Heated dissention over tax cuts and health care for Americansare center stage. But back stage, a relevant, worrisome and largelyoverlooked issue lingers: The average Financial Wellness Score for U.S. employees is a dismayinglylow 5.4 on a scale of one to 10. Indeed, only about 6% of theoverall workforce can be considered financially secure, defined asscoring at least nine out of 10.

Driven by money behaviors, financial wellness means maintaining a lifestyle at or below one'sfinancial needs, keeping an emergency fund and carrying areasonable level of debt, among other components, said CynthiaMeyer, resident financial planner at Financial Finesse, a leadingfinancial education and research company.

In its study, “Optimizing Financial Wellness for a DiverseWorkforce,” released in May, Financial Finesse found that only onein five employees of all ethnicities, including earners of $200,000or above, had emergency savings.

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Jane Wollman Rusoff

Jane Wollman Rusoff is a ThinkAdvisor contributing editor specializing in interviews with thought leaders. She has written for ThinkAdvisor since its inception and was a contributing editor to Research magazine, a predecessor to ThinkAdvisor, starting in 1992.

Jane has received two AZBEE Awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. She has contributed articles to The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Esquire, among numerous other publications.

Jane has written or co-authored five books, including three written with “Tonight” show creator Steve Allen. Jane was a staff editor with London Express Features and Billboard’s Merchandising Magazine. She has interviewed and profiled thousands of entertainment personalities, including Ray Charles, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep.

Jane is the founder of www.FamilyStarProductions.com.

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