Give Your Employees TLC by Spreading the Word on LTC

August 31, 2010

Most employees know every year to expect to make key decisions about their health insurance coverage, usually each fall. But, are they aware that there are other critical decisions regarding voluntary benefits that may not even be subject to an open enrollment timeframe?

I recently facilitated a Retirement Readiness workshop for a group of pre-retirees in Chicago, where the biggest buzz centered around the group LTC policy available. I try to encourage open dialogue during my financial education workshops, so when I began to talk about some of the risks in retirement, Continue reading “Give Your Employees TLC by Spreading the Word on LTC”

FSAs: Not so Flexible Anymore

August 24, 2010

Effective as early as next year, the IRS will begin to limit the advantages of the Flexible Spending Account (FSA) on two fronts. First, a cap of $2,500 will be imposed for 2013 and later FSA contributions which will reduce the pre-tax savings for those who had previously contributed higher amounts. Second, over- the- counter (OTC) drugs and medications will no longer be eligible for reimbursement in 2011 unless accompanied by a doctor’s prescription or letter of medical necessity. So items such as cough syrup, acne cream, pain relievers, diaper rash ointment, and other common OTC medications now need a doctor’s stamp of approval. Continue reading “FSAs: Not so Flexible Anymore”

Can You be the Hero?

August 10, 2010

All of us want to feel special. Whether it’s helping the team score the winning goal, or simply helping someone with their groceries, it makes us feel good when we come to someone else’s aid. But what if you could come to the aid of many people all at once?

Many companies offer great benefits that will help their employees, but many employees do not understand how to use these benefits to their fullest extent. Continue reading “Can You be the Hero?”

First Impressions

August 06, 2010

During my first week with Financial Finesse I spent most of my time in training, monitoring calls on the helpline, and trying to remember the names of my new coworkers. I am not quite sure what I expected out of the calls into our Financial Helpline, but I was definitely surprised. I thought maybe there might be more questions on investing and taxes, which was the norm before I joined the Financial Finesse team. What I didn’t expect was the outpouring of emotion from the callers. Many of the callers I listened to sounded like they were on the verge of tears, under WAY MORE financial stress than I was accustomed to seeing, and it seemed like they saw their situation as hopeless. Calling the helpline was a means of last resort, at least that’s the way I saw it.

Continue reading “First Impressions”

Don’t Shoot the Messenger

July 28, 2010

“Good luck getting anyone to show up.” That is how I was greeted during a recent visit to one of our client’s locations for a live workshop. Needless to say this was not the response I was looking for. For several weeks we had been reaching out to this particular location to try and schedule a workshop, and for weeks they had been resisting, telling us that the workshop would be poorly attended, and not worth the trip. But this meeting was going to happen whether they liked it or not. Continue reading “Don’t Shoot the Messenger”

Health Savings Accounts for Health and Wealth

July 27, 2010

Can the Health Savings Account double as a retirement account? In some ways it can and no one is talking about it. Why? We tend to look at things from our own perspective. It is natural for employers to look at it through a health benefits angle and financial advisors who manage money tend to look at it from an investment point of view. As financial educators, we look at benefits from the financial planning point of view. We are looking at how employees can maximize all of their benefits not just ones we manage (because we don’t manage any).

Here is an example of how the HSA can serve two purposes:

I recently sat down with a 38 year old woman who was worried she wasn’t saving enough for retirement. After running a retirement projection together based on her salary deferral to her 401(k), I unfortunately had to confirm her concern. She needed to save about 5% more than her current 6% to get her to where she needed to be.

We started talking about where she could come up with the extra savings and she then mentioned she was maxing out her Health Savings Account (HSA), but was thinking about lowering her deferral Continue reading “Health Savings Accounts for Health and Wealth”

Does Your Wellness Program Include a Wealth Factor?

July 13, 2010

I just got off the phone today with an employee who remembered a quote I had made during a recent Retirement Readiness workshop he had attended where I talked about the 3 ingredients to a secure retirement – Health, Wealth, and Happiness. I was so amazed he remembered it, but he said he had never thought about how his health could impact his retirement, and it had really struck a chord with him. Our health is very important, since all the money in the world can’t buy back our physical well-being. However, our finances DO have an impact: money problems are the number one cause of stress and stress-related illness.

Continue reading “Does Your Wellness Program Include a Wealth Factor?”

When Good is Not Good

July 12, 2010

Report card — Image courtesy of pjern/Flickr

Once a week the employee surveys from the financial helpline and the ‘ask a planner’ meetings come in and I always feel like a 5^th grader waiting for my report card. This week’s report showed one of my surveys had several “goods” on some of the questions instead of “very good” or “excellent” which brought my grade down to a “B” on the report card but to tell you the truth, it truly feels like an “F.” It is a shock to the system. You want to know why? Because I gave my all (or thought I did) on that call. I remember the guy.

Continue reading “When Good is Not Good”