009: Jennifer Rayner – Feel Better, Do Better: A New Perspective on Money & Financial Wellbeing

Jennifer Rayner is a retirement plan consultant and the founder of Moniwell, a revolutionary text-based financial wellbeing program. She and Jonathan share a passion for financial literacy and a recognition that people need easily accessible education customized to their needs at a particular time.

Today, Jennifer and Jonathan engage in a discussion about employer-offered retirement plans, how to differentiate between participation and engagement of these plans and what inspired Jennifer to launch Moniwell. Jennifer speaks to the importance of financial self- efficacy, provides some sage advice on what employees can do right now to enhance their financial wellbeing and discusses her non-profit organization, Mindfulness of Money.

📺 Watch on YouTube

https://youtu.be/EMqBkJESHRY

Key Takeaways

01:11 – Jennifer Rayner shares some of the financial mistakes she made in her early life, her resiliency as an entrepreneur, and her passion for financial literacy

09:48 – What employees should expect to be educated about with regards to their retirement plans

13:24 – Engagement vs. Participation in retirement plans such as a 401(k)

16:14 – The inspiration to create Moniwell and what Moniwell offers

30:01 – Financial self-efficacy and other content that’s covered via Moniwell texts

33:41 – The work Jennifer is doing through her non-profit organization, Mindfulness of Money

36:43 – Two things employees can do right now to enhance their financial wellbeing and financial content to ignore

44:46 – The last thing Jennifer changed her mind about and one thing she wishes people knew about her

47:45 – Jonathan thanks Jennifer for joining the show, lets listeners can go to follow her

Tweetable Quotes

“That’s when I started thinking about how can I make a difference, do something that I’m passionate about and find something that truly I have passion in and that I don’t ever really want to retire. And that’s when I fell into this idea of a different way to approach employees about their financial situations.” (09:18)

“So, obviously participation rates in 401(k) plans are much higher. The average is – don’t quote me on this – like 70% are actually participating. There’s a difference between engagement and participation. Participation is they’re in the plan, they’re putting something in, they have a balance. Engagement is engaging in other financial wellness products that will make a difference outside of ‘did they put anything in their 401(k) plan or are they saving enough?’ Those are two different things. That’s apples and oranges as far as I’m concerned.” (14:03)

“Moniwell is this concept of feel better, do better. If employees feel better about their money situation, they will be motivated to do better.” (19:07)

“There’s an underlying concept of financial self-efficacy which is your belief in your ability to succeed. And, if you don’t have it, you’re not gonna get anywhere.” (30:16)