The Economics of Financial Stress

In a 2023 paper titled Economics of Financial Stress, researchers Dmitriy Sergeyev, Chen Lian, and Yuriy Gorodnichenko surveyed 10,000 employed prime-age Americans about financial stress and found it to be widespread: 

1. When asked about how concerned they are about their current financial situation, on a scale from 1 (no concern) to 10 (highest concern), about 58% answered 5 or higher. 
2. If they experienced a $2,000 emergency, 10% said they could not pay and another 44% said they would have to borrow. 

Financial stress drains valuable cognitive resources and time, leading to poorer economic decision-making and reduced productivity at work. In fact, respondents reported spending significant time during working-hours each week distracted by financial concerns – on average 6.4 hours! Moreover, this financial stress and work productivity link has been tested experimentally and found to be important.

It is strongly in the interest of companies that their employees have as little financial stress as possible, and can direct their focus to the task at hand and making the best possible decisions for the business. 

Caring for a child with a disability can be a significant source of financial stress. Even expecting a child and worrying about a possible future disability can cause financial stress. This makes perfect sense, as the lifetime cost of caring for a child with severe autism and intellectual disability is estimated at $2.85m (adjusting for inflation), much of which is shouldered by the family.

We at Juno have developed our child disability insurance with both employees and employers in mind, providing the financial protection we as parents want to have while at the same time helping employers fill a large coverage gap among their workforce that is costing them in lost productivity.

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Juno is the first company to bring child disability insurance to the United States. Juno provides up to $500,000 per child in addition to support services to families of children who develop a severe disease or disability.

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