Nation's largest all-digital bank plants 'money tree' in
NYC; awards $100,000 for shared
'money stories' nationwide
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 13,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ally Financial Inc.
(NYSE: ALLY) today announced the launch of Money Roots™, a
free financial wellness program to help people uncover how their
money mindset impacts their spending, saving and investing
decisions – and vice versa. Grounded in money psychology, Money
Roots is a departure from traditional skills-based financial
education and comes on the heels of a recent Ally Bank (Member FDIC) survey, which uncovered
that nearly half (46%) of Americans let emotions influence their
spending, while 36% never seek emotional support for managing
personal finances.
"Until now, banks have focused mainly on teaching skills and
providing tools that help people manage their finances. Yet,
Americans are still racking up record-breaking debt and feeling
financial stress like never before. We need to do more, and we need
to do it differently," said Andrea
Brimmer, Chief Marketing and PR Officer at Ally. "As the
original disruptor, we're again challenging the status quo while
seeking to do right by our customers - bringing wellness-based
financial education to the forefront. Money Roots is the missing
link to changing hard-wired money behaviors and improving financial
wellness for all."
Unpacking Emotions & Growing Finances with Money
Roots
Ally is pioneering emotions-based financial wellness
education, helping people get to the root cause of money
behaviors. With 38% of Americans saying they feel stressed,
embarrassed, sad and/or ashamed when thinking back on their earlier
memories of money, Money Roots focuses on the why,
instead of the how – empowering people of all walks of life,
across all income spectrums, to improve their financial health and
wellness.
"Regardless of how much money you have or don't have, we all
have a money story," said Jack
Howard, Head of Money Wellness at Ally. "I have spent the
last 14 years helping people better understand money through
financial education initiatives at Ally, and during my experience,
I came to realize people not only need to understand the skills of
money – how to save, spend and invest – but in order to create real
change, people need to understand their mindset around money.
Getting to the root of your money relationship creates the space to
find the joy in money, and in life."
Ally worked with leading experts in behavioral finance,
financial therapy and money psychology to create the proprietary
curriculum consisting of four one-hour virtual workshops. Money
Roots* facilitators, including Howard, will guide participants live
through uncovering money beliefs and values, rewriting money
stories and creating financial health roadmaps. Participants can
register online at Ally.com/MoneyRoots for the workshops, which
include:
- Money + You: Uncover emotions tied to money and explore
how to manage those emotions to make better financial
decisions.
- Money + Story: Uncover early money memories and how they
influence behaviors and financial decisions. Dive into behavioral
patterns, labeling them to put people back in the driver's seat and
create new patterns moving forward.
- Money + Values: Identify core values to define personal
goals, path, and the steps to get there.
- Money + Love: Guidance on common financial stressors,
scenarios and conversations with romantic partners that may be
difficult to navigate.
Ally Plants Money Roots with
$100,000
A person's beliefs,
emotions and lived experiences are their "money roots," or
financial foundation. When money roots are nurtured, and financial
wellness is achieved, money can "grow on trees." To ease financial
stress nationwide, Ally is planting a literal and digital money
tree, which will give away a total of $100,000 in cash prizes to winning participants
who share their money story. People can visit the immersive
14-foot-tall Ally Money Tree on
Aug. 13-14 at The Oculus at the World
Trade Center in New York City or
visit Ally.com/MoneyRoots to enter for a chance to win.
The cash prizes are designed to provide immediate relief to the
most common expenses that contribute to financial anxiety,
including the average price of annual childcare ($18,900), the average monthly mortgage payment
($2,200), the average monthly credit
card payment ($430) and the average
cost for an online therapy session ($135).
Key Ally Survey Findings
Ally uncovered other findings
indicating a correlation between finances and personal wellbeing,
plus a lack of vulnerability with discussing money with others –
further underscoring the need for Money Roots. Additional insights
include:
- 45% of Americans said they are concerned about their personal
finances
- Gen Z respondents (55%) were most likely to seek out emotional
support for managing their finances on at least a monthly basis,
compared to other generations (Millennials: 42%, Gen X: 33%,
Boomers: 22%)
- 72% of Americans do not believe discussing money with others is
"taboo," opening opportunity for more dialogue
To begin the Money Roots journey and unlock a future of
financial wellness, visit Ally.com/MoneyRoots.
*Money Roots is for informational purposes only, and not legal,
tax, or financial advice.
Survey Methodology: Surveyed a general population of over
1,000 U.S. adults in July 2024 on
their perceptions of money growing up, lessons they learned about
managing money, feelings about their current finances, and their
attitudes towards teaching children about finances now.
Money Tree Sweepstakes Rules: No purchase necessary. Open
to legal residents of 50 United States and DC, who are at least
18+. Begins 9:00 AM ET on 8/13/24;
ends 11:59 PM ET on 8/30/24. For
Official Rules, visit Ally.com/MoneyRoots.
Press Kit: Photos, b-roll and other story assets
available here.
About Ally Financial
Ally Financial Inc.
(NYSE: ALLY) is a financial services company with the
nation's largest all-digital bank and an industry-leading auto
financing business, driven by a mission to "Do It Right" and be a
relentless ally for customers and communities. The company serves
approximately 11 million customers through a full range of online
banking services (including deposits, mortgage, and credit card
products) and securities brokerage and investment advisory
services. The company also includes a robust corporate finance
business that offers capital for equity sponsors and middle-market
companies, as well as auto financing and insurance offerings. For
more information, please visit www.ally.com.
For more information and disclosures about Ally,
visit https://www.ally.com/#disclosures.
For further images and news on Ally, please
visit http://media.ally.com.
Contact:
Megan Rivers
Ally Communications (Media)
Megan.rivers@ally.com
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SOURCE Ally Financial