Financial health is a crucial aspect of your overall wellbeing. Awareness of our financial situation is even greater when our W-2 arrives in the mail and we begin to collect our receipts and other important documents to file our annual income tax returns.
While it does not offer financial counseling, the Work/Life Connections–Employee Assistance Program (WLC-EAP) has identified a few resources to help employees develop financial resilience and stability.
- WLC-EAP and SmartDollar, a Dave Ramsey financial education program, have partnered to offer a no-cost online program to help employees achieve better financial health. The SmartDollar program focuses on moving you out of debt, teaching you how to create and follow a spending plan, and guiding you toward saving for future needs, such as retirement.
Employees can create a personalized user account, and the process starts with a financial assessment. The program is self-paced and includes seven hours of video lessons with a quiz at the end of each topic to highlight key points. There are also financial help tools to aid in the journey. Your whole family can take the courses together. Your personal financial information remains confidential and is not shared with anyone at Vanderbilt.
You can sign up for SmartDollar by visiting a website dedicated to Vanderbilt employees.
- The Nashville Financial Empowerment Center provides free, professional financial counseling to Davidson County residents and those who work in Davidson County. The Center helps individuals review their personal budgets to reduce debt and build assets through free, one-on-one financial counseling incorporated into existing services offered in the city. To schedule a free appointment for financial counseling, you can call the United Way 2-1-1 Helpline. The Helpline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- The WLC-EAP Resource Library has an article focused on strategies for saving money on utility bills.
- VU Human Resources offers a comprehensive list of discounts for employees.