Ally has officially announced the launch of a free financial wellness program called Money Roots, which is designed to help people uncover how their money mindset impacts their spending, saving and investing decisions – and vice versa. According to certain reports, the stated program comes at the back of a recent Ally Bank (Member FDIC) survey, a survey where it was discovered that nearly half (46%) of Americans let emotions influence their spending, while on the other hand, 36% never even seek emotional support for managing personal finances. Apart from that, more than 38% of Americans have also reported to feel stressed, embarrassed, sad and/or ashamed when thinking back on their earlier memories of money. Taking all that into account, Ally’s Money Roots program leverages money psychology to let you move past traditional skills-based financial education. You see, birthed by Ally’s pledge to collaborate with leading experts in behavioral finance, financial therapy and money psychology, the program is seemingly built upon a proprietary curriculum consisting of four one-hour virtual workshops. During these workshops, the recruited facilitators are going to guide participants live through uncovering money beliefs and values, rewriting money stories, and creating financial health roadmaps. Having referred to the initial bits and bobs, we now must talk about each of the workshop on a slightly deeper level, beginning from Money + You workshop. This one will basically look to uncover emotions tied to money, while simultaneously exploring how to manage those emotions to make better financial decisions. Next up, we have the Money + Story workshop, which has its utility rooted in helping participants discover early money memories, as well as how they influence behaviors and financial decisions. Furthermore, you can come expecting to learn behavioral patterns, how to label them to put yourself back in the driver’s seat, and the methods that can help you create brand new patterns moving forward.
“Until now, banks have focused mainly on teaching skills and providing tools that help people manage their finances. Yet, Americans are still racking up record-breaking debt and feeling financial stress like never before. We need to do more, and we need to do it differently,” said Andrea Brimmer, Chief Marketing and PR Officer at Ally. “As the original disruptor, we’re again challenging the status quo while seeking to do right by our customers – bringing wellness-based financial education to the forefront. Money Roots is the missing link to changing hard-wired money behaviors and improving financial wellness for all.”
Then, there is the Money + Values workshop, where you will sharpen up your skills in the context of identifying core values to define personal goals, path, and granular-level steps to achieve those objectives. Rounding up highlights would be the Money + Love workshop, which is designed to offer guidance on common financial stressors, scenarios, and conversations with romantic partners that may be difficult to navigate otherwise. Complimenting these workshops, though, is Ally’s pledge to plant a literal and digital money tree that will give away a total of $100,000 in cash prizes to winning participants who share their money story. The primary idea behind doing so is to provide immediate relief to the most common expenses contributing towards financial anxiety, including the average price of annual childcare ($18,900), the average monthly mortgage payment ($2,200), the average monthly credit card payment ($430), and the average cost for an online therapy session ($135).
“Regardless of how much money you have or don’t have, we all have a money story,” said Jack Howard, Head of Money Wellness at Ally. “I have spent last 14 years helping people better understand money through financial education initiatives at Ally, and during my experience, I came to realize people not only need to understand the skills of money, but in order to create real change, people need to understand their mindset around money. Getting to the root of your money relationship creates the space to find joy in money, and in life.”
