Financial Wellness Webinar to Showcase a
Critical Problem for Employers

Free Webinar to show employers how they can reduce costs from financially-stressed employees and benefit brokers how they can drive new revenues

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (October 28, 2010) – Symbius Financial will be hosting a free webinar that will discuss the growing importance of financial wellness in the workplace. Over the past decade, employers have invested heavily in health wellness programs that largely focus on treatment of symptoms rather than underlying causes. Given the current economic environment and a lack of financial literacy among most employees, financial stress has become a key health-related issue and employee productivity issue for employees and employers.

The November 16th webinar focuses on (1) the breakthrough financial wellness solution offered by Symbius for employers and their employees; and (2) how benefit brokers and consultants can drive new revenues by offering financial wellness to their clients.

“Financial illiteracy, money problems and issues with debt are not issues unique to any one type of employee. It affects everyone – men and women, young and old, across all racial and socio-economic lines,” said Symbius President, Shane Edrington. “We will highlight the issues in the webinar and show how our financial wellness solution is the only one specifically designed to reach every employee, across multiple income profiles.”

Financial stress is on the rise. In fact, Human Resources departments are beginning to offer up statistics that further illuminates the situation. Recently, the Society for Human Resource Management reported that in the previous 12 months, survey respondents had seen:

• 26% increase in employees having their wages garnished by collection agencies
• 39% increase in requests for 401(k) plan loans; and
• 20% increase in requests for pay advances

Further, financial stress is not just felt by lower-income employees, its impact can be felt across every salary range. According to a recent MetLife study:

• 48% of employees that make $75,000 or more per year say they are ‘very concerned about making ends meet” and 37% of these employees say that they ‘live paycheck to paycheck’.

A few facts and figures that illustrate how problematic and widespread financial stress is to today’s employers and employees:

• 30% of U.S. employees are seriously financially distressed. On average, up to 80% of financially distressed employees spend time at work dealing with their personal financial issues, wasting anywhere from 12-20 work hours per month (Dr. E. Thomas Garman, President, Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation)
• Recent studies estimate that an employer's incremental health care cost of a financially distressed employee is $300 per year (MetLife, Study of Employee Benefits Trends)
• Financial stress is a leading cause to illnesses such as migraines, back pain, anxiety, depression, insomnia, ulcers, weight gain and heart attacks (WebMD, “The Debt-Stress Connection,” August 2008)
• For employees earning less than $100,000 in income, Getting out of debt is their #1 financial goal (Transamerica Harris Worker Report)
• Employees regard financial stress as their primary concern, five times greater than personal health (National Institute of Personal Finance)

The free webinar will be hosted by Shane Edrington, President of Symbius Financial. The webinar will be on November 16^th, 2010 at 11:15am (EST).

Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/948903872

About Symbius Financial
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Symbius Financial is the first company to deliver a simple, transparent and low-cost way for employers to manage and reduce financial stress among their employees. With the Symbius’ program, employers can significantly improve employee productivity and reduce their health care costs by improving the financial wellness of their employee base. The Symbius program includes: (1) a robust financial health assessment platform, (2) on-demand financial education with brief, media-rich videos covering more than 50 financial topics, (3) a do-it-yourself online debt payoff tool that empower employees to pay off debt as quickly as possible, (4) a PayEarly Program that advances funds to employees for emergency situations (up to six times per year), (5) identity theft protection and (6) access to optional features such as an ongoing ‘money coach’ program. For the latest facts and trends about the employee financial stress crisis, please visit: www.symbiusfinancial.com/wellness_facts.aspx. For more information about Symbius, please visit www.SymbiusFinancial.com .

Contact:
Duke Fonner duke@symbiusfinancial.com/480-889-8941