Along the road to financial wellness, new research suggests a few surprising twists and turns that could lead this key trend in an exciting new direction that defies conventional wisdom.

Millennials are actually concerned about saving for retirement, according to the latest of three annual Harris polls commissioned by Purchasing Power. This segment of the workforce represents a potentially huge new market for industry producers who are savvy enough to capitalize on the opportunity. The 2014 findings represented the first time survey responses were broken out by generation.

“Typically, young people are not planning for retirement,” observes Elizabeth Halkos, Chief Revenue Officer for Purchasing Power, a leading voluntary benefit offering consumer products, vacation packages and online education services through a convenient payment plan. “But with the amount of student loan debt most Millennials have, it’s good to see that they do want some advice on saving for retirement, and they are thinking about their long-term financial health.”

There also were hopeful signs that the overall state of individual financial wellness is improving right along with the economy. Of the 2,016 U.S. adults surveyed, those who admitted to not having at least $2,000 in emergency savings for unexpected expenses decreased to 36% in 2014 from 44% the previous year. In addition the number of respondents who experienced financial stress fell to 80% from 87% within that same timeframe.

At the other end of the age spectrum, Baby Boomers were found to be most comfortable as far as the types of financial education that they need. “Other than saving for retirement,” Halkos reports, “they seem pretty secure in their understanding of money management, particularly among things like building credit, buying a home and saving for their children’s education.”

One area of concern, however, is that as many as 23% of Baby Boomers sought advice on how to pay off debt. Halkos says the suggestion is that this large segment of the workforce may carry sizeable debt loads into retirement.

While Millennials are concerned about paying off their debt, Gen Xers trended slightly higher on this issue because they tend to have children and nicer vehicles than their younger co-workers, who are making sacrifices just to pay off student loans.

“That may be because Millennials are actually credit averse,” she surmises. “Other research out there is showing that Millennials, because of student loan debt, aren’t taking on credit cards, whereas with Gen Xers, they’ve got probably some student loan debt and sizeable credit card debt, along with mortgages and other debt that they might be experiencing.”

Importance of trusted sources

At a time when people are constantly checking gadgets for answers to their questions and general guidance, the Harris poll also found that most people still turn to their family and friends for help making financial decisions.

“We expected social media and online resources to come up higher, and it’s really only about 30% of people, which is still a significant number,” Halkos says. Still, there’s no substitution for familiar faces. She believes it “has a lot to do with proximity and trust… You can call them up on the phone whenever you want. You can see them at Thanksgiving dinner. You can shoot them an e-mail or a text.”

The corollary for employers is to allay any concern employees may have regarding their boss or HR learning too much about their personal lives.

Halkos says employees can be reassured that any information about their personal finances would be kept confidential, similar to the way employee assistance programs (EAPs) work. “Once people realize that, they will be more likely to reach out for the financial wellness education,” she notes.

There are several takeaways for HR and benefit professionals. “The good news is employers are starting to recognize the issue” of financial wellness, Halkos opines. “The next step is now getting employees on board.” When asked if they’d be interested in learning more about financial wellness opportunities, 40% of respondents said yes, while 34% weren’t sure.

Her advice to employers is to “seek out vendors that really know how to reach the employees and are similar to EAPs in that they know how to lend a helping hand and be a trusted advisor.” She says it’s also best to align with service providers that focus strictly on financial wellness education as part of a multi-pronged approach and are not out to sell employees on a specific product.

“It really is about getting them the education and support that they need, whether it be budgeting, prepping for a big purchase, or how to invest,” according to Halkos.

Bruce Shutan is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.