Friends Provident is to launch a financial education service that incorporates behavioural science techniques.

The development of its My Money and Me service has been influenced by behavioural economic theory, which seeks to explain what lies behind people's decisions to spend, invest, save and borrow money. This is designed to overcome issues such as inertia around benefits like pensions, following the crowd, and a reluctance to make choices that affect finances.

Neil Hawkins, national employee communications manager, said: "It is about why people make the decisions they do. How can we influence them to make the right decisions? It is designed to counteract herd mentality and inertia."

The service contains four modules covering retirement planning, money management, employee benefits, and defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) pension schemes.

Friends Provident conducts onsite workshops to teach staff how to manage their finances and use workplace perks effectively. They are also given information on how to manage their pension, as well an insight into the implications of moving from a DB to a DC scheme.

The service also offers interactive online workshops.

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