Targeting stressed out Americans, PurePoint launches savings campaign with Olympic gold medalist

People are definitely feeling stressed out about money. A new advertising campaign by PurePoint Financial hammers home just how pressured Americans are feeling about their financial lives and highlights what they can do to get out of it. Aimed at inspiring Americans to start saving again, PurePoint launched a three-part video series that includes freestyle skiing gold medalist Hannah Kearney and Beyoncé-supported Figure Skating in Harlem. The videos emphasize that training to compete in athletics requires the same basic habits and commitment as saving to reach financial goals. PurePoint worked with CNN's brand studio Courageous to produce the series. “We wanted to start a conversation about savings. Our hope is to help people understand that when you take the right steps, no matter how small, any dream is within reach, because once you see your dreams as tangible possibilities, that realization is what will drive you to commit to it and succeed,” said Pierre P. Habis, PurePoint's CEO. Skier Hannah Kearney's story is about the hard work it takes to achieve goals. As an emerging junior athlete, she realized the investment needed for her to compete at the next level was beyond the means of her family. She found a local sponsor in her community who required her to perform well on the slopes and school, and provide him with a reckoning of how his money was being spent. She achieved her dreams of winning an Olympic gold medal by setting goals, planning, working hard, and staying true to her commitments. “Those life lessons that Mr. Marshall [Hannah's backer] instilled in Hannah are in many ways more valuable than the dollars he invested,” Habis said. “I also love how full circle her story is and how a simple act of kindness can kick off a chain reaction for generations.” PurePoint Financial is a division of MUFG Union Bank. Its owner Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is the fifth largest financial group in the world with total assets over $2.7 trillion. When researching what people dream about for their future, PurePoint found that freedom from the stress of money is the number one goal for most Americans (59 percent). Not having to worry about money was prioritized over having a family (21 percent) and owning a home (30 percent). But Americans have also shown a predilection toward convenience over hard work. For example, one quarter of Americans would spend two times as much on food to have it delivered to avoid walking 20 minutes to pick it up. “One of our objectives at PurePoint is to educate people on how much the small savings decisions you make today can add up over the long term,” Habis said. “Those small steps we take today add up to medium steps that then add up to be bigger steps over time.”