Your employees are unique individuals, each on a personal journey with hopes, futures, and dreams. They have a lot on their minds, like meeting the demands of today while preparing for tomorrow. We get that. Learn more about our participant experience approach and how we provide guidance that goes beyond traditional benefits, providing more of what employees need at every stage of their financial journey.
Your employees will have access to education and guidance to help them take control of their financial lives. We work with them to create a financial strategy that can help equip them with the financial confidence they need to understand the impact of their financial decisions, prepare for life events, take action to pursue their goals and stay engaged.
We meet your employees where they are with high-tech and high-touch solutions that make financial wellness personal and actionable at every life stage to help them take the best next step.
In-person
Mobile app
Benefits OnLine®
Targeted communication programs
24/7 Customer Care Center
Erica® Virtual Financial Assistant
Our goal is to provide a personalized experience for your employees bringing together what we know about the individual with trends, behavioral insights and consumer data to provide intelligent guidance and suggestions based on their financial situation. Our approach starts with assessing an employee’s financial health, then providing the suggested actions they can take to help them improve their financial wellness by offering:
Financial Wellness Tracker
Supported by industry research and our insights from working with millions of employees, the Financial Wellness Tracker is a proprietary assessment that calculates a financial wellness score based on where an employee is today. Easily accessed through Benefits OnLine®, our participant website, it delivers a suggested action plan detailing the personalized steps employees may want to consider to help improve their financial lives.
Comprehensive education
Provide your employees with actionable information, tools and guidance to help them gain financial confidence. Our resources provide accessible, engaging content that features insights from our Chief Investment Office as well as financial education material from Better Money Habits®. Whether it's through seminars, webinars or access to our online education center, your employees get on-point instruction how and where they want it.
Investment guidance and advice programs
You can choose to offer your employees advice through Personal Retirement Strategy, easily accessed through Benefits OnLine. This comprehensive, easy-to-use online service offers employees personalized insights and investment guidance to help steer them towards their goals. They can also choose, for a fee, to have Personal Retirement Strategy select, manage, and monitor their 401(k) account’s investment mix – on an ongoing basis – so they don’t have the task of trying to keep their plan on track with their income goal. This Merrill Managed option can help your employees feel even more confident about the actions they’re taking today for their future.
Personalized guidance
Working with trained financial wellness specialists across the country, in-person or over the phone, your employees can pursue what’s important to them, no matter their level, life stage or goal.
An intuitive, user-centric online experience providing personalized insights, educational resources and guidance.
Online content covering a wide spectrum of needs, spanning from in-depth reads to quick videos.
Guidance within reach from financial professionals ready to engage employees while helping them make financial wellness a way of life.
For 20 consecutive years, Bank of America’s Retirement and Benefits Contact Center has been recognized by J.D. Power for providing “An Outstanding Customer Service Experience” for phone support.
Action-oriented, educational messages focused on your employees' financial wellness to help boost participation.
Promoting financial wellness programs in the workplace starts with offering the right tools and resources. Since everyone has different learning preferences, providing employees with a broad spectrum of educational formats is critical to success. Some of these tools include the Benefits OnLine® Education Center and Better Money Habits. With the right program, you can then create a strategic communications plan to boost employee participation.
If you’re concerned about employee financial stress, you can partner with an investment advisory program to assist in retirement planning and investment guidance for your employees. Ensuring this support is accessible to all employees can help alleviate additional stress. Learn more about Personal Retirement Strategy.
Learning how to attract and retain talent starts with offering comprehensive financial wellness programs. Employees can feel more satisfied, loyal, engaged, and productive when supported by their company in this way. When it comes to recruitment and retention, providing financial support can help your business stand out and grow.
Accessible financial wellness programs that address the broad financial needs and goals of a diverse workforce are essential to diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts and employee resource groups (ERG). It can demonstrate your business’s commitment to supporting all employees and equipping them with the necessary resources to succeed, no matter their education or financial background.
Bank of America’s virtual financial assistant, Erica®, can help employees spend, save, and plan smarter with quick answers to their questions, personalized insights, and access to the information they need across their full financial lives. Just talk, type or tap right in the mobile app.
In this study, we're looking into employee financial wellness data and steps that employers can take to relieve stress and improve employee financial health.
Discover how we can empower your employees through powerful tools and personalized guidance.
Personal Retirement Strategy is an online investment advisory programs sponsored by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. ("MLPF&S" or "Merrill") that uses a probabilistic approach to determine the likelihood that participants in the program will accumulate sufficient total assets to achieve their annual retirement income goal. The recommendations provided by Personal Retirement Strategy may include a higher level of investment risk than a participant may be personally comfortable with. Participants are strongly advised to consider their personal goals, overall risk tolerance, and retirement horizon before accepting any recommendations made by Personal Retirement Strategy. Participants should carefully review the explanation of the methodology used, including key assumptions and limitations, as well as a description of services and related fees which is provided in the Personal Retirement Strategy Brochure (ADV Part 2A). It can be obtained through Benefits OnLine or through the Retirement Benefits Contact Center.
Merrill offers a broad range of brokerage, investment advisory and other services. There are important differences between brokerage and investment advisory services, including the type of advice and assistance provided, the fees charged, and the rights and obligations of the parties. It is important to understand the differences, particularly when determining which service or services to select.
IMPORTANT: The projections or other information shown in the Advice Access program and/or the Personal Retirement Strategy program regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results and are not guarantees of future results. Results may vary with each use and over time.
1Investment products are available from Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated.
2Bank products are available from Bank of America, N.A., and affiliated banks.
3The J.D. Power Certified Contact Center ProgramSM focuses on critical areas of customer satisfaction by rewarding best practices that are aligned with customer needs. To become certified for live phone interactions, a contact center operation must successfully pass a detailed audit and perform within the top 20 percent of customer service scores, which are based on benchmarks established in J.D. Power’s cross-industry customer satisfaction research. The evaluation criteria include the customer service representative’s courtesy, knowledge and concern for the customer; promptness in speaking to a person; and timely resolution of the problem or request. Additionally, the experience with the automated phone system is evaluated based on the clarity of the information provided, the ease of navigating the phone menu prompts and the ease of understanding the phone menu instructions. Certified as of August 2024. J.D. Power 2024 Certified Customer Service ProgramSM recognition is based on successful completion of an evaluation and exceeding a customer satisfaction benchmark through a survey of recent servicing interactions. Bank of America engaged J.D. Power to be independently evaluated through this program and cite the results. For more information, visit www.jdpower/com/awards. The ranking or ratings shown here may not be representative of all client experiences because they reflect an average or sampling of the client experiences. These rankings or ratings are not indicative of any future performance or investment outcome. Participation in the certification audit was paid for by Bank of America.
