Employee Benefits

Raising a child can be a rewarding life experience, but it is also very expensive. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to raise a child to age 18, with college tuition, fees, room, and board resulting in another potentially enormous expense. If you were to die tomorrow, would funds be available to provide for food, clothing, day care, and educational expenses for your child?

Having life insurance could secure the future for your children if you have an untimely death. With a life insurance policy, there could be enough income to help pay for everything your child might need while growing up.

After your death, any outstanding debt and financial obligations do not disappear. Your home is probably the costliest and most significant property you own. A mortgage payment is a large burden for a spouse or partner to carry.

A life insurance policy would allow your spouse or children to pay off your outstanding debts and spare them the stress of making monthly payments on the home.

Many families lease or finance their automobiles these days. If the primary earner in the family were to die, the family could be left with outstanding car payments for years to come.

A life insurance policy would allow your spouse or children to pay off your outstanding debts and spare them the stress of making monthly payments on your car(s).

An average funeral can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and that's without unnecessary options or luxurious services. A death in the family is stressful enough; why add the hefty bill of a funeral to that stress?

A life insurance policy can easily cover the cost of a funeral. Your family will be able to think of you and have peace of mind without being burdened by funeral costs.

Once you retire, you will be living off social security, and if you are lucky to have them, a pension or retirement fund, too. But what if the surviving spouse has been relying on you to fund retirement for the couple? Premature death of an earner can affect sources of retirement benefits such as Social Security.

Life insurance can help support a surviving spouse during their retirement.

If you passed away, would your business suffer? There are many complications and financial issues that can arise due to the death of a business owner. Many people overlook this predicament.

A life insurance policy can keep a business moving along even during tough times, such as the loss of the business owner/partner. Key person life insurance is payable to the company and provides money for training and hiring of a new employee. A buy-sell agreement, funded by life insurance, allows the other partners in the business to buy the deceased’s share of the business, which will provide money for his or her family.

Many people mistakenly think that they don’t need life insurance if they don’t have children or if their children are grown. However, your financial responsibilities fall to your family when you are gone.

Life insurance can replace the income you would usually bring in and help support your spouse or adult children, ensuring your loved ones are able to maintain the lifestyle they're accustomed to.

One of the main factors in attracting and retaining good employees is the benefit program offered by employers. This typically starts with your group health insurance plan.

Regardless of the company’s financials, there are ways to make health insurance available to your employees and their dependents. Offering health insurance doesn’t have to break the bank. There are many solutions available to small, mid-size, and large employers.

When employees are worried about their financial situation, they may not be as productive. Many individuals today do not have life insurance or adequate savings to cover final expenses, which places additional stress on employees and/or their families when the need arises.

A group life insurance plan can put your employees’ minds at ease, knowing their family will have resources available when they need them. Policies can also include a dependent benefit to help the employee pay for expenses if their dependent passes. Another solution is to offer a voluntary life benefit whereby the employee pays a lower premium through payroll deduction than they would if they found coverage on their own. Group life insurance is also tax deductible.

Many employers are faced with offering lower wages than their competitors and find it difficult to find and retain qualified workers.

Offering a short-term and/or a long-term disability program can provide prospective and current workers with another form of financial stability. An employee may be offered a higher wage elsewhere, but are they offered protection if that paycheck stops due to pregnancy, illness, or other disability? How will they pay the mortgage or other bills? Employers offering a disability plan can provide peace of mind to their employees and gain an advantage over those that don’t.

Failure to have regular dental checkups can lead to more serious problems than a toothache.

Offering dental coverage to your employees can help encourage them to see a dentist on a regular basis. Gum disease has been linked to heart disease as well as diabetes. Catching these issues early not only helps your employees’ health, it may help reduce your long-term health insurance costs before a big claim hits!

Similar to dental coverage, if your employees are not getting regular eye exams, they may have underlying medical conditions such as heart disease or diabetes that can surface later at a greater expense to your medical plan.

Offering vision care coverage is a very affordable component to offering health benefits. It’s an inexpensive portion of the benefit package with a high value of return and can help offset the impact of increased medical costs, becoming a cost-effective, early intervention tool.

Not being able to meet an employee’s individual needs can pose a threat to worker retention and attracting new talent, both of which can be costly to your bottom line.

Offering voluntary coverage lets your employees choose benefits that are important to them. It’s a cost-effective way to provide a variety of benefits at little or no impact to your monthly premiums. Examples of voluntary coverage include:

• Critical illness, hospital indemnity, and cancer coverage.
• Life, dependent life, short-term, and long-term disability coverage.
• Dental care.
• Vision care.

Compliance audits are increasing and Department of Labor fines can be costly. Do you have all of the documents and paperwork at your fingertips should you receive an audit letter?

A good benefits broker will educate you on the compliance pieces so that you are prepared for that dreaded day. A wrap document covers most of what is required and the remaining forms should be readily accessible with proof of distribution to employees and/or eligible participants.