLC. All rights reserved. Information as of April 2024 and is subject to change.


Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

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Few events that your employees experience are as life-changing as becoming parents. That’s why new parents often begin to look at their employee benefits in a new light. Now, after all, they’re relying on their employers for new kinds of important support as well as continued financial well-being.

As an HR professional, you may also want to take a fresh look at your company’s total rewards strategy to make sure you don’t silo parent-oriented benefits. This could happen if you single out important offerings such as parental leave and college savings programs, but don’t always integrate parenthood into the overall financial well-being program.

Why Parental Benefits Are Now More Key Than Ever

The importance of parental benefits may be even more pronounced than it used to be as a growing number of companies strive to reestablish in-person workforces.

Even with hybrid schedules, many new parents find it difficult to stay in the workforce. Motherly’s recent State of Motherhood report , which surveyed nearly 10,000 mothers, found that the number of stay-at-home mothers nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023, jumping by 10 percentage points from 15% to 25%. These numbers suggest that the Great Resignation is continuing for American mothers.

The more flexibility and support employers provide, the more willing parents may be to return to work. What’s more, employers who understand what employees at any stage of parenting need to maintain and elevate their financial well-being stand to gain enormous loyalty from their staff.

Today’s diverse workforces require customized programs that can help them achieve their individual and family financial wellness goals. This applies to parents of all ages of children as well as to parents of newborns.

Here’s how you can make sure your total rewards strategy is doing the best job possible to attract, retain, and support your parent employees.

Evaluate Your Existing Parental Benefits

Are your parent-oriented benefits offering the best help you can give to the widest variety of your parent employees?

Some of the most common benefits include parental leaves, paid time off, and college savings programs. Let’s look closely at each to help determine if your offerings are up to date and effective.

Paid Parental Leave

The Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows eligible employees at large employers to take up to 12 weeks off after the birth or adoption of a child. But the Act does not require that an employee be paid for this time. And state laws on family medical leave can vary significantly.

Under the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA) of 2020, many federal employers offer 12 weeks of paid parental leave as a substitution for FMLA to civilian government employees who have been on the job for at least a year and then become parents through birth, adoption, or foster care.

Although this Act applies only to government employees, it sets a strong example for private and nonprofit organizations. Ask yourself whether your firm is keeping up with the most recent paid-leave policies? Are your leave policies inclusive — available to fathers and non-birth mothers, adoptive parents, foster parents, and parents who use surrogates?

Flexible Return to Work Schedules

Just in case it wasn’t already obvious, the pandemic has demonstrated how important flexible work hours are for parents. A flexible return-to-work policy for new parents can help ensure that new moms and dads continue to stay in the workforce. Some employers, such as PwC, for example, are finding that a gradual return can help with the transition. The firm allows parent employees to work a 60% reduced schedule at full pay for up to four weeks as they return to work.

For parents of slightly older kids, Mastercard has taken a different tack by creating a virtual Kids Club that offers educational games to keep children between the ages of five and 12 occupied while their parents are working at home.

Other companies have had success with increased remote schedules for reentering parents and more flexible PTO benefits that accommodate children’s illnesses and childcare gaps.

Whatever ways you decide to support the transition from parental leave to a return to work, be sure they’re clearly communicated to your workforce. Ideally, you want to have a sit-down with a new parent employee before the baby arrives to review all relevant benefits, including what’s expected during a return to work.

Inclusive Parental Benefits

Be sure your leaves, time-off, and return-to-work policies apply to all types of families. Parental benefits are a wonderful opportunity for building your inclusive benefits strategy. Same-sex couples with surrogates, adoptive parents, and foster parents need the same parental leave and flexible return-to-work policies as traditional birth mothers. And any type of new parent may need spousal or partner time off for bonding and caretaking. If your health plan covers fertility treatments, you may want to ensure that same-sex couples and other non-traditional families are covered by those as well.

Early College Savings Opportunities

The idea of saving for college starting as soon as a child is born is nothing new. But is your company doing everything it can to make that possible? Automatic payroll contribution to a 529 savings plan can be one of the most effective ways for all parents to save for their children’s education.

In addition, assistance with determining what 529 savings plan is best for your employees may also help. Employer-provided guidance can help parents navigate state tax laws, fees, maximums, minimums, and investment options among the different 529 Savings Plans available.

Customize Financial Well-Being Benefits to Help Parents

At this juncture, new parents likely need access to any financial planning and counseling services your financial wellness benefits offer to help navigate the money challenges parenting brings. In addition, overall wellness benefits can help reduce stress and increase productivity. Some examples:

•   Access to legal services to help write wills, designate guardians, and change beneficiaries.

•   Opportunities to sign up for any supplemental life insurance or disability income insurance your organization offers and guidance on why protection can be more of a priority for parents.

•   House hunting and mortgage services. An expansion of the family often requires a move to a larger space, making home-buying benefits more relevant than ever.

•   Help building an emergency fund while keeping track of other financial priorities.

•   Financial planning services can help parents reset priorities and budgeting in light of a new addition to the family. Parents may also benefit from a retirement planning deep dive. Although planning for long-term goals may seem impossible in the midst of such a huge life event, it’s important for parent employees to remember that planning well for their own futures helps ensure the financial future of their children as well. No parents want to have to rely on their children financially in old age. Making sure that doesn’t happen begins now, and employers can help.

•   Student loan pay-down programs can help parents handle their obligations from the past while still being able to plan for the future.

•   Renew new parents’ engagement in overall wellness benefits such as weight loss, exercise, and stress reduction programs. If you don’t already, consider offering such programs to parents with children of all ages, since all parents (not just new parents) have stress to deal with.

The Takeaway

Becoming a parent is a life-changing occurrence for anyone. But employers can use this happy event to solidify financial well-being, loyalty, and productivity among their workers who are parents.

Photo credit: iStock/Tempura

Products available from SoFi on the Dashboard may vary depending on your employer preferences.

SoFi Relay offers users the ability to connect both SoFi accounts and external accounts using Plaid, Inc.’s service. When you use the service to connect an account, you authorize SoFi to obtain account information from any external accounts as set forth in SoFi’s Terms of Use. Based on your consent SoFi will also automatically provide some financial data received from the credit bureau for your visibility, without the need of you connecting additional accounts. SoFi assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, accuracy, deletion, non-delivery, or failure to store any user data, loss of user data, communications, or personalization settings. You shall confirm the accuracy of Plaid data through sources independent of SoFi. The credit score is a VantageScore® based on TransUnion® (the “Processing Agent”) data.

Advisory tools and services are offered through SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. 234 1st Street San Francisco, CA 94105.

SoFi Student Loan Refinance Loans, Personal Loans, Private Student Loans, and Mortgage Loans are originated through SoFi Bank, N.A., NMLS #696891 (Member FDIC), (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org ). The Student Debt Navigator Tool and 529 Savings and Selection Tool are provided by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal. 2750 E. Cottonwood Parkway #300 Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121. ©2024 Social Finance, LLC. All rights reserved. Information as of April 2024 and is subject to change.


Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

This article is not intended to be legal advice. Please consult an attorney for advice.

Third-Party Brand Mentions: No brands, products, or companies mentioned are affiliated with SoFi, nor do they endorse or sponsor this article. Third-party trademarks referenced herein are property of their respective owners.

External Websites: The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third-party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.

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When employees feel financially secure, they can be more engaged, focused, productive, and loyal workers.

But simply offering a variety of financial benefits may not be enough to let all members of your workforce actually achieve financial wellness. And that’s especially true today, as employees navigate higher prices, elevated interest rates, and uneven wage growth.

So what are you doing right? And what can you improve?

Measuring financial well-being can help you answer those important questions.

Why Measure Financial Wellness and Why Now?

“A person’s financial well-being comes from their sense of financial security and freedom of choice – both in the present and when considering the future,” according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau .

In SoFi at Work’s Future of Workplace Financial Well-Being 2022 study, four out of 10 workers rated their financial well-being as average, poor, or very poor, and 75% currently have at least one source of financial stress. This was the case across all ages and incomes, and from varying industries. In fact, even higher earners were not immune. More than half (57%) of those making more than $150,000 cited at least one source of major financial stress, including worrying about inadequate retirement savings (40%), credit card debt (33%), and not having enough money for basics like food and rent or mortgage payments (29%).

How are your employees faring? Now may be a good time to measure the financial well-being in your workforce. Doing so can let you see firsthand the financial struggles your employees may be going through, how those struggles connect to business outcomes, and how your total rewards strategy can help.

How to Better Understand Your Unique Workforce

Measuring financial well-being will allow you to determine what segments of your workforce are struggling the most. It can also help you figure out what you can provide to help all your employees move forward. For many employers, that’s a two-part process.

1. Wage Assessment

Many employers start this process by assessing wages. No doubt you’ve compared your wage and salary decisions against competitors’ offerings, the local labor market, and industry averages. Indeed, you may be paying above the industry standard. But it’s important to remember that even above-standard wages don’t ensure financial wellness. Your workers may still be struggling.

With that in mind, you may want to compare your company’s wages against what constitutes a local living wage in the areas where your employees work. MIT’s Living Wage Calculator may be able to assist you with this. This tool helps determine how much money a person in a specific area needs to earn to cover basic expenses and how much that person has leftover for disposable income, including saving for the future. This may be a more realistic gauge for all levels of your workforce when assessing wages and determining financial well-being.

Recommended: Are Inflation and Financial Stress Affecting Your Employees’ Work Productivity?

2. Self-Assessment Survey

The next step is to gather input from your employees. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to design an online financial wellness assessment survey and encourage all employees to participate.

An effective self-assessment survey analyzes four pillars of financial security.

Spending: With these questions, you’ll find out how many employees are spending beyond their incomes either because they have expenses that are higher than their income or because of bad spending habits. By asking how long employees think their money would last if they suddenly lost their income, you’ll also collect data on how many of your employees are prepared for an emergency.

Saving: Retirement savings will likely dominate this section. How many employees are participating in your organization’s 401(k) or other retirement savings programs? How much of their annual income are they saving? Are they taking advantage of any match? Do they have an idea of how much they’ll need to save for retirement?

You’ll also want to find out how much your employees are saving for other goals such as emergency savings funds, college tuition, or a home down payment. This may be especially important if your benefits package includes other types of savings programs in addition to retirement.

Debt/Borrowing: Here’s where you want employees to fess up to credit card debt, mortgages, student debt (their own or their children’s), and personal loans. Assessing debt is a vital element for financial wellness. Some leverage, such as a mortgage or tuition loans, can be useful financial wellness tools. But credit card and other debt can be among the biggest obstacles to financial well-being.

Planning: Questions concerning employees’ purchase of life insurance and disability income insurance can paint a picture of how well-protected they are — an important element of financial wellness. This is a good place to ask if employees have set financial goals for the future and if they’ve worked with a financial counselor to do so. You’ll get a sense of what percentage of your employees are looking forward while still taking care of short-term needs/desires. Importantly, this will also let you know how much of your workforce is engaging with the financial planning tools you may be offering.

Depending on your workforce and your goals for the assessment, you may also want to include more subjective elements in your research, such as employee diaries or interviews. This can add human stories to the data collected and help inform new benefits going forward.

Sofi at Work offers a comprehensive benefits assessment tool that can be customized to your workforce.

Measuring Financial Wellness Empowers Employees

When employees take a smart, well-written, and well-designed assessment survey, they’re not just providing information to their bosses, they’re also thinking through their own financial wellness strategy.

Incorporating an interactive tool that gives immediate feedback can help employees identify their current status and balance their short- and long-term financial goals.

Providing a one-on-one meeting with a financial planner or other expert for each employee to have after completing the survey encourages your workers to take action with their newfound knowledge and further enhance their overall financial wellness. (It can also prompt more willingness to take the assessment among employees.)

Recommended: Supporting the Financial Well-Being of Newly Hired Recent Graduates

Measuring Provides a Compass for Your Financial Wellness Benefits

You’ll also want to analyze your own data on the benefits you’re currently providing to determine how well they’re contributing to employee financial wellness. A comprehensive look at who is using what benefits — including everything from health insurance to 401(k)s to paid parental leave and student loan assistance — and what employees are paying for or contributing to those benefits, can unlock details about access and participation among all levels of your workforce.

A benefit analysis combined with a wage assessment and employee financial wellness survey helps provide a deeper understanding of gaps in your total benefits strategy, areas where employee engagement and education are needed, and what new tools and programs might enhance financial well-being among your workers.

The Takeaway

Measuring your employees’ financial well-being now can lead to the design and implementation of benefits that will enhance financial wellness for all of your employees in the future.

Photo credit: iStock/SDI Productions

Products available from SoFi on the Dashboard may vary depending on your employer preferences.

SoFi Relay offers users the ability to connect both SoFi accounts and external accounts using Plaid, Inc.’s service. When you use the service to connect an account, you authorize SoFi to obtain account information from any external accounts as set forth in SoFi’s Terms of Use. Based on your consent SoFi will also automatically provide some financial data received from the credit bureau for your visibility, without the need of you connecting additional accounts. SoFi assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, accuracy, deletion, non-delivery, or failure to store any user data, loss of user data, communications, or personalization settings. You shall confirm the accuracy of Plaid data through sources independent of SoFi. The credit score is a VantageScore® based on TransUnion® (the “Processing Agent”) data.

Advisory tools and services are offered through SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. 234 1st Street San Francisco, CA 94105.

SoFi Student Loan Refinance Loans, Personal Loans, Private Student Loans, and Mortgage Loans are originated through SoFi Bank, N.A., NMLS #696891 (Member FDIC), (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org ). The Student Debt Navigator Tool and 529 Savings and Selection Tool are provided by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal. 2750 E. Cottonwood Parkway #300 Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121. ©2024 Social Finance, LLC. All rights reserved. Information as of April 2024 and is subject to change.


Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

External Websites: The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third-party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.

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