Could Vegas Hold the Answer to Your Employees’ Retirement Jackpot?

June 07, 2011
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas
Photo by By Goynang/Flickr

The secret to a good retirement planning strategy can be found in Las Vegas, but not at the poker table.  The SHRM 2011 Annual Conference and Exposition kicks off on Saturday, June 25th at the Las Vegas Convention Center and promises to be loaded with practical tips, informative HR sessions, new innovations, and networking opportunities – not to mention nonstop entertainment, Vegas style. Continue reading “Could Vegas Hold the Answer to Your Employees’ Retirement Jackpot?”

Can We Stall the Coming Retirement Crisis?

May 31, 2011

It is hard not to hear about the pending doom and gloom forecast for the baby boomers approaching retirement.  I was standing in line waiting to pick up my rental car last week and the flat screen TV on the wall had CNN reporting about how boomers “don’t even know what they are going to end up doing” since many are unprepared to face retirement and that Social Security and Medicare may fail as a safety net for the boomers.  The irony is that I was on my way to facilitate a workshop on Retirement Readiness for a company that is proactively preparing their workforce to have a financially secure retirement, bucking the trend of many employers who are putting more of the burden on the workers to save for their own retirement.  So what is the answer to having your employees take charge of their own futures and focus on building a sizeable retirement nest egg? Continue reading “Can We Stall the Coming Retirement Crisis?”

“I Have a Pension? I Didn’t Realize That.”

May 17, 2011

Less than 1 in 5 workers today have a traditional pension these days, so those that do have a pension should be very appreciative, right?  Well, not if they aren’t even aware they have a pension!  I meet with thousands of employees each year who are fortunate enough to work for companies that still offer a company-funded pension, yet they don’t even know how lucky they are and don’t realize they are accruing a pension benefit for retirement by just coming in to work every day.  I’m sure when they were hired, their new employee handbook had details about the pension, and they may even get a yearly statement mailed to them, but do they really understand what it means to them? Continue reading ““I Have a Pension? I Didn’t Realize That.””

It’s Wedding Season – Are Your Workers Daydreaming About Their Fairy-tale Day?

May 03, 2011
Royal kiss
Photo by americanistadechiapas/flickr

Now that Kate Middleton is officially the Dutchess of Cambridge, many of your workers are probably still in the midst of planning their own royal weddings as we enter the most popular months for weddings – May and June.  We Americans certainly don’t spend as much as the multi-million pound price tag of the Westminster Abbey royal ceremony, but we do spend an average of $20,000 on our own version of the wedding fairy-tale.  As the magic day approaches, your female workers might spend as much as 25% of their workdays planning their weddings, and my guess is the pending grooms spend less than a minute of their days even thinking about the event until the bachelor party begins. Continue reading “It’s Wedding Season – Are Your Workers Daydreaming About Their Fairy-tale Day?”

Reduce Financial Stress with Clarity and Direction

May 02, 2011

Overwhelming stress takes its toll.  Research shows that stress is the leading cause of disease and financial stress is the most common stressor.  Imagine the feeling of not making ends meet and not having a safety net – no emergency fund and high debt so you feel like you may never get out of it.  In our latest research, we studied stressed out employees who used our financial wellness assessment and found there were two things they all had in common — no emergency fund and high debt.  Maybe it was the combination of the two that put them over the edge of “high stress” to “overwhelming stress.” Continue reading “Reduce Financial Stress with Clarity and Direction”

The ABCs of an ESOP

April 26, 2011

Over 11,000 companies offer their employees some type of ESOP, which stands for Employee Stock Ownership Plan.  Typically, an employer will offer the ESOP as all or part of the retirement plan for its workers as an incentive for company loyalty, higher productivity, and greater employee participation in the workplace – but many employees are not familiar with the ins and outs of how an ESOP operates. Continue reading “The ABCs of an ESOP”

Reimbursing Employees for Business Expenses: Tax Benefit or Tax Bomb?

April 19, 2011

Since I had to write a big check to Uncle Sam last week, I wanted to share my family’s experience with unreimbursed employee expenses and the unintended impact it could have on you and your employees.

There are two ways an employer can choose to pay employees in order to reimburse them for out of pocket expenses for costs dealing with overnight travel, business use of their vehicle, home office use, and other business related expenses. Continue reading “Reimbursing Employees for Business Expenses: Tax Benefit or Tax Bomb?”

Last Minute Tax Tips for Last Minute Filers

April 13, 2011

In case you haven’t heard, the 2010 tax filing day has been extended until Monday, April 18, 2011.  That means taxpayers get one extra weekend to find as many credits and deductions as they can before sending their returns off to the IRS.  Now it’s not often that waiting until the last minute pays off, but consider these tax tips a reward for your procrastination: Continue reading “Last Minute Tax Tips for Last Minute Filers”

Employee Communications: The Importance of Estate Planning

April 12, 2011

I had the sad task of attending my husband’s cousin’s funeral this past weekend, and it really brought to light the fragileness of life.  Dave (my husband) and his cousin were born in 1961, and would have been celebrating their 50th birthday together this year.  Even worse, he leaves behind a wife and 2 sons who are in shock both emotionally and financially.  Continue reading “Employee Communications: The Importance of Estate Planning”

Top Ten Most “Foolish” Financial Decisions

April 06, 2011

It was only after my son Ethan got home from school and played an April Fools’ Day joke on me that I even realized it was April.  In the spirit of laughing at ourselves, I thought it would be fun to do my best David Letterman impression by offering what I consider to be the top ten most “foolish” financial decisions we make: Continue reading “Top Ten Most “Foolish” Financial Decisions”

Employee Communications: Last Minute Tax Tips

April 05, 2011

As I was conducting a workshop last week focusing on health insurance coverage, an employee asked if he could put additional money in his Health Savings Account (HSA) above and beyond what the employer contribution was.  “Of course!!” I said, and even better, if he made the contribution prior to April 18th it could be used as a deduction for his tax return NOW.  So it got me thinking about other tips that could be shared with employees over the next few weeks to help them muster through the chore of doing their taxes and save a few extra bucks. Continue reading “Employee Communications: Last Minute Tax Tips”

Retirement Preparedness: Don’t Work Until You are 70

April 04, 2011

I read an article today titled, How to Collect Social Security and Still Keep Working?,  and found myself yelling at the computer screen in a rant similar to what I have seen my husband perform during sporting events when his team is losing.  It is out of character for me but this article got me going.  The article gives details of how much you can earn at 62 and still collect your social security and goes on to explain how income from working affects your income after you hit your full social security age (for me that is 67)  but the whole premise to me is backwards.  We CAN collect Social Security and still keep working if we time it correctly and we don’t make too much money if we are under our “full” retirement age.  But seriously, do we really want to? Continue reading “Retirement Preparedness: Don’t Work Until You are 70”

Happy Birthday to Me and to the 401(k)

March 22, 2011

The 401(k) is celebrating its 30th birthday this year – I wish I could say the same for my birthday next week!  I wasn’t quite old enough to be in the workforce back in 1981 (I was in junior high) when the first 401(k) was conceived by Ted Benna, a fellow Pennsylvanian like myself.  As I age I’ve gained wrinkles, a few grey hairs, and a few extra pounds.  As the 401(k) has matured, we’ve seen the growth of auto enrollment, auto escalation, target funds, and even the Roth option.

So why are some employees still not taking advantage of the 401(k) opportunity?  I hear excuses ranging from “I can’t afford to contribute,” “I don’t have faith in the stock market,” to “I plan to eventually after I’m sure I will be staying at my job.”  These are employees that could have been getting matching money over the years but just don’t realize how much that means to their bottom line.  I have actually spoken to a few employees who thought they WERE contributing, but they were NOT!  Try this trick that a client of ours used a few years ago as an eye-opener: Mail a dummy 401(k) statement with a zero balance to all your employees that are not actively participating in your plan.  I guarantee you will get at least a few calls from those workers that thought they were contributing and they are calling wondering why they don’t have any money in their account!

Benefits Communications: Understanding Retiree Medical and Medicare Coverage

March 15, 2011

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been on a roadshow of workshops across the country, talking to groups of pre-retirees about health insurance coverage in retirement.  These particular employees are very fortunate, since their company sponsors a group retiree medical plan, and actually still subsidizes a majority of the cost.

Even so, many of these employees still experienced sticker shock when they found out the cost of the medical coverage and had not even considered the impact on their retirement income.  We also spent some time reviewing how much Medicare will cost, what it covers, and how their retiree health plan will coordinate with Medicare once they reach age 65. Continue reading “Benefits Communications: Understanding Retiree Medical and Medicare Coverage”

Retirement Preparedness: A Wake-Up Call for Generation X Investors

March 11, 2011

Talking with a group of pre-retirees, one of the people in the room (a born entertainer) used Styrofoam coffee cups as visual aids to illustrate his point.  We were talking about incomes and expenses during retirement, and he broke out into a comedy routine/illustration of his financial life.  He filled a big pitcher with water and filled the first cup, broke out a Sharpie and labeled it “Pension.”  He had been an employee of the phone company for 40 years and has a very solid pension income.  The next cup he labeled “Social Security” and he filled that cup about ¾ full.  The 3rd cup he put a few drops of water into and labeled it “Investments.”  He said the 401(k) plan arrived a little too late in his career and he had not participated until the last several years of his career, plus he had a number of children that all went to college which left his personal savings and investment balances rather low. Continue reading “Retirement Preparedness: A Wake-Up Call for Generation X Investors”

Should I Pay Down My Debt or Save More for the Future?

March 10, 2011

There are questions in life where sometimes the best answer is “it depends” (how many times did we hear that when we were growing up?).  This is one of those questions, but I do have some solid guidelines that can help you make a decision on this question.

First, take a hard look at the interest rates you’re currently paying on your debt as well as what you are getting on your savings accounts.  In most cases Continue reading “Should I Pay Down My Debt or Save More for the Future?”

Early Retirement Buyouts: A Good Idea for Who?

March 08, 2011

A school district in Minnesota recently announced an early retirement incentive program to entice their most senior (and highly paid) teachers to retire in order to replace them with less experienced teachers with lower salaries.  The program has an interesting twist – if at least 10 teachers take the buyout, each will receive $15,000 but if at least 15 accept, then they will each receive $20,000.  I can imagine a bit of peer pressure will be felt by those teachers who are on the fence about taking the bait.

How do I know these details?  One of the teachers eligible for this early retirement incentive attended a workshop I was facilitating at her husband’s place of employment, where I happened to be discussing details on Retiree Medical and Medicare coverage (which happens to be next week’s subject I’ll cover). Continue reading “Early Retirement Buyouts: A Good Idea for Who?”

What HR Can Learn From American Idol: A Personal Account of the Most Brutal (and Effective) Interview Process I Ever Went Through

March 01, 2011

The other day, after a series of workshops on retiree health care for one of our clients, I decided I needed to unwind.  It was time to rid my mind of HR issues completely, and enjoy some mindless entertainment.  So, I’m in the hotel room flipping through the channels, when I come across the latest season of American Idol.  The perfect way to unwind and get out of my own head!  Or so I thought.  It worked for about 10 minutes, then out of nowhere, it hit me: Continue reading “What HR Can Learn From American Idol: A Personal Account of the Most Brutal (and Effective) Interview Process I Ever Went Through”

Where Do Your Employees Stand Regarding Retirement Preparedness?

February 22, 2011

Employees are grossly unprepared for retirement, and employers are growing increasingly concerned about the cost of delayed retirement, which is estimated to be $10,000-$50,000 per year for every year an employee  postpones retirement.   The implications of this problem are huge, making it the second most pressing issue HR departments are facing, after health care. Continue reading “Where Do Your Employees Stand Regarding Retirement Preparedness?”