5 tips to help maximize your benefits

Different stages of life bring different priorities — and understandably different needs for your employer-based benefits. A couple nearing retirement, for example, may prioritize benefits that provide more health coverage, financial guidance, and retirement safety nets. 

But employees earlier in their careers may want student loan relief and higher-deductible, lower-cost health plan options. In fact, there’s no one answer for which benefits are best for which family or individual.  

Instead, you want to determine what you need from a plan and explore how to make the most of the benefits available for your own financial, physical, and mental well-being. By connecting your benefits to where you are in life and adjusting them as your priorities change, you can ensure you have the right coverage for right now. Even better, you may even save money that you can use to bolster your retirement savings. 

The right benefits

For many individuals, selecting benefits can feel like a chore; sometimes, selecting the same benefits and moving on seems like the easiest thing to do. More than a third of employees say they don’t understand the benefits they choose. Two-thirds would also appreciate some help from their employer in choosing the best benefits for themselves.¹

But taking the time to choose benefits that match your lifestyle, financial needs, and more can make a difference. For example, 62% of Gen Z and 60% of Millennials believe that employers should play a role in helping pay down student loan debt. What’s more, 31% say that they’d be enticed by a new job that offered a student loan benefit.²  

Employees who understand their benefits can tailor their benefit plans to their lifestyle and use benefits to add financial protection where it makes sense. Doing so provides more than coverage for specific events; it also helps protect your savings and keeps you on track for your longer-term financial goals.  

Finding benefits that work

So, how do you create a benefits plan that matches your life stage and makes the most of what your employer offers? Follow these five tips to build a benefits plan that works best for you. 

1. Dig into what’s offered.

As enrollment time rolls around, make sure you have a good understanding of everything available to you. Evaluate the various levels of health plans and review any voluntary benefits, which employers often provide as options for employees. These benefits can supplement or complement your current benefits and provide added protection or support to address your specific concerns. For example, voluntary benefits might include hospital indemnity insurance, short-term disability or a student loan debt solution.  

2. Determine your priorities

Consider what’s most important to you and how benefits can support your goals and reduce stress. For instance, if finding quality childcare is at the top of your list, then explore benefits such as flexible spending accounts, which enable you to save pre-tax dollars for childcare and eldercare needs. Also, be sure to account for any near-term changes. For example, do you anticipate needing a significant medical procedure in the coming year? Are you trying to build up emergency savings? Are you planning to have a child? The answers may help you determine which benefits can help. 

3. Do the math

Though many people simply select the same benefits plan year after year, that doesn’t mean they choose the right one for their needs at the time. Before you select your benefits, pull out your calculator and determine whether you made the most of your benefits from last year. Consider: 

• Did you meet the deductible on your current health plan?  
• Were there other expenses that weren’t covered?  
• Did you end up taking time off work that wasn’t paid?  
• Were there benefits that you paid for but didn’t use?  

Check to see if you maximized your benefits — or if you left money left on the table. Conversely, examine whether other benefits may have helped save you money. 

4. Think long-term

In addition to short-term financial needs, think about your long-term plans. Are you able to save money for retirement? Are you planning to send your kids to college? Do you have any health issues that may incur significant costs down the road? Envision where you might be in five to 10 years and how benefits could offer support or protect you from hardship. The latter is especially important, given that unexpected medical expenses can lead to large amounts of debt and derail savings. Benefits such as a health savings account or critical illness insurance can help offset future medical expenses.  

5. Reach out for guidance

Don’t forget to connect with your HR team or benefits provider to ask questions about products and learn more about benefits’ role in your plans. If you don’t understand how a benefit works, look for more information — you may uncover something that significantly affects your finances or health. For example, you may find a voluntary benefit your employer provides that you didn’t know about or a perk that aligns with your financial goals. Conversations with coworkers can also be helpful. Ask people which benefits they use and why they chose them. 

Right benefits for right now

There’s no one-size-fits-all benefits plan. By understanding what’s available and selecting the benefits that match your priorities, you’ll get more from your employer-based benefits and create a plan that works best for you and your family.