Financial Wellness = EMPATHY

I want to PAINT for you a picture. You will need to use your imagination to fully empathize with its message, BUT for this effort you will be rewarded with the kind of inspiration that could IGNITE a movement. 

Silence. Darkness. Music…I like this song… WAKE-UP. What day is it? What time is it? GET UP. I’m already behind. BUZZ BUZZ. Bill reminder…I thought I paid that…SWIPE… no time now. Wake up the kids, WAKE UP KIDS, brush teeth, GOOD MORNING HONEY, shower, shave, no never mind beards are in. Feed the kids. Feed the dog. Feed my ambition. COFFEE and more COFFEE. Now what about lunches? A penny saved is a penny earned so leftovers again it is. I wonder if my wife knows about that bill…no time to get into that now. All set everyone?

OUT the door. drop the kids at school… Red light. Red light. We need a vacation. Green light… GO! Clunk, clunk, sputter, on second thought I think we’re going to need a new car. HOME AWAY FROM HOME. Work. work. and work. LUNCH TIME! Savings account, not enough for a car or a vacation. 401k, I’ll never retire. HOW DO PEOPLE DO IT!? What am I missing? Hey Ted, no I’m doing great, thanks for asking, how about you? FOCUS… got to get that promotion. Work. Work. Tick Tock. Go get the kids, music lessons, soccer practice, Sorry kids no McDonalds today, Daddy’s on a budget. check the mail…oh no, late notice? Must have forgotten about that one too. HOME SWEET HOME. But this place sure is falling apart. What to do about dinner? Order pizza and start the budget tomorrow it is. Homework, homework, more homework. Pay some bills. Shuffle money around and pay some more bills. Check in on social life…ha… what social life? kids time for bed. Hello wife, it’s nice to see you again. Yea I saw the late notice, and the car is acting funny too, but IM SO TIRED. Let’s plan to talk about it all tomorrow… Hello pillow.

THIS IS LIFE: fast-paced, competing demands, constant stress, challenging relationships and money touches all of it. Money is also hard to talk about. BECAUSE It’s personal, and it’s embarrassing because there’s a lot that we don’t know that we feel like we should know. But it’s not your fault. In general, we don’t grow up learning about it, or how to talk about it, or how to feel about it because no one raising us knew about it or how to talk about it or how to feel about it either. It’s not taught in school or in church. Its taboo to talk about at family gatherings, it will make your friends uncomfortable if brought up during a backyard barbeque, and it is the number one thing couples fight about and the number one thing countries go to war over. In short, it’s a topic that makes us FEEL vulnerable, so fearing how others may treat us, we’ve created a PINK elephant in the room that no one wants to be the first to admit is there.

SO, for a moment, let go of what you know about running financial wellness programs. Forget about frameworks and best practices. Forget about incentives, challenges, and ROI. INSTEAD, ask yourself

·       In what kind of place could I FEEL COMFORTABLE talking with others about my money stuff?

·       What if that place was my WORKPLACE?

·       In what ways would that CHANGE the way I think about going to work?

·       In what ways might that change how co-workers feel towards EACH OTHER?

·       What would need to change to foster such an inclusive and supportive culture of COMMUNITY?

Your challenge is that of a facilitator. So, the task of HOW has fallen to you. But don’t worry, look around, you’re in good company, their lives are much like yours, and they all see the pink elephant too.