Compass Integrates Financial Wellness Program

Compass says it hopes to leverage the new partnership to provide retirement plan participants with advanced financial wellness programs specifically designed to increase the amount employees defer into their retirement accounts. The firms will also collaborate on ways to improve investing behaviors and reduce plan leakage through plan loans and hardship withdrawals.

Specifically, Financial Finesse will provide Compass Financial Partners with strategic consulting around its proprietary behavioral change education model. Financial Finesses will also support the development and implementation of in-house financial wellness capabilities at Compass.

Through the partnership, Compass Financial Partners will be able to provide Financial Finesse’s various educational content to clients at a discounted rate. Compass clients gain access to phone-based financial coaching, customized benefit planning platforms and one-on-one financial planning sessions for employees who face serious financial hardship.

Kathleen Kelly, managing partner of Compass Financial Partners and head of the firm’s retirement plan practice, says that the firm selected Financial Finesse based on its 15-year track record for changing participant behavior. She says Compass is particularly interested in helping clients reduce debt, cut expenses and save more for retirement.

Kelly notes that the ultimate success of company-sponsored retirement plans depends on whether or not employees are able to retire comfortably—and retire in their desired time frame. “In this industry, we talk a lot about investment options and plan design, and both are very important, but to really move the needle, you have to change the way participants manage their money,” she adds.  

More information on Compass Financial Partners, which operates as an affiliate of LPL Financial, is at www.CompassFP.com. More on Financial Finesse is at www.financialfinesse.com.