Voya Financial launches COVID-19 planning tool powered by SAVVI Financial to help Americans navigate difficult financial decisions

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today that it is collaborating with SAVVI Financial, a leading technology-enabled financial wellness platform, to offer a COVID Relief Planning Assistant designed to help those who have been laid off, furloughed or working reduced hours as a result of the pandemic. Through its Retirement and Employee Benefits businesses, Voya will offer SAVVI Financial’s COVID Relief Planning Assistant to its workplace clients as an online resource for their plan participants and employees.

“With new Voya research indicating that 81% of Americans believe that significant layoffs are likely and 38% report some type of impact to their household’s employment as a result of COVID-19 (e.g. job loss, furlough, reduction in hours or salary),¹ households are struggling to figure out revised budgets, estimate cuts in spending and identify potential resources to access additional funds. The decisions are further complicated because there are specific benefits offered in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, as well as tax consequences and long-term retirement goals to consider,” explained Charlie Nelson, CEO, Retirement and Employee Benefits, Voya Financial.

“Prior to the pandemic, working Americans had increasingly turned to their employers for help with their health and financial wellness needs,” said Rob Grubka, president, Voya Employee Benefits. “Therefore, we consider it our responsibility at Voya to offer a resource to our workplace clients to help them support their plan participants and employees during these difficult times. This COVID Relief Planning Assistant is a valuable tool to help those financially impacted create a personalized, short-term plan to help manage through their immediate financial needs — without compromising their future financial goals.”

How does the COVID Relief Planning Assistant work?

Powered by SAVVI Financial’s engine, the COVID Relief Planning Assistant is a targeted experience for those financially impacted by the pandemic who need a short-term plan. If an individual has lost their income or had their income reduced, this SAVVI experience provides educational resources or an action plan that adjusts their household financial plan by organizing assets, debt, expenses and existing income to create a strategy to help get through the next three to six months.

To begin, individuals will be provided with a link to this online tool by their employer or retirement plan sponsor. They will then be guided through a series of six questions — which will ask them how they’re feeling about their overall financial situation; collect key financial household information; ask if their health care coverage has changed during the crisis; and collect other necessary financial and employer information.

If they qualify for COVID-19 relief planning assistance, they will then receive a personalized, short-term financial action plan. It will provide specific guidance on: recommended monthly spending cuts and budget changes; specific accounts (savings, health savings accounts, retirement, etc.) to access for income shortfalls; and potential savings actions to meet longer-term retirement goals. The recommended actions also take into account CARES Act benefits, tax consequences and long-term retirement goals. If a person does not qualify, they will then be directed to educational resources selected by SAVVI.

“This is an emotionally and financially challenging time with millions of Americans out of work, a roller-coaster stock market and an array of new government programs — people need help to make sense of their options,” said Gina Mourtzinou, CEO of SAVVI Financial. “We built SAVVI to democratize financial advice, and this is a way for us to help.”

This is not the first time Voya has collaborated with SAVVI to leverage its financial planning and analytics capabilities to help Americans with their financial wellness needs. Earlier this year, Voya launched myHealthMoney, a digital assistant powered by SAVVI to help workers make more informed decisions when deciding how much to contribute to their Voya health savings account (HSA).

Voya’s relief efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic

Voya was the first major retirement plan provider to waive fees in response to the CARES Act, to help its customers — and all Americans — manage through this unprecedented time. To support its broader communities, Voya is also providing all Americans with free online resources and phone access to its financial professionals with Voya Financial Advisors.²

To help support its people, Voya employees and their immediate family members who experience economic hardship due to COVID-19 can also apply for a tax-free grant through the Voya Community Fund. The fund is a nonprofit entity set up to provide financial assistance to employees affected by government-declared disasters or emergencies. Voya is also offering the COVID Relief Planning Assistant to its more than 6,000 Voya employees to help those with a spouse or immediate family member who may have lost their income or had it reduced.

As an industry leader and advocate for helping Americans retire better, Voya Financial is committed to delivering on its vision to be America’s Retirement Company^® and its mission to make a secure financial future possible — one person, one family, one institution at a time.

1) Based on the results of a Voya Financial survey conducted through Ipsos on the Ipsos eNation omnibus-online platform among 1,007 adults aged 18+ in the U.S. Research was conducted on May 29-June 1, 2020.

2) Financial professionals are registered representatives of, and may also be investment adviser representatives of, and securities and investment advisory services offered through, Voya Financial Advisors, Inc. (member SIPC).

About Voya Financial^®

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings — to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13.8 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $7.5 billion in revenue in 2019. The company had $538 billion in total assets under management and administration as of March 31, 2020. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible — one person, one family, one institution at a time — Voya’s vision is to be America’s Retirement Company^®. Certified as a “Great Place to Work” by the Great Place to Work^® Institute, Voya is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible. Voya has been recognized as a 2020 World’s Most Admired Company by Fortune magazine; one of the 2020 World’s Most Ethical Companies^® by the Ethisphere Institute; as a member of the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index; and as a “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion” on the Disability Equality Index by Disability:IN. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @Voya.

About SAVVI

Started by a team of MIT PhDs with 20+ years of experience in finance, analytics, and robust optimization with a core mission to democratize financial planning and advice, SAVVI Financial LLC is an SEC-registered investment advisor that delivers tax-smart financial guidance using deep quantitative analysis to help customers achieve their financial objectives. Such registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. For more information, visit www.savvifi.com.

For all SAVVI press inquiries, please contact: pr@savvifi.com.

Voya Benefits Co., LLC (“VBC”) is making available to you the financial planning software offered by SAVVI Financial, LLC (“SAVVI”), an investment advisor registered with Securities and Exchange Commission. Such registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. The advice provided within the SAVVI platform is SAVVI’s alone, and is not endorsed by VBC. SAVVI does not guarantee investment results. No information in these materials should be construed as investment advice or as an offer to buy or sell any particular security or insurance product.

While SAVVI is not a member of the Voya^® family of companies, please note that Voya Financial, Inc., and a number of other Voya affiliates (collectively, “Voya”) have investment and business relationships with SAVVI, which relationships are a conflict of interest for Voya, and create an incentive for various Voya entities to promote SAVVI’s products and services. These relationships include compensation by SAVVI to certain Voya entities for offering to current or prospective Voya clients to make SAVVI’s platform available to such clients’ employees.

Neither SAVVI nor Voya offers tax or legal advice. Please consult with your tax and legal advisors regarding your individual situation.

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