SoFi Blog

With 59% of employees claiming money matters as their main cause of stress, this year’s trends in employee benefits seem to be focused around one particular concept—financial wellness.

According to the CFPB, industry surveys define financial wellness programs as “those that assess and support an employee’s ‘complete financial picture’ or the ‘overall financial health of an individual.’” To shed some light on this topic, we talked to SoFi’s own senior benefits manager, Debbie Westover.

Some of Debbie’s responsibilities include developing, designing, and administering employee benefit programs—making her a great resource on ways employers can satisfy the benefit desires of employees while still balancing their own financial and strategic priorities.

Here’s just some of what she had to say about helping employees reach their financial goals.

It’s a very modern conundrum: How do you constantly achieve more, while often making do with less?

At work, do you find yourself needing to sell more widgets, create more content, get more users—but do it all with a smaller budget, less human power, less time?

In your personal life, you’re trying to see more friends, have more fun, buy the latest gadget, save more money—attempting to do it all with less free time, less savings once you’ve paid your bills, and less energy after worrying about how to juggle all the things.

So how the heck can you make it all work… and maybe even have some fun while doing it? How can you get more productive without completely burning out?

You could say that Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, began his career in business at age 11—selling parakeets with his best friend. Fast forward to today, and the boy who was once slinging pet birds now has a net worth of $3.9 billion. Here’s a look at the steps—and missteps—Branson took on his way from entrepreneurial schoolboy to billionaire mogul.

This is the year. You’re in charge of throwing the big Halloween bash.

Organizing a Halloween party isn’t like hosting just any function. Everyone knows you’re expected to make the event gruesome, fantastical, and spooktacular—in addition to entertaining.

Searching for Halloween party ideas? Keep these six tricks—some appropriate for kids and some reserved for adults—up your sleeve to hold an event no goblin or ghoul will ever forget.

If you’re a high school athlete, chances are you’re considering continuing playing your sport at college. And although your ultimate reason for going to college may be to get your chosen degree and prepare for your career and overall life, sports may play a significant factor in where you choose to go.

If that’s the case for you, you may want to consider these questions:

  1. How important are sports in your college selection?

  2. How important should they be?

  3. How can you benefit by participating in collegiate sports?

  4. What are some associated challenges?

Read on to learn some answers to those questions and more.