Michael Popke

Good news for small businesses: Owners reported greater confidence in their operations, stronger business health, and improved cash-flow comfort during the third quarter of 2026.

Financial stress continues to influence employee wellbeing, engagement, and workplace decisions, according to the new Financial Benchmarks report from insurance broker Gallagher.

"What we're clearly seeing is growing demand for hyper-personalized support from employees," says Molly Beer, a retirement plan consultant at Gallagher who also was a contributor to the 20-page Financial Benchmarks report. "The challenge is that delivering one-to-one guidance at scale is incredibly difficult, especially across large workforces. That's where managed accounts, advice solutions, and, increasingly, technology and AI come into play. They help bridge the gap between the individualized support employees want and what organizations can realistically deliver."

More than 1 in 4 U.S. adults (27%) report that they or their family members owed medical debt in 2025, including 26% of adults with health

This shift to paying for performance aligns with the CMS' new ACCESS model.

Americans feel better about their finances than their habits reflect, according to "America's Financial Confidence Index TM ," a new nationwide benchmark from Voya Financial Inc.

Three out of four employers have changed their pharmacy benefits advisor in the past 12 months.

About 25% received high confidence scores but low scores for efforts to manage their finances.

On average, workers scored 67 out of 100 for financial confidence, compared with 62 out of 100 for the financial behaviors needed to reach their goals—creating a five-point "confidence gap." The strongest link to closing the gap isn't income or assets, according to Voya officials. Rather, it's the workplace, they said.