Employee benefits are important for any organization that wants to motivate and retain reliable, hard-working employees. An attractive benefits plan not only provides compensation that attracts good employees and establishes a positive working relationship between the employer and employee, but it also encourages productivity. However, the rise of employee benefits costs is forcing many companies to shy away from offering attractive benefits packages, especially smaller companies that don’t have big budgets to help them manage or provide benefits.
Here are some tips from Midlands Financial Benefits you can use to save money on employee benefits:
Provide wellness incentives
If your employees are healthy, you are likely to spend less on premiums. It’s a good idea to look for wellness programs that provide incentives, financial or otherwise, to support health and fitness. Some of these programs include nutrition or healthy living classes, discouraging junk food at work, and providing discounted gym memberships.
Negotiate with insurance companies
Before settling on an insurance program for your staff, try to press your group insurance advisor for a better deal. For example, you can increase the coverage period and sign up as many people as possible at one time to ease costs.
Strive to reduce claim expenses
You might be able to reduce the cost of employee claims by educating your employees about the financial implications of their claims. You also can encourage them to stay healthy through company-sponsored wellness programs or a disease management program for employees with chronic ailments such as diabetes and asthma.
Keep current records of your employees’ status
Maintain up-to-date records of all employees to avoid footing medical bills for people no longer employed by your company. Businesses with moderately-sized staffs sometimes inadvertently allow these kinds of claims to slip under their radar.
Don’t forget, it’s okay to limit your program to employee benefits relevant for your specific employee population and on par with your competition. Midlands Financial Benefits of Lincoln, Nebraska, can help you sort out the options, avoid costly mistakes, and manage employee benefits satisfactorily, even on a tight budget. You can assemble a competitive financial benefits package without breaking the bank!
Midlands Financial Benefits: The Answer to Your Financial Planning Needs
Midlands Financial Benefits has been in business for more than 40 years. Based in Lincoln, Nebraska, our company is a one-of-a-kind organization that provides a wide range of insurance and investment services to meet the ever-changing needs of our clients. Over the years, through tireless commitment to our mission, our financial advisors have helped many of our clients improve their lives and look forward to a positive future. Our years of experience have directly benefited countless individuals and organizations around the country and enabled them to make well-informed decisions about the future.
Midlands Financial Benefits offers numerous services to support you as you take care of yourself and your family. Two of our most important service areas for individuals are insurance and investments.
Financial Planning through Insurance
We live in an unpredictable world. Unforeseen tragedies and disasters have the potential to completely overwhelm you and keep you from achieving your goals. It’s important to prepare adequately for hardship. Midlands Financial Benefits offers diverse insurance options that could ease your financial burden and help you take care of yourself and your loved ones in case the unexpected happens. Midlands’ insurance options include:
Life insurance
Health insurance
Long-term care insurance
Disability income protection
Financial Planning through Investments
Midlands employs experienced, well-trained financial advisors who offer quality investment services. They guide customers like you through a helpful one-on-one training program. Our goal is to help you develop solid strategies for achieving your financial goals. Both businesses and individual investors count on Midlands as a credible, dependable collaborator and guide in the pursuit of successful investments. No matter what your investment needs, you can be confident Midlands Financial Benefits will work hard to advance you toward your dreams of a financially secure future. We offer personalized investment services in the following areas:
Stocks
Bonds
Mutual funds
Annuities
College savings plans
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs)
Asset management accounts
Midlands Financial Benefits of Lincoln, Nebraska, is committed to providing excellent customer service. As you plan for your future, enlist the support of our financial advisors to assist you with your financial planning needs, including insurance and investments. We are committed to helping you plan carefully, so you can look forward to the future with confidence and peace of mind.
Does your Financial Planning include Investing in Stocks? Think Long-Term
It’s a good idea to consider investing in stocks as part of your overall investment strategy. Midlands Financial Benefits of Lincoln, Nebraska, offers stocks through its financial planning services. As our financial advisors work with customers to determine the best investments for them, we always remind them investing in stocks successfully almost always requires planning over the long term.
It is possible to making a “quick killing” in the market, but doing so requires luck and timing most investors don’t have. As James Stowers noted in his book Yes, You Can Achieve Financial Independence (cited by J.D. Roth on his Get Rich Slowly blog), it was possible to achieve a one-year gain of as much as 138.12-percent on a $10,000 investment, but that was from July 1932 to June 1933, during the Great Depression after huge market losses.
Based on statistics, no matter what the interest rate, the longer you invest, the more money you likely will earn. For the sake of your financial planning activities, it’s important to remember this principle. It could give you the willpower to keep your money in the market once you’ve put it there. If you had invested $10,000 for only a year at the maximum annual rate of 138.12 percent from 1932-33, you would have $23,813. If you had invested $10,000 for 15 years at the lower maximum average of 20.39 percent during 1982-97, you would have $161,799. If you had invested $10,000 for 30 years at the even lower maximum average 14.34 percent rate of 1932-62, you would have $556,563.
You aren’t likely to get those rates, of course. The stock market’s historical average has been closer to 10 percent. Past performance can be used only to predict future performance, not guarantee it. However, even at the modest 30-year average annual gain of 9.63 percent that Stowers noted in his book, a $10,000 investment in stocks would grow to $157,572, nearly 16 times the investment.
The important thing is to work with a reputable financial advisor and invest something somewhere. Stock market rates don’t always deliver hoped-for gains, but it is a good fit for many people—and if you invest, you are much more likely to see gains than if you don’t invest! To learn more about the risks and rewards of long-term investment in stocks in your overall financial planning strategy, schedule a meeting with your Midlands Financial Benefits advisor.
Sources
“Getting Started with Stocks,” Kiplinger’s; http://www.kiplinger.com/article/investing/T052-C000-S001-getting-started-with-stocks.html Accessed 3/1/13
“How to Create an Investment Portfolio,” Smart Money; http://www.smartmoney.com/invest/strategies/how-to-create-an-investment-portfolio-1304871610166/ Accessed 3/1/13
Roth, J.D. “How Much Does the Stock Market Actually Return?”, Get Rich Slowly; http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/12/16/how-much-does-the-stock-market-actually-return/ Accessed 3/4/2013
Strategies for Dealing with Employee Stress
We live in a stressful society, and we know stress has a profound impact. Twenty-six percent of respondents in ComPysch’s 2013 “Tell It Now” poll cited stress as their primary life concern, up from 18 percent in 2012. Sixty-percent of workdays are lost due to stress. Absenteeism and lost productivity, along with medical insurance, workers’ compensation and replacing missing employees, costs American employers about $200 billion annually.
Many people don’t know how to deal with stress. According to the American Psychological Association’s “Stress in America” survey, while nine out of 10 Americans acknowledge stress affects their health, less than a third rate themselves “excellent” or “very good” in coping with it.
Not all employee stress comes from the workplace—technological, social, and economic changes all affect employees and how they deal with others inside and outside the office—but companies can help their employees find healthier ways to deal with on-the-job stress. At Midlands Financial Benefits of Lincoln, Nebraska, we recommend the following approaches for human resources and employee benefits managers and others:
Communicate effectively with employees: Regular communication between managers and employees, whether about policies, employee benefits, or even bad news can relieve employees’ anxiety and prepare them to handle crises without losing it.
Give employees a sense of control: Responsibilities and freedom to execute them lend employees a sense of ownership, a benefit that carries into other areas of life.
Encourage physical exercise: Provide a fitness center on-site or discount memberships to a local gym as part of your employee benefits package. One company, MeQuilibrium, conducts staff meetings during group walks.
Form mentoring groups: Pair new employees with experienced employees to help new employees learn the ropes, enable development of new ideas , and provide social support.
Recognize accomplishments: Whether it’s a simple spoken “thank you” or a token gift, or an elaborate a luncheon or holiday party, recognizing an employee’s accomplishments encourages pride in employees’ work and relieves anxiety.
These approaches are not the only strategies for dealing with employee stress, nor are they a substitute for an employee assistance program. They are, however, a way for employers and employee benefits managers to involve themselves in reducing employee stress. Midlands Financial Benefits encourages you to become proactive in helping employees manage their concerns, just as we stand ready to help you with your employee benefits needs.
Sources
“Employee Stress – Strategies for managing stress at workplace,” Management Study Guide; http://www.managementstudyguide.com/employee-stress.htm, Accessed 3/1/2013
Helm, Burt, “3 Ways to Reduce Employee Stress, Inc. Magazine; http://www.inc.com/burt-helm/3-ways-to-reduce-employee-stress.html, Accessed 3/1/2013
Lee, David, “Employee Stress and Performance,” HumanNature@Work; http://www.humannatureatwork.com/Workplace-Stress-2.htm, Accessed 3/1/2013
Martin, Judy, “Rising Awareness of Employee Stress Concerns, Forbes; http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2013/01/17/rising-awareness-of-employee-stress-concerns/, Accessed 3/1/2013
Maxon, Rebecca, “Stress in the Workplace: A Costly Epidemic,” FDU Magazine, Farleigh Dickinson University; http://www.fdu.edu/newspubs/magazine/99su/stress.html, Accessed 3/1/2013
Smith, Ned, “Employees Reveal How Stress Affects Their Jobs,” Business News Daily; http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2267-workplace-stress-health-epidemic-perventable-employee-assistance-programs.html, Accessed 3/1/2013
Financial Planning for Retirement Means More than Saving
We all know we need to save for retirement. The thought of not being able to provide for ourselves in those autumn years hangs heavily over all of our financial planning efforts, even when we work with a financial advisor. We set aside money from every paycheck to ensure we have enough stashed away by the time we’re ready to get out of the rat race. But saving money blindly isn’t enough. How can you be sure you’re saving enough? Do you really know what the costs of living will be? And will you have enough left over to do the things you want to spend your time on?
The truth is financial planning for the future isn’t as simple as gathering as much money as possible. You want to be able to budget that money, and make certain your current plan will give you enough. You need to plan not only for day-to-day essentials and leisure time, but anticipate financial needs such as medical costs and potential financial disasters. Because you aren’t working during retirement, you won’t have the income to recover from a large loss of any kind. You might have to end retirement temporarily or reduce your standard of living.
You should understand the potential economic environment of your retirement years, as well. If inflation halves the value of a dollar, will your plan still cover expenses? This could change as the years go on. The money you spent on a wise investment 10 years ago might do more for you somewhere else today. A retirement plan isn’t something you can write down and keep the same for the rest of your career.
When planning for retirement, make sure you have all the information you need. If you need to, get help from a financial advisor such as the experts at Midlands Financial Benefits of Lincoln, Nebraska, to understand what you’re going to spend and how long it will last you. Expect unexpected changes, such as potential ballooning inflation and other dramatic factors. Monitor and revisit your financial planning over the years and revise the plan as necessary. Stay on top of it throughout your career, and you’ll rest easy knowing one day you can indeed retire in comfort.
Financial Planning for Retirement should come before College Savings Plans
Most parents would like to help pay for their children’s college tuition. Some begin financial planning for college from the first day a child is born. Others wait until their income is high enough, and then they begin saving large amounts, hoping to catch up before the kids are out of college.
There is no doubt a college degree can help your children earn more over a lifetime. A U.S. Census Bureau report shows high school graduates earn $1.2 million throughout their working life. Workers with a bachelor’s degree will earn about $2.1 million. Master’s degree: $2.5 million. Doctoral degree: $3.4 million. Professional degrees: $4.4 million. Helping pay for your child’s education is like stepping into a time machine and handing them a cash gift in the future.
When is the right time to begin a college savings plan? Here are a three guidelines to follow:
* Launch a retirement plan before a college savings plan. In your later years, the best gift you can give your children is your own financial freedom. If they use their degree to build a career, the last thing you want them to do is use up their earnings to pay your way. Lots of programs to help students get college funding, but no programs exist to fund your retirement—except the one you fund yourself!
* Don’t pay for it all. Some parents believe paying for college in full robs children of valuable experiences and a sense of pride in earning their own way. They expect the student to earn part of the money. Don’t forget, no matter how much money you make, your child is likely to be able to get some kind of financial aid, which reduces what you need to contribute.
* The sooner you begin a college savings plan, the more you can give. Parents who begin saving when children are babies learn the value of compound interest. Save a small amount for a long time and you’ll end up with a hefty college nest egg for your kids.
Next time you visit with your financial advisor at Midlands Financial Benefits of Lincoln, Nebraska, ask for help setting up your financial planning to first establish a solid retirement plan—and only then launch a realistic college savings plan.
Financial Benefits of Winter Wellness
The financial benefits of company wellness programs are well-documented. As reported by the Sonoma County (California) Economic Development Board, for every dollar companies spend on workplace wellness programs, they can, on average, expect a return of $3.40 to $7.88. Three quarters of healthcare costs are preventable; fitness programs have reduced those costs by 20 to 55 percent, depending on the company. Not only does the company benefit, but the employee benefits as well, with a nine percent productivity increase resulting from reducing a single health risk.
Maintaining employee wellness during the winter months, though, can be difficult. December is crowded with holiday activities as the days shorten until the winter solstice, while January and February feature short, gray days and dark, cold nights. During this time many people struggle emotionally, and sometimes physically, to get through as the days lengthen all too slowly.
Employee benefits managers can make suggestions to help employees cope with “winter blues” and provide them with information and other resources to survive and thrive during the winter months. Among the ideas we like at Midlands Financial Benefits are the following:
Exercise: Outdoor wintertime exercise can be as intense as snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, as simple as hiking in the country or a walking tour of neighborhood Christmas displays, or as fun as ice skating or a snowball fight. When exercising outside, wear layers: a thin synthetic next to the skin to wick away moisture, a layer of fleece or wool over that, and a breathable, waterproof outer layer. Keep hands, feet and ears covered, and use sunscreen. If it’s too cold, exercise indoors instead.
Eat right: Choose complex carbohydrates over refined and processed foods, and drink alcohol in moderation, if at all.
Socialize: Learn to depend on family and friends for assistance and support, whether face-to-face, on the phone, or online. A strong social network can help you maintain your mental well-being.
Rest and relax: Try to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night, keeping the same bedtime and wakeup time as often as possible. Make time for yourself during the winter months, whether you attend a special event or just sit down to read a book or meditate.
Concerned employee benefits managers can assist their companies’ employees in planning winter activities with a winter wellness planner similar to the one created by the Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey Institute for Wellness and Recovery.
Remember, keeping your company’s employees healthy and happy helps the company continue to reap the financial benefits of your wellness program—even in the winter.
Sources
“Worksite Wellness – Financial Benefits.” Sonoma County Economic Development Board, http://edb.sonoma-county.org/content.aspx?sid=1033&id=2108, accessed 1/11/2013.
“Winter Wellness Plan.” Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey Institute for Wellness and Recovery, http://welltacc.org/attachments/article/421/Winter%20Wellness%20Plan%20One%20Month%20Detail%202012.pdf, accessed 1/13/2013.
Nichols, Nicole. “10 Cool Ways to Beat the Winter Blues: Keep Your Energy and Mood Lifted.” Spark People, http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/wellness_articles.asp?id=341, accessed 1/11/2013.
Wang, Denise. “Winter Fitness Activities.” Livestrong.com, http://www.livestrong.com/article/179021-winter-fitness-activities/, accessed 1/11/2013.
Hughes, Martin, D.C. “Winter Exercise Activities.” Livestrong.com, http://www.livestrong.com/article/134680-winter-exercise-activities, accessed 1/11/2013.
“Exercise and cold weather: Tips to stay safe outdoors,” Mayo Clinic, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fitness/hq01681, accessed 1/11/2013.
Midlands Financial Recommends Starting 2013 Fresh – With a Financial Review
Each new year brings its own set of challenges and opportunities, and 2013 will be no different. The question is, how prepared are you financially to meet those challenges? The best way to prepare is to meet with your Midlands Financial Benefits financial advisor for an annual financial review.
Financial planning is about establishing short- and long-term goals for your income and assets to ensure that you have enough money to meet both your daily and future expenses. An annual financial review provides the opportunity to assess where you are in achieving those goals and determine what you need to do if you’re not. If your life is in a state of flux, you should request semi-annual or quarterly reviews.
What is a Financial Review?
Your financial review should, at a minimum, cover the items listed below. Your Midlands Financial Benefits advisor might suggest additional items, depending on your situation:
- Insurance – homeowners (or renter’s), car, and life.
- Level of debt – and where you owe money. (In general, owing on a mortgage is preferable to racking up a large credit card debt.)
- Retirement savings – and how effectively you’re using tax-advantaged opportunities, such as 401(k) plans, Roth IRAs, etc., to build your retirement savings.
- Short-term and mid-term investments – with an eye toward rebalancing your portfolio as needed to cope with market fluctuations.
Your financial plan should be reviewed against both standard investment benchmarks, such as the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, as well as personal goals, such as an annual growth of five percent.
Other Things to Consider in Financial Planning
Financial planning also should anticipate and account for changes. Let your Midlands Financial Benefits advisor know about any recent life changes or changes coming up soon, so your he or she can suggest adjustments to your financial plan. A new baby might mean increasing life insurance or establishing a college fund, while buying a new house might mean saving up for a larger down payment and reducing college fund contributions until the down payment is made.
Your Midlands Financial Benefits advisor also can alert you to changes to tax laws or government benefits that could have an impact on your current situation, as well as research or trends that might impact you in the future, such as nursing home costs. Your financial advisor can suggest strategies to plan for these changes or even use them to your advantage.
Financial planning requires an ongoing effort, but you don’t have to do it alone. Your Midlands Financial Benefits advisor is ready to help.
Sources
Foreman, Gary. “Your Annual Personal Finance Performance Review.” The Dollar Stretcher.com, http://www.stretcher.com/stories/04/04jan05e.cfm, Accessed 1/11/2013.
Neiman, Debra. “Taking Your Annual Financial Pulse.” Entrepreneur.com, http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/159532, Accessed 1/13/2013.
Nelligan, Jeff. “Your annual financial review checklist.” ColoradoBIZ Magazine, http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/your-annual-financial-review-checklist1, Accessed 1/13/2013.
Are You Ready for Retirement? Financial Planning Checklist.
It’s a new year and, believe it or not, you are one year closer to retiring. Are you ready?
The answer might depend on how old you are.
Financial planning in your 20s
Retiring might be the furthest thing from your mind, but now is a great time to start planning. At your age, it’s usually not very complicated: Contribute to your 401K or other retirement account through your employee benefits program. If your employer matches funds, a good rule of thumb is to put in the maximum they will match.
Financial planning in your 30s
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 80% of people between ages 30 and 54 don’t believe they will have enough money saved for retirement.[1] Most are correct.
What can you do? First, contribute to your company retirement account. Next, consider purchasing life insurance and long-term disability coverage. You might already have some level of short-term disability coverage through your company’s employee benefits package, but only half of all midsize and larger companies provide extended disability coverage.
Contact a group insurance advisor from a reputable financial planning company, such as Midlands Financial Benefits of Lincoln, Nebraska, to learn more.
Financial planning in your 40s
Now is a good time to think about asset allocation. Ask yourself what portion of your retirement money should go into stocks, bonds, cash, and other investments. Some financial advisors follow the 110 rule. Subtract your age from 110 and put that percentage in the stock market[2]. If you’re age 40, you would put 70% in stocks and 30% in bonds and cash.
Are you closer to retirement age?
Up to this point in your life, retirement planning has been pretty simple for many people: Invest in retirement accounts, rebalance your portfolio annually, live within your means, and seek other financial benefits to maximize your assets. When you get closer to retirement age, things can get a little trickier and a lot more serious. At this stage of life, retirement plans can change with just a few years’ difference in your age. You might have different things to think about when you are 55, 591/2, 62, 65, 70, or 701/2.
Now is a great time to meet with a financial planning professional like those at Midlands Financial Benefits of Lincoln, Nebraska, to look through your portfolio and talk about moves you might want to make to ensure you are ready for retirement.
Communicating Employee Benefits with Social Media
Are you leveraging social media to provide employee benefits information?
The odds are good many of your employees are active on social media. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project 48% of adults who go online engage in social media on a daily basis.
This phenomenon has changed the way adults interact with each other, with brands they like (and don’t like), and with the companies they work for. As a result, social media has changed rules for companies marketing to customers and employees alike.
To effectively engage with employees in the age of social media, companies must “communicate” and “interact” rather than broadcast a sterile message via email, memo, or mail.
Communications could include basic employee benefits information, including financial benefits, details from your group insurance advisor, open enrollment days, financial planning sessions, and upcoming changes employees want to know about. Even reminders about what types of employee benefits are available can be incredibly valuable.
There is growing acknowledgment in the business community of the merit of communicating benefits information* via social media. In fact, 74% of companies acknowledge that social media provides an easy, convenient way for employees to obtain benefits information. However, very few actually have implemented strategies to do so.
Communicating basic employee benefits and financial benefits information helps remind employees of all the components that go into their employment compensation, as well as the company services and programs at their disposal. As any HR professional can tell you, most employees are not taking advantage of all the benefits a company has worked hard to provide.
A large portion of your employees already are visiting social media sites to find the information they want. It makes perfect sense to use the same tools to provide them with the information they need. However, the caveat with social media is this: It’s a two-way street. Your employees may communicate back with you and ask questions they want answers to. Be prepared to respond in a timely fashion and, if the conversation gets specific, take it offline. Your employees appreciate your effort and the company all the more for communicating on their level in their space.
To learn more strategies for communicating employee benefits, financial benefits, and financial planning opportunities via social media, contact a group insurance advisor from Midlands Financial Benefits of Lincoln, Nebraska.
*Metlife’s 9th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends, Published 2011