When Expenses Hits All at Once: Anastasia’s Story
In her first year with workplace benefits, Anastasia used LearnLux to go beyond the basics and build an emergency fund that was there when a car repair, vet bills, and emergency travel hit at once.
“It showed me the firsthand importance of saving for the future and how important it is to have the emergency fund and saving buckets that I learned to keep from the LearnLux lessons.” Anastasia B., Consumer Test Kitchen Specialist
For HR and Benefits leaders, Anastasia’s experience illustrates how financial education helps employees make the most of their benefits and weather unexpected expenses, both financially and emotionally. Three years out of college, Anastasia has only had a job with benefits, health insurance, and a 401(k) for the past year, so she had some catching up to do. LearnLux lessons helped her look beyond basic 401(k) and HSA enrollment and taught her to keep an emergency fund and savings buckets. When a car repair, vet bills, and emergency travel hit all at once, those savings were there, and LearnLux helped her understand that the stress she felt was normal.
With LearnLux, Anastasia was able to:
- Catch up on understanding her workplace benefits
- Learn how to save and invest beyond setting up basic 401(k) and HSA accounts
- Learn to keep an emergency fund and savings buckets
- Cover an unexpected car repair, vet bills, and emergency travel with her emergency fund
- Feel understood and reassured that financial stress after a large expense is common and normal
- See firsthand the importance of saving for the future
Anastasia’s experience shows how financial wellbeing programs create value for employers as well. Many employees arrive at their first job with benefits without ever having been taught how to use them. Basic enrollment in a 401(k) or HSA is just the starting point, and education that explains how to make the most of those accounts helps employers get more value from the benefits they already offer. Anastasia’s story also captures something employers can’t afford to overlook: the emotional toll of financial stress. When unexpected expenses pile up, that worry spills into every part of an employee’s life, including their work. Timely lessons that normalize those feelings and reinforce the value of emergency savings help employees recover faster, protect their long-term savings from early withdrawals, and support better overall wellbeing.
Anastasia’s LearnLux Story
Hello, my name is Anastasia, and I’m here to share my LearnLux story. I’ve been in the workforce and out of college now for about three years, but only have been at a job that provides benefits, health insurance, and a 401(k) for the past year. So I’ve had some catching up to do in terms of figuring these things out compared to my peers. The LearnLux lessons have been helpful in understanding what I can do to save and invest beyond just setting up the basic 401(k) and HSA accounts with my employer.
I have had to dip into my emergency funds within the past month for multiple things at once, an unexpected car repair, vet bills, and emergency travel, and never really realized until right now how much of a toll that the financial worries can put on other aspects of your life. The LearnLux lessons this month helped me to learn and really feel understood that this is an incredibly common feeling that people have when they have to dip into their emergency funds, and that it is okay and normal that you should feel this way when you have to spend large amounts of money at once.
It showed me the firsthand importance of saving for the future and how important it is to have the emergency fund and saving buckets that I learned to keep from these lessons.
About LearnLux
LearnLux is the leading provider of employee financial wellness that blends fiduciary digital planning with access to one-on-one guidance from Certified Financial Planner® professionals. LearnLux's award-winning program equips employees with a financial plan to guide them through decision points like budgeting, paying down debt, electing benefits, understanding equity compensation, starting a family, buying a home, saving for retirement, and more.
Advanced reporting keeps our partners in the know, and drives results like reduction in financial stress, increased productivity, reduced employee turnover, greater use of pretax products, on-time retirement, and healthcare savings. Our holistic financial wellness benefit helps employees feel great about their money, allowing their work and wellbeing to thrive.