Financial wellness does not have to be down to luck on St Patrick’s Day if you can empower individuals with the right tools and information to take control of their money.
We’ve been gathering insight from a much younger audience this week when one of our Manager’s children helped to develop a St Patrick’s Day campaign theme on financial wellbeing and inclusion.
This is the message behind a nine-year-old boy’s strapline for a St Patrick’s Day marketing leaflet for Elva.
Creating the line: “This St Patrick’s Day, wellness does not need to be down to luck”, nine-year-old Luca Gardner has been getting his own taste of the world of work, after his mother, Anne-Michelle Gardner, business development manager for Elva, took him into the office after Covid restrictions eased. Gardner, who has been home-schooling Luca throughout the pandemic, brought him into London so he could see where his mother worked. It was here where he was challenged to come up with a strapline.
“This St Patrick’s Day, wellness does not need to be down to luck”
Anne-Michelle Gardner, Business Development Manager for Elva said:
“Well, that was it. On the way home, all my son spoke of was what he could do and what things he could cover. He got to working out some catchy lines, drawing attention to the financial wellness that Elva offers to companies’ employees, and started to try teaming these up with different yearly events.
“He asked me if he could use the computer to look for photos online to go with his themes. He started to learn how to use some of the basics on PowerPoint, with my help, and before I knew it, he had completed his first piece of work.
The whole experience has inspired my son to come up with more ideas and concepts, understanding how work is valued in the ‘adult world’ and gaining confidence using new skills. This sort of encouragement sends exactly the right sort of message that Elva aims to promote, with its focus on providing solutions to help people get to grips with their finances. We are a wellness company, and it is important for us not just to look to the companies we help and their employees, but this also starts at home.”
Promoting financial wellbeing and inclusion
Elva has a suite of technological products that aim to promote financial wellbeing and inclusion. These include a salary advance tool where employers can give their employees an advance on their monthly salary to cover unexpected costs, for example, or to help new employees who need to pay the bills and travel expenses ahead of their monthly pay date.
We also work with Credit Unions to provide loans to employees, enabling them to consolidate existing debt without being subject to penurious rates of interest that can apply to other methods, and helps them with easy-to-access Credit Union savings products.
Our service is underpinned by financial education and advice, including nudges for better money management.
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This article first appeared in the Financial Times: https://www.ftadviser.com/your-industry/2021/03/17/lessons-from-a-nine-year-old-on-financial-wellness/