NJ FinLit - a Free Online Financial Wellness Platform for New Jersey Residents

Today, on CNBC's Invest in You: Ready. Set. Grow. event, Governor Murphy announced that the New Jersey Department of the Treasury has launched NJ FinLit, a free financial wellness platform for NJ residents.

“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.” – State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio.

Treasury’s NJ FinLit platform is a personalized and interactive financial program compatible with Google Translate.

After a five-minute financial assessment, the program recommends tools, content, and courses to help you reach your financial goals.

Users are also provided with an analysis of their “financial personality,” data that shows how your personality can affect your money decisions, free of charge.

“We understand that navigating the increasingly complex world of personal money management can be a daunting challenge,” Muoio continued. “We want all New Jerseyans – from young adults and parents planning for college, to seniors hoping to enjoy retirement – to be able to take advantage of our website’s user-friendly interactive tools, videos, and articles and put them to use to help better understand and manage their financial resources.”

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.
• Personal finance calculators and a real-time budget tool.

“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.” – Press Release from NJ Office of the Governor

According to a 2021 Capital One CreditWise survey, 73 percent 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 scores regularly to gauge the correlation between improved financial wellness and stress levels.

Recent data shows that as Enrich participants improved their financial understanding, their stress levels dropped.

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

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

“Enrich can help people of all income levels and in all stages of life,” said iGrad Vice President for Business Development Todd Woodlee. “The New Jersey Department of the Treasury demonstrates the importance of financial wellness by offering Enrich to its citizens, who will benefit from behavior-changing financial education.”

About New Jersey Department of the Treasury

The New Jersey Department of the Treasury is responsible for the State budget process, managing pensions and benefits for State and municipal employees, collecting taxes, registering businesses, maintaining State-owned or occupied buildings, and investing the State’s pension assets, among other duties.

State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio has led the Department since January 2018, after serving in the New Jersey General Assembly representing the 15th Legislative District.

About iGrad

iGrad is a San Diego-based financial technology company that offers artificial intelligence-powered financial wellness solutions to more than 600 colleges and universities, more than 20,000 employers, and more than 300 financial institutions.

iGrad’s Your Money Personality™ was recently recognized by the Institute for Financial Literacy with the 2020 Excellence in Financial Literacy Education (EIFLE) Adults’ Education Program of the Year award. iGrad is one of three 2020 honorees in the inaugural Barron's Celebrates: Financial Empowerment, after being selected by a team of judges for its contributions to improving the financial health and security of Americans. iGrad also received the 2019 Eddy Award for Financial Wellness by Pensions & Investments for its Enrich platform.

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