NJ FinLit – a Free Financial Wellness Platform – Launched

The site offers customized, personalized, and reportable solutions for residents across the socio-economic spectrum

On Apr 6, 2022

As part of National Financial Literacy Month, Gov, Phil Murphy announced during CNBC’s Invest in You: Ready. Set. Grow. event today that the New Jersey Department of the Treasury has launched NJ FinLit, a free financial wellness platform for all adult state residents.

“Understanding money, building credit, saving for a home or retirement – these are life-long lessons that persist well after we leave the classroom,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “That’s why I’m grateful that Treasurer Liz Muoio and her team are committed to providing every adult across our state with access to free financial wellness education through NJ FinLit.”

The launch of the new platform – powered by Enrich™ and developed by San Diego-based financial education company iGrad – coincides with the start of National Financial Literacy Month and will help raise awareness of the importance of financial wellness and education.

State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio and staff began exploring ways to make financial wellness accessible and attainable for all New Jerseyans as it became apparent that the pandemic and the ensuing K-shaped recession were having a disproportionate impact on lower and moderate income families.

Treasury’s personalized NJ FinLit financial wellness platform features tools and courses, delivering a personalized and interactive learning experience, including the Your Money Personality financial behavior assessment, which analyzes each user’s financial “personality.” The site is compatible with Google Translate to provide information in multiple languages. The platform also provides:

• Financial education courses with personalized action plans on topics including budgeting, mortgages, health care, college savings, student loan repayment, banking, credit, financial planning, long-term care, and more;
• Retirement and home affordability analyzers;
• A suite of student loan and higher education tools; and
• Personal finance calculators and a real-time budget tool.

According to a 2021 Capital One CreditWise survey, 73% of Americans rank their finances as the most significant source of stress.

To combat financial stress, NJ FinLit users are prompted to update their stress score regularly to gauge the correlation between improved financial wellness and stress levels. Recent data shows that as Enrich participants improved financial understanding, their stress levels dropped.

Additional Enrich data found positive behavior changes as a result of program participation, including:

• 27% increase in users with emergency savings funds covering three to six months of expenses;
• 28% increase in users that pay their credit cards in full every month;
• 32% increase in users getting on track with their financial goals; and
• 15% increase in users contributing to their retirement plan.

Enrich is used by more than 20,000 employers and more than 300 financial institutions nationwide, with artificial intelligence technology that engages each user with the most relevant content based on financial situation and stage of life.

“The shock of the COVID-19 pandemic – both social and financial – laid bare the fact that New Jersey families most affected by the economic downturn were the ones with the fewest resources to cope with financial instability,” said Treasurer Muoio. “Our goal in launching NJ FinLit is to provide New Jerseyans with tools to help them better prepare for and meet future financial challenges.  It is our hope that this free educational resource, which can be personalized by New Jerseyans at all stages of life, regardless of income, and translated into multiple languages, will both help our residents strengthen their financial resiliency and enable them to reach their long term goals.”

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