Take advantage of all the benefits offered by your employer with these open enrollment tips.
Open enrollment is your annual chance to reassess your benefit selections more holistically — from health and dental coverage to insurance and retirement needs — to ensure they’re aligned with your financial and health goals.
While it may be tempting to save time by choosing the same employer-sponsored benefits you chose last year, putting these decisions on autopilot would be a missed opportunity.
As you navigate this important window, know that we are here to help you make informed choices on coverage based on your financial goals and your current situation. Here are seven questions to ask yourself during your review of employer benefits.
1. Have I experienced any recent life changes? Or will I?
If you’ve experienced any major changes in your personal situation, health or financial status, you’ll want to utilize available resources to help ensure your open enrollment selections still make sense in the context of these new developments. Big life events — like marriage, divorce or the birth of a child — will likely affect how you take advantage of all your employer benefits. The same goes if your health or financial goals have changed.
As you prepare for open enrollment, take a step back to review your current life circumstances as well as anticipated changes for the coming year. By grounding yourself in this information, you’ll set yourself up for a better holistic assessment of your needs — and how your benefits may address them.
2. Are my health, vision and dental care meeting my needs?
Take a moment to think about how you’ve used your coverage over the past year and what medical expenses could transpire in the year ahead. Perhaps your spouse has a major surgery planned, you’re expecting a child or maybe it’s time for your teen to get braces. These possibilities should be key considerations as you decide on your health and dental plans for the upcoming year.
Additionally, you’ll want to account for any employer-made changes to your health, vision or dental care, like plan changes or increases in costs or coverage. Overall, taking time to account for these changes in your lifestyle and coverage can help you avoid unexpected health care expenses.
Advice spotlight
Use open enrollment to coordinate benefits across your household.
If you have a spouse who is employed, compare your health, dental and insurance options across both employers. This can help you avoid overlapping coverage, uncover savings opportunities and close potential gaps. Taking a coordinated approach ensures your household benefits strategy better supports your shared financial and health goals.
3. Can I contribute to an HSA?
If you decide to enroll in a high-deductible health plan, a health savings account (HSA) can be a powerful way to manage health care costs — now and in the future.
HSAs allow you to contribute pretax dollars to pay for eligible medical expenses, helping lower your taxable income today. The money in your account can also be invested and grow tax-free, giving your savings the potential to compound over time.
Unused HSA funds roll over year after year and stay with you even if you change jobs or retire. When used for qualified medical expenses, withdrawals are tax-free, making an HSA a flexible tool not only for current out-of-pocket costs but also for saving toward health care expenses in retirement, when those costs are often highest.
4. Would an FSA help you save?
FSAs let you set aside pretax dollars for qualified child care or health costs. If your employer offers a flexible spending account (FSA), it could be a way to lower your taxable income while paying for everyday care expenses, but the savings and the rules depend on the type of account available to you:
- Dependent care FSAs use pretax dollars to pay qualified out-of-pocket dependent care expenses (like day care, after-school programs or camp). These funds are generally use-it-or-lose-it, so it’s important to contribute only what you expect to spend during the year.
- Health care FSAs cover the same types of medical expenses as an HSA, using pretax funds. Unlike HSAs, the funds cannot be invested and only a certain amount of leftover funds can be rolled over to the next year. Additionally, you may lose your FSA dollars if you leave the company. Rollover rules vary by employer, so check with your workplace for details on their rules around FSA rollovers.
5. Have my insurance needs changed?
Open enrollment is a good time to take another look at your insurance coverage and make sure it still fits your life. Review your employer-provided options, which may include life insurance, long-term care insurance or disability coverage. You may want to add a policy, review your premium amount, change your beneficiaries or adjust benefit amounts.
It’s also a smart moment to look at your insurance more holistically, including any coverage you may have outside of work. Employer benefits are a great foundation, but additional individual coverage can help fill gaps and provide extra protection as your needs and priorities change.
6. Should I adjust my retirement contributions?
While most companies allow employees to make changes to their retirement accounts throughout the year, open enrollment can be a convenient time to revisit those benefits. Consider using this window to also increase your contributions or adjust plan allocations to ensure you are taking advantage of any employer match benefits offered. And while you’re logged into these accounts, check your beneficiaries to ensure they’re up to date.
7. Could I benefit from other employer perks?
Increasingly, employers are offering benefits that extend beyond health care, retirement and insurance, so make sure you’re taking advantage of all the existing and new perks available to you. For example, some companies offer their workers pet insurance policies, prepaid legal plans, discounted identity theft protection and back-up childcare services.
Make the most of your open enrollment options
Know that we are here to offer guidance and help ensure your employer benefits are in line with your personal financial and health goals.