Do financial wellness programs actually work? What the research says.

If you're an HR leader evaluating financial wellness benefits, you've probably seen the pitch: "Our program reduces stress, improves retention, and pays for itself." Every vendor says this. Most of them are also selling financial products to your employees on the back end.

That's not a wellness program. That's a sales channel wearing a benefits badge.

So let's separate the signal from the noise. Does financial coaching — real coaching, without product sales — actually move the needle? Here's what the independent research says.

The cost of doing nothing

The numbers on financial stress at work are hard to argue with. PwC's 2026 Employee Financial Wellness Survey found that 59% of employees report financial stress, and Valoir's 2025 research shows those employees lose an average of 3.3 hours per week to money worries during work hours. That's not scrolling their 401(k) — it's distraction, anxiety, and reduced focus.

Financially stressed employees are twice as likely to actively job-search (PwC), and replacing someone costs 50–200% of their annual salary (SHRM). For a 250-person company with 18% turnover and a $65,000 average salary, the math adds up to hundreds of thousands in preventable costs.

What the independent studies show

The most rigorous study comes from the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation (PFEEF), which tracked 8,233 participants across multiple employers. Their findings:

• $5.50 returned for every $1 invested under conservative assumptions — up to $15:1 optimistically
• Healthcare costs decreased 4.5% for program participants while increasing 19.4% for non-participants
• 5 fewer unscheduled absence days per participant per year
• Measurable improvements in retirement readiness, debt management, and emergency savings

These aren't vendor-sponsored stats. This is independent research across real employer programs.

Why most programs underperform

The financial wellness market is projected to reach $4.87 billion. But most of that spending goes to programs run by insurance companies, banks, or brokerage firms. The incentive structure is broken: the "coach" has a financial reason to recommend their employer's products.

Employees sense this. Engagement rates for vendor-run financial wellness programs are typically 5–15%. People don't trust it, so they don't use it.

The programs that work — the ones behind the $5.50:1 ROI — share a common trait: the coach has no products to sell. The only thing they're paid to do is help.

What a conflict-free program looks like

At 12th & Good Street, we built the platform around one idea: the coach's only incentive should be helping your employee. No commissions, no product recommendations, no upselling.

The program works like this: your employees get access to vetted, conflict-free financial coaches for 1:1 sessions. The coach helps with whatever's actually on their mind — debt, budgeting, benefits optimization, retirement planning, a big financial decision. Sessions are paid by the employer as a benefit, or by the individual directly.

Between sessions, employees have free access to self-service tools: a 401(k) match calculator, debt payoff planner, emergency fund calculator, budget builder, and an AI-powered money coach available 24/7.

The bottom line

Financial wellness programs work when they're actually about wellness — not about selling products. The research supports a clear ROI, but only when the incentive structure is clean.

If you want to see what the numbers look like for your team specifically, our ROI calculator uses the same research cited above with conservative assumptions. And if you want to talk through whether this is a fit, the intro conversation is free and low-pressure.