Financial readiness for the military community
Mission success through improved financial readiness, retention, job performance and lower suicide risk.
Poncho give commanders actionable insights into unit readiness while helping service members and their families to achieve financial resilience, confidence, and their own personal financial well-being.
Financial readiness is unit readiness
“In the military, financial readiness can directly impact service members' ability to successfully prepare for and complete their missions by reducing distractions from unresolved financial issues.
With more confidence in their personal finances, service members can better focus on their missions.”
— DoD’s Office of Financial Readiness
“Men and women in uniform and their families have enough to worry about — basic necessities like food and housing shouldn’t be among them. This is a readiness issue. ”
Financial stress harms the entire military community
Financial stress harms the entire community. Commanders seek to improve financial readiness, but lack current, actionable data.
Service members are especially vulnerable to financial stress and problem debt due to inexperience, poor understanding, and easy credit. This vulnerability lowers readiness, drives suicide risk, and hurts retention and performance.
“Nearly 9 in 10 active service members and 84% of spouses or partners have worries about personal finances.”
Low readiness, elevated suicide risk, poor performance, low retention, revoked clearances
Service members are 4x more likely than civilians to have unsecured debt, which puts them at 8x the risk for suicide. — Clinical Psychology Review
20% of financially stressed workers report “severe or major” negative impact on their work. — PwC Employee Financial Wellness Survey
The top driver for retention is spousal satisfaction. 3 of the 5 top factors are financial. — Blue Star Families
Defense Counterintelligence Security Agency: Finances are “the most frequently cited security concern.” — MilitaryMoney.com
Financial Wellness drives mission success
70% of large US employers offer financial wellness for their employees. Easy access to digital tools, education, and counselors boost morale, performance, and retention. Individual financial well-being improves unit financial readiness.
DoD invests a lot of resources in financial support but not in the coordinated way that can deliver a breakthrough boost in readiness and mission success.
Personal finance apps drive better outcomes
Users are less likely to have problem debt and report improved financial confidence, literacy, willingness to seek out help, resilience, willingness to avoid impulse purchases, & a sense of control over one’s finances.