员工福利后的生活

Private Wealth Managementwilliamblair.com Preparing For Life After Employee Benefits As you plan for retirement, you will have many financial questionsto address. You will likely focus on things like aligning your assetallocation with your target retirement date, creating a detailed budgetfor your post-retirement living expenses, and thinking about how youwant to spend your newfound free time during retirement. Post-Benefit Planning–Not Just for Retirees Many of the topics describedin this piece apply to any employeepreparing to leave his or hercurrent job, not just those who willbe retiring from the workforce.Planning for life after employeebenefits is especially important forpeople who are leaving a companyto become self-employed or workat a start-up firm. In addition to these big-picture considerations, your retirement planning should alsoinclude preparing to manage the benefits that have been provided by your employerthroughout your career. This piece looks at some of the benefits-related topics that workers need to consideras they approach retirement. Some of these items have a fairly short window for takingaction, so it pays to begin preparing well before your actual retirement date. Manyaspects of benefits planning depend on your employer’s specific policies and state laws,so it is important to meet with a representative from your company’s human resourcesdepartment to learn about what options are available to you. Medical Insurance Medical care will likely be one of your biggest expenses during retirement, so it isvitally important to plan for how you will transition away from your employer-providedhealth insurance. Medicare Medicare, which starts on the first day of the month you turn 65, will become yourprimary insurance if you are eligible and no longer covered by an employer plan,even if you choose COBRA or retiree insurance. If you are already receiving SocialSecurity benefits when you turn 65, then you will be automatically enrolled inMedicare. Otherwise, you must contact the Medicare office (medicare.gov) to enroll.You can enroll during the seven-month period that begins three months before themonth you turn 65 and ends three months after the month you turn 65. However, it isrecommended that you sign up for Medicare 2-3 months before you retire to ensurethat your coverage begins the first month you are officially retired to avoid a gap incoverage. Furthermore, missing the window to enroll in Medicare parts B and D couldresult in higher premiums over your lifetime. Private Wealth Managementwilliamblair.com EXHIBIT 1 If you are still working beyond age 65, your employer planmay continue to be your primary insurance. If this is thecase, you may want to sign up for Part A at age 65 (in mostcases it is free), and then you have up to eight months toenroll in Medicare Part B without penalty once employmentends. If you have retiree health coverage or continue youremployer’s coverage through COBRA, you must still sign upfor Medicare Part B within eight months of endingemployment. Missing the eight-month window can result inhigher premiums for life and a gap in coverage. Health Savings Accounts If you had a Health Savings Account (HSA) through youremployer’s plan, you get to keep the HSA upon terminatingemployment and continue using it over your lifetimetax-free for qualified medical expenses. Once you turn 65,you will be able to use the funds in the HSA for non-qualifiedexpenses without penalty, although these withdrawals maybe subject to income tax. It important to know that once you enroll in any part ofMedicare, you and your employer can no longer makecontributions to your HSA. Employees should contact theirHuman Resources office to request that HSA contributionsstop before enrolling in Medicare. If you retire before turning 65, you will need to think abouthow you will get insurance coverage until becoming eligiblefor Medicare. Your options may include: Flexible Spending Accounts •COBRA – You can elect to continue your current coveragethrough COBRA. You must elect COBRA coveragewithin 60 days of terminating your employment, andCOBRA coverage is generally limited to 18 months.COBRA applies to medical, dental, and vision coverage foryourself, your spouse, and your eligible dependents.•Retiree health coverage – Some companies offer retiringemployees the option of converting the group coverageoffered to current employees to a group plan for retirees.Generally, workers have 60 days after terminatingemployment to elect retiree coverage.•Private insurance – You can purchase individualinsurance through an independent insurance company,or the state health insurance marketplace that wascreated through the Affordable Care Act. If you had funds remaining in a Flexible Spending Account(FSA) upon terminating employment, you will stillhave access to those funds for dates of medical service priorto your date of termination or if you continue makingcontributions to the FSA through COBRA after te