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Vanguard Announces Partnership with HelloWallet Financial Wellness Service
22 Jan 2014
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VALLEY FORGE, PA (January 22, 2014)—Vanguard announced today that it has partnered with HelloWallet, a financial wellness service, to help employees save more for retirement by addressing the money pressures and behaviors that stand in their way. HelloWallet provides personalized, unbiased guidance to individuals on managing their debt, spending wisely, and maximizing their company benefits.
Vanguard expects that the service will help many employees become more engaged in managing their finances.
“Vanguard’s research and years of experience with millions of investors have shown that most employees simply want someone to tell them what to do. While we will continue to provide educational content and calculators to participants as important sources of guidance, HelloWallet is based on a deep understanding of an individual's needs, preferences, and behaviors, which results in more personal guidance,” said Amy Cribbs, head of Vanguard Participant Experience. “Vanguard is committed to helping people achieve financial success, and HelloWallet provides a financial wellness component that complements our educational content and advice services. We believe that HelloWallet has a sound approach that can make it easy for employees to manage their personal finances by nudging them into making appropriate decisions.”
HelloWallet combines behavioral economics and the psychology of decision-making with sophisticated technology to examine individuals’ debt, spending, and savings behaviors, and provide incremental guidance on making appropriate decisions around those areas. Employee members currently access the service through HelloWallet’s website and mobile app. Members input their goals and priorities and add their financial information, including income, bank accounts, credit cards, retirement plans, medical and other insurance, and investments. HelloWallet creates budgets and analyzes trends in members’ financial behavior to recommend how they can make the most of their financial opportunities (e.g., 401(k) plan, health savings account, flexible spending account, or insurance), prioritize financial decisions, and identify ways to stretch their paycheck further.
HelloWallet provides transparent, unbiased guidance and does not promote products. Vanguard will provide investment advice through online advice, managed accounts, and financial planning services.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Vanguard to help employees make the most out of their compensation and benefits,” said HelloWallet founder and CEO Matt Fellowes. “This partnership will allow us to provide more Americans with the guidance necessary to increase their monthly savings, pay off debt faster, and improve their use of health and retirement benefits. Employers win, too, as they need innovative solutions to help their workforce manage the increasingly complex and self-directed benefits offered in the workplace.”
“There is a great mission alignment between Vanguard and HelloWallet,” Ms. Cribbs said. “We pride ourselves as the firm that America trusts and can turn to for retirement help. Part of delivering on that responsibility is helping retirement plan participants and other employees create healthy financial habits and achieve retirement success. HelloWallet is in a unique position to complement our retirement planning programs by guiding employees around the issues that impact their financial choices every day.”
About Vanguard
Vanguard, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, is one of the world’s largest investment management companies. As of December 31, 2013, Vanguard managed more than $2.45 trillion in U.S. mutual fund assets. Vanguard offers more than 160 index and actively managed funds to U.S. investors and more than 100 additional funds in non-U.S. markets. Vanguard provides investments to nearly 4,000 defined contribution plans, including full-service recordkeeping and investment services to about 3.5 million participants. Vanguard is also a major provider of investment, advisory, and recordkeeping services to defined benefit plans. For more information, please visit institutional.vanguard.com.
About HelloWallet
HelloWallet improves the performance of organizations by providing independent guidance that aligns corporate spending with human capital needs. HelloWallet's cloud-based products enable executives with a data platform for making workforce compensation and rewards decisions that drive sustained improvements in engagement and wellness. The company's web and mobile applications provide personalized guidance to employees for converting their salary and benefits into prosperity. HelloWallet operates a double bottom line business model: for every five subscriptions sold, they donate one subscription to a family in need through a philanthropic partner. HelloWallet is headquartered in Washington DC and is backed by Morningstar, Inc., TD Fund, Grotech Ventures, and Revolution LLC. For more information, visit www.hellowallet.com.
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