Your Best Financial Services Provider Might Be Your Employer

February 03, 2015

It always amazes me how people overlook their employee benefits and will pay out-of-pocket for what they can in some cases, get for free. Years ago, I worked with a couple in which the wife was diagnosed with breast cancer about 5 years ago but thankfully, is in remission. They were trying to get their estate plan in order and had hired their friend’s attorney to help them. Several thousand dollars later, they wondered if they made the right choice. Since I am not an attorney, I would never give legal advice, but I had to admit to them that considering the simplicity of their estate and wishes, they had an amazingly complex plan.

I then asked them what companies they worked for. They both worked for Fortune 1000 companies. I told them most large companies offered pre-paid legal plans or the company’s EAP program sometimes provide legal assistance. Both had never thought of this option.

I told them to review their benefits to see if they have either option. It turned out that both had legal options, one through a pre-paid legal plan the husband signed up for and the other through the wife’s EAP program. Both options offered a free legal consultation as well. The attorney hired through the husband’s pre-paid legal plan worked with the couple, for free, to simplify their estate plan and to send a letter to the other attorney for a partial refund for parts of the estate plan the other attorney deemed unnecessary.

The couple talked to me a few months later about how upset they were over how difficult it was for the wife to get long term care insurance due to her having breast cancer, even though she has been in remission for years. I asked both of them to check with their companies to see if they could get long term care, the process for getting the care, and the costs. The husband’s plan allowed for long term care for anyone in the family with a questionnaire. They were able to get long term care insurance for his wife.

In many cases, your employer benefits can supply your financial planning needs for free or a lower cost than elsewhere. I always encourage people to review their plan benefits prior to buying any financial product or service. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you find.