February 22-27, 2016 is America Saves Week, and it’s never too late to participate.  This week is a great opportunity to refocus and educate your employees and citizens about the importance of saving for the future. Here are 3 ways your organization can participate not only this week but throughout the year.

1. Exploring the resources from ICMA-RC

For the third year in a row ICMA-RC is a participating organization in America Saves Week. ICMA-RC President and CEO Robert Schultze states, "America Saves Week is a great opportunity for public employees to explore our award-winning resources. We hope the resources can help employees feel confident in saving and planning for a secure retirement.” One of the resources is the Grow Your Savings Calculator. This calculator shows participants how their savings contributions will add up over time in their retirement plan. View additional resources on ICMA-RC’s webpage.

2. Raising savings awareness

According to Investopedia,saving money is important because it gives you peace of mind, expands your options for decisions, positively affects your quality of life, and gives you the option to retire. To help build awareness of these positive effects among your employees and residents, you can point them to such resources as ICMA’s post on 7 ways to start retirement savings now and the digital toolkit of the America Saves Week campaign.

3. Encouraging financial action

Being aware is a strong step, but acting is key. The America Saves Week campaign web page has a multitude of resources for helping participants set a goal, make a plan, and work with financial institutions to establish automatic savings. They state, “By helping families reduce debt and save money, you can create a stronger community and improve lives.”

Does your organization host employee financial literacy classes?  If so, please share your experiences here.

Douglas Shontz

Knowledge Network Research and Content Development Associate