Overview

BrightPlan is a leader in Total Financial Wellness. The company is the first financial wellness solution certified for fiduciary excellence. BrightPlan provides a comprehensive personal finance solution for all employees that is real-time, personalized and integrated with employer benefits. Its unique combination of digital platform and human advisors supports employees’ personal financial goals at every stage of life, helping enterprises to better attract, retain and engage talent. BrightPlan’s Total Financial Wellness solution includes four pillars: Learn, Plan, Invest and Manage. As a registered investment adviser, BrightPlan is held to the fiduciary standard, which requires them to act solely in the client’s best interest when offering personalized financial advice.

Supernova Award Category

Future of Work: Employee Experience

The Problem

BrightPlan’s mission is to democratize access to financial wellness for everyone. The company believes that financial wellness is a universal need, like access to quality healthcare and education. For many years, access to quality financial advice was only available to high net worth individuals or executives, leaving the majority of employees unable to participate. It was also very difficult to find advisors who would give quality advice without the conflict of interest from selling financial products. 

The COVID-19 pandemic brought holistic employee wellness, which includes physical, mental and financial well-being, to the forefront and to the top of HR leaders’ agendas. The health, safety and well-being of employees are vital to an employer’s bottom line since they directly affect their productivity and engagement at work. 

Financial stress is skyrocketing―65% of employees are stressed about their money, the number one cause of stress for most. In this new reality, office perks such as pool tables and catered lunches are no longer relevant for engaging employees. Employers seek solutions to support their employees’ holistic well-being. As employers across the country gradually reopen offices and experiment with hybrid models, employee wellness and specifically financial wellness, will play an important role, ultimately driving employee engagement and business success.

The Solution

BrightPlan is making financial success attainable for everyone by partnering with enterprises to support their employees in their journey to financial well-being. BrightPlan’s Total Financial Wellness solution combines a digital platform with experienced financial advisors and empowers employees to learn, plan, invest and manage their financial lives. In addition, BrightPlan is the first financial wellness solution certified for fiduciary excellence that is real-time, personalized and integrated with employer benefits. 

To keep their employees healthy, happy and engaged in the new world of work, companies increasingly shifted away from traditional office perks and embraced benefits that matter most―physical, mental and financial wellness benefits.
 
With BrightPlan, employees are in a strong position to achieve financial confidence, contributing to a less stressed and more engaged workforce, benefitting both employees’ and employers’ success. 

The results

In the past, employer-provided financial wellness was synonymous with retirement. HR teams' support for the financial health of their employees rarely went beyond 401(k)s. Companies that did provide resources for employees to better manage their finances, such as access to a financial advisor, often only supported high net worth employees or executives. Most employers did not offer comprehensive financial wellness benefits. As a result, employers were faced with the high cost and impact of employee financial stress on their business, with low employee productivity, engagement and a subpar employee experience.

In recent years, the industry has evolved. Employee well-being, including holistic financial wellness, is now a top priority. HR leaders nationwide are looking for ways to offer benefits that truly matter to employees, including supporting them with their overall financial well-being. 

Employers now have a new solution: comprehensive financial wellness accessible to all employees. BrightPlan doesn’t tackle only retirement, it also encompasses financial education, financial planning, investing, and day-to-day management of money―for all employees regardless of life stage. It complements existing benefits such as 401(k)s and stock compensation plans with what employees need―highly personalized advice. As a result, employees can increase their financial literacy, plan for their future, invest for their goals, and manage their money better. 

Metrics

BrightPlan’s hybrid digital and human approach and continuous innovation has allowed them to deliver financial wellness services at scale. Since the launch of its Total Financial Wellness solution in 2019, BrightPlan has more than 65,000 clients under contract and over $2.5B in assets under advisement* as of June 2021.

BrightPlan has experienced strong momentum over the past year, increasing its annual recurring revenue awarded, number of customers and customer pipeline fivefold. During this time, BrightPlan also increased sixfold the employee enrollment in its Total Financial Wellness solution. 

On average in their first year, BrightPlan customers see between 20-30% of their employees enroll in its digital platform, with steady quarterly increases as the culture of financial wellness develops within the company. Customer example: up to 75% of new employees enroll in BrightPlan and the average enrolled employee links nine accounts with BrightPlan. Employees also take advantage of the access to personalized advice from BrightPlan’s experienced financial advisors. Satisfaction with advisor calls averages 9.7 out of 10.

*Disclosure: Assets under advisement include the total market value of financial accounts linked to the BrightPlan digital platform.

The Technology

BrightPlan’s digital platform is a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) product, built on the Salesforce platform and integrated with industry leaders such as AWS, Yodlee, Heroku, and Refinitiv. BrightPlan’s Total Financial Wellness digital solution delivers continuous innovation and new capabilities to meet customer needs. The team’s focus on security includes robust account safeguards, data encryption, fraud protection, strict access controls, and annual audits.

Disruptive Factor

What sets BrightPlan apart is its outstanding commitment to customer success. BrightPlan works as a strategic partner to each customer with high-touch service in five key categories. 

First, BrightPlan partners with each customer to develop a tailored joint success plan to ensure a seamless launch. Second, BrightPlan’s turnkey yet personalized launch activities ensure that implementing BrightPlan is easy and a light lift for HR teams. Third, BrightPlan’s team drives engagement with employees through education and activities to promote adoption. Fourth, BrightPlan provides each customer with quarterly data and progress reports on benefits enrollment and engagement. Fifth, BrightPlan provides customers with insights on employee financial well-being with recommendations by demographic. 

Alleviating the number one cause of stress for employees―finances―by improving the financial well-being of employees can be a game-changer for enterprises, not to mention life-changing for employees. When employees are no longer stressed about money, they are more likely to be productive and engaged, ultimately driving business success.  

Shining Moment

BrightPlan sets itself apart by serving all employees, regardless of net worth. When an employer partners with BrightPlan, all employees gain access to its digital platform and financial advisors at no additional cost. BrightPlan also delivers financial advice at scale. Built as a cloud platform, they continuously innovate and deliver new capabilities. Recently, BrightPlan achieved more than 17% employee enrollment in its platform for a 30,000-person company in just the first month.