The Road to Financial Wellness began as a grassroots and social media experiment to break the taboo about money and turn local money discussions into a national conversation on financial wellbeing. The project was supported by bloggers, podcasters, CFP® and AFC® professionals, money coaches, financial advisors. It was funded by the generosity of credit unions, banks, startups, nonprofits, and government agencies.
We’re known for our special events attracting hundreds of people. Our signature wellness event (the Summit) has been called the “TED Talk” of the personal finance space.
Are you interested in partnering with phroogal for an event? Send us a message.
Attendees are inspired and educated through financial storytelling from bloggers, social influencers, educators, and financial professionals.
Our events were covered by USAToday and many other media outlets.
The phroogal team has co-hosted events in places such as:
- bowling alleys
- yoga studios
- restaurants and bars
- libraries
- planetarium
- coworking spaces and corporate offices
- credit union branches and community centers
- colleges and high schools
- hotels and stadiums
- county and state parks
After two successful years on the road, the experiment has evolved into a movement empowering a generation through knowledge, access, and community.
Roadtrip Results
MILES DRIVEN: 28,874
EVENTS: 91
ATTENDEES: 14,845
LOCATIONS: 86
Financial wellness is about your health and wealth. It’s about the overall quality of the life you’re living.
Jason Vitug
What started as an experiment to break the social taboo about money has evolved into a movement helping thousands of people get on the road to financial wellness.
2016 Road to Financial Wellness Results
Update: Phroogal’s Road to Financial Wellness won its second Plutus Award for Best Personal Finance Collaboration Project at the 7th Annual Plutus Awards held at FinCon in San Diego.
We are grateful to the over 65 personal finance bloggers and podcasters who made this possible, and the generous support of our sponsors across the country. We share the award with you all.
After 107 days on the road, the Phroogal team completed an epic journey that continued on the mission to break the social taboo and empower a generation through financial knowledge. We began our road trip with an event in my hometown of Elizabeth, NJ that was attended by over 210 people and our final event in San Diego attended by 264 people.
I’ve often stated that if we can get a dozen people to a financial education event we’re on the right track. If we can dozens of people (in this case hundreds) into a financial wellness event, we are definitely doing something impactful.
2016 Results of The Road to Financial Wellness
- Events: 54
- Financial Education Hours: 216
- Attendees: 6,845
- Pit Stops: 50
- Miles Traveled: 18,656
- States Visited: 46
- Bloggers/Podcasters Participated: 65
- Companies and Non-Profit Participated: 26
- Credit Unions and Affiliates: 31
Notable Mentions: FinCon, USAA, Credit Sesame, Rutgers University, Experian, and Centsai.
Social Reach
- Facebook Live Views: 200,000+
- Twitter Impressions: 32,923,818
We learned a great deal from this year’s attendees who began asking us how they can choose the best products and services or where to find them. There was a growing understanding that life goals are as important as financial goals. In fact, some attendees stated the idea that life is just about numbers (income, debt, credit score and retirement account) has gotten many stressed.
Again, here’s the route we took:
Our focus on the quality of one’s life and how these numbers impact their ability to achieve their life goals was well received. My book, You Only Live Once, was an epic success and well-received by attendees.
The big lesson learned: There is so much information that is readily available online. A big concern for millennials is finding trustworthy information and better financial products and services.
To view our photo gallery, please check: www.facebook.com/phroogal
And yes, we’re planning on doing this again, so stay tuned.
Thank you to our sponsors!
2015 Road to Financial Wellness Results
Update: The Road to Financial Wellness 2015 won the Plutus Award for Best Personal Finance Collaboration Project. The project was an epic undertaking supported by over a hundred people. This would not have been possible without the support of so many people.
We learned a great deal on the road and created a ton of memories. We met so many amazing people and heard compelling stories. The Road to Financial Wellness breaking the last social taboo about money.
The road trip was completed by an amazing team from diverse backgrounds: Jason Vitug, founder at Phroogal, Yaroslav Tashak and Austin Strickland of Montville, NJ; Julianna Anselmini of Union, NJ and Larry Solha of Elizabeth, NJ.
Team accomplishments:
- 138 hours of driving
- 10,218 miles of road
- 26 major cities visited
- 11 small cities, towns and suburbs visited
- 37 events completed
- 8,000+ people reached
This was all possible with the help of:
- 4 road trip team members
- 2 virtual team members
- 47 personal finance bloggers and podcasters
- 18 credit unions and credit union affiliated nonprofits
- 12 nonprofit financial education organizations
- 5 Twitter chats
- 6 media partners
- 1 national sponsor, Payoff.
At the peak of the road trip, we had a Twitter Reach of 2,156,446 with 10,062,278 Impressions for #TheRoad hashtag.
With our media partner, Wisebread, a single Twitter Chat resulted in 120,784 Twitter User Reach with 5,607,918 Impressions.
I was fortunate to share my seminar, Your Money & Mindset, 30 times in 30 different locations. That also meant my team heard the seminar 30 times. I’m sure they could recite my talk word for word in their sleep.
The event and seminar feedback was overall positive. The attendees connected with the message of evaluating one’s relationship with money, becoming financially aware and using mindful spending to purchase the things and experiences that truly add value in one’s life.
Thank you to our amazing 2015 sponsors.
