The Sugar Daddy Podcast
Ready to normalize talking about money? Then welcome to The Sugar Daddy Podcast, where talking about money isn't taboo, and you can leave your past money mistakes at the door! Every episode will get you one step closer to your financial goals. Whether that is learning how to invest, budget, save, retire early or simply make better money choices, Jess & Brandon have got you covered in a way that's easy to understand. Tune in as they demystify the realm of dollars, so it all makes cents, while giving you a glimpse into their relationship with money and each other.
The Norwoods are a married, millennial couple, here to help you build wealth, so you can live the life you've always dreamed of. Brandon is an award winning licensed financial planner, and owner of Oak City Financial, with over a decade of experience and millions of dollars managed for his clients all over the United States.
New episodes published the first three Wednesdays of every month.
The Sugar Daddy Podcast
61: How To Maximize Your Employee Benefits During Open Enrollment
Master your employee benefits during open enrollment with this episode. Jess and Brandon break down how to analyze health insurance options like HMOs, PPOs, and HDHPs, and explore often-overlooked benefits like vision, disability insurance, HSAs, FSAs, and more. Learn key strategies for maximizing your benefits, protecting your income, and taking advantage of hidden perks like adoption assistance and legal plans. Tune in for a complete guide to help you get the most out of your workplace benefits package.
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Learn more about Brandon and schedule a free 30-minute introductory call with him here: https://www.oakcityfinancial.us
In today's episode, you'll learn how to prepare for and take full advantage of, your open enrollment period and employee benefits package. We will discuss the basics and some of the more overlooked benefits that you may be missing out on. We hope that after listening to today's episode, you'll have a better understanding of which benefits to look for that best suit you and your family.
Speaker 2:Hey babe, what are we talking about today?
Speaker 1:Today we are talking about open enrollment.
Speaker 2:It is about that time of the year where open enrollment should be happening for most people.
Speaker 1:Yes, I know open enrollment usually causes me anxiety. If there's too many choices, I'm like what do we do? So I'm always glad to have you, because we actually will schedule time to sit down during open enrollment Because fun fact the whole family is on my benefits package at all times and so I don't want to make any mistakes or make any wrong assumptions, and so Brandon and I will sit down and we will have pre-planned you know what everything is and what we're going to do for the upcoming year and analyze what benefits we used and or didn't use from the current year.
Speaker 2:The irony is that you always want to know all the options in most scenarios, but knowing all the options gives you anxiety.
Speaker 1:Well, because in this instance, it's like the options that you choose will directly impact my entire family for an entire year. So it's not just like oh, I should have picked Mexican over Chinese food. Like it just feels like a really big deal and I don't want to mess it up.
Speaker 2:No, I can understand that, because one of the big things about annual enrollment is that it is the one time during the year where you do get to pick your benefits for your workplace benefits package and most of the benefits you only get that one time of the year, with a few exceptions where you can make changes, but most of the time it's that one time of the year where you can make it and if you do make any mistakes you unfortunately do have to wait until the following year for the most part.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we're not getting married or divorced, we're not having any more children, and so none of those exceptions to the rules are going to apply to us.
Speaker 2:Very true.
Speaker 1:So that means we're going to be stuck with whatever I choose for a year. So I want to make sure that I pick the right thing and we want to make sure that you pick the right thing for you and your family as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the purpose of this episode is to kind of key you into some of the points of your workplace benefits package that you need to pay attention, to make sure you understand, and then also highlight some of the most you know, some of the overlooked benefits that could be very beneficial if your employer offers it, and it might be something that you want to take a look into because it could allow you to maximize the benefits that are offered to you more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. By the time you hear this episode, you should be looking at or reviewing your benefits information and typically what happens with your employer is they give you time to look over any changes that are coming right. Are they changing healthcare providers? Are they going you know? Are they adding plans? Are they removing plans? They're going to give you an email or a landing page to go to to review what's going to be available to you. Our suggestion is look at that packet, write down questions. There's probably going to be calls and webinars with some of the representatives from these providers for you to ask questions. Maybe an FAQ document.
Speaker 1:You don't want the day that you actually sign up to enroll to be the first time that you're looking at this information.
Speaker 1:It's overwhelming. It's going to be a lot of information that you need to look over and you also want to take some time to reflect on the year that you had right. How much did you pay for your prescriptions? Did you have to get a referral to go to a certain doctor? Was that super frustrating to you? Did you constantly have high medical bills to pay? Would you rather pay, you know, a lesser copay or more coming out of your paycheck? I mean, you're really going to need to analyze what did this current year look like for you and did it work, or would you like to make some potential changes? Also, did you miss out on some benefits that maybe you overheard some of your colleagues talking about, that you wish you would have taken advantage of? These are the times to look that over, make some notes, write down some questions and make sure that you're prepared for when you actually go to select your benefits for the 2025 year.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the first thing you want to make sure you understand is when is open enrollment for you? Normally, for most people, when it comes to their employer, it's sometime between October and December. But you do want to know the specific dates of when open enrollment starts and when it ends, because you do need to make your selections within that time period, because if you don't make your selections within that time period, normally it's going to default to what you're currently enrolled in, all right. So keep that in mind. You know, keep that in mind. No-transcript benefits that most people associate with open enrollment, first being health insurance. All right. Now this is the one that probably gives most people anxiety because of the different types of plans that are available to you through your employer and what the different plans entail, and trying to determine which plan works best for you, all right. So with that you know some of the plans that are, I would say, are on. Most employers are going to be, such as an HMO, which is a high maintenance organization plan. Then you have your PPO, which is your preferred provider organization. You have your HDHP, high deductible health plan. You have some other ones that are also available to you.
Speaker 2:The difference is looking at each plan and seeing what it entails. And what I mean by that is how much are the premiums on a monthly basis? So how much are you going to be paying for that plan? What is the co-insurance or co-pays that are associated with that plan? What is the flexibility of being able to see certain providers? You know? Do you need to have a primary care provider, make any referrals to any type of specialist, or can you just go see a specialist? If you're already seeing a doctor and you want to make sure that you can continue to see that doctor, does your plan allow for that? And that's what I mean by looking through the different plans and then analyzing it based upon what are your specific needs.
Speaker 2:So, for example, with a high deductible health plan, that's normally going to be someone who is, you know, fairly on the younger end and also fairly healthy, because, as the name of the plan indicates, the high deductible health plans that it has a high deductible, which means that you're going to have to pay more out of pocket before you reach a certain benefit. But the benefit of that is that the premiums are lower on a monthly basis. So who is this plan good for? Someone who is healthy, doesn't have to see a doctor on a regular basis, maybe does the regular checkups, that's about it. So you would benefit from the lower premiums, but you still have health insurance if you do have those emergencies as compared to on the opposite spectrum, say like a PPO, which is a lot more flexible in regards to the different type of providers you can see, and then also it provides a lower deductible because if you're someone that's going to the doctor on a more regular basis because maybe you have pre-existing conditions children, whatever it may be you're going to go to the doctor more often and it has a lower deductible.
Speaker 2:So you're going to hit that sooner because you're going to the doctor more often, so you're going to hit that extra benefit sooner. But on the opposite end is that you do pay more on a monthly basis for your premiums. But what I really want to point out is that you have to analyze your specific situation, your specific needs. You can't just simply say oh, you know. Let me ask my coworker what they're in. Their situation could be completely different from yours. They could look like a healthy individual and for all you know they could have a lot of other conditions that you may not know about that. They see doctors for which would you know?
Speaker 2:cause for them maybe to have a completely different plan than you. Yeah, if brandon was a single guy, he would be on the high deductible plan because he never goes to the doctor. I go to the doctor for regular checkups.
Speaker 1:I don't never go to the doctor. He would be on the high deductible plan. Yes, I would be on the high deductible plan because yes I'm otherwise.
Speaker 2:I'm a healthy 41 year old male who doesn't isn't on any type of medications, thankfully, and don't have to really see the doctor outside of routine checkups.
Speaker 1:But we have a PPO plan because I have specialists that I see regularly and we have two children and you know they have their things and I'd rather make sure that everything's covered and, in the event of something happening, we're good to go.
Speaker 2:And also a lot of these employers now have programs and software that help you analyze it better. So if you have access to that, use it and if you have any questions, call into the call center and maybe ask them the questions and maybe they could talk you through it. Because I would say you can reach out to your HR person but they're probably not going to know the specifics of the plans and enough to advise you on it. So I would definitely utilize the provider that they're going through to find out any questions that the answers, any questions that you may have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Have you been listening to our podcast and wondering how am I really doing with my money? Yeah, absolutely. Have you been listening to our podcast and wondering how am I really doing with my money? Am I doing the right things with my investments? Am I on track to reach my financial goals? What could I be doing better? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then it's time for you to reach out to Brandon to schedule your free yes, I said free 30-minute introduction conversation to see how his services could help make you the more confident moneymaker we know you could be. What are you waiting for? It's literally free and, at the very least, you'll walk away feeling more empowered and confident about your financial future. Link is in our show notes. Go, schedule your call today. What else?
Speaker 2:little bit easier to choose, only because normally there's less options available to you. You know, for the most part there's normally one or two, one. Normally it's only one vision plan for the most part, and then there may be, like you know, two or three dental plans, but for the most part they're very basic. But you do want to understand, you know what each one entails. So, for example, like you, also want to analyze what's going to happen in a given year for you. So, for example, if you like us, we have young kids. Once they get to a certain age, then we had to go ahead and put them on our dental plan as compared to you as an infant. Infants don't have teeth.
Speaker 2:So you don't need them on your dental plan.
Speaker 1:But once they do have teeth. I mean, I've heard of scenarios where you know you have a very young toddler who falls off of their little bike or scooter who falls off of their little bike or scooter and now they've got to go to some oral surgeon and they weren't on that dental plan. So you know, those plans in our experience are very affordable. So if you can add, you know your children for a couple bucks a month. Sometimes it's better to have and not need than to need and not have, because we know these children are accident prone and I'd rather have insurance for them.
Speaker 2:One sidebar rant. Why is dental health and vision all separate when they're all part of my body and all health?
Speaker 1:I mean, they really should all fall under one plan.
Speaker 2:It doesn't make any sense that we have separate plans for each one of those.
Speaker 1:I wonder if it's like that. I have no idea, but I wonder if it's like that in other countries or if that's one of our nice American benefits.
Speaker 2:I don't know, but you do want to understand the specifics of them and so like. Sometimes, for example, like as someone who has worn glasses full time since I was in first grade, I'm always very much looking at the vision plan and the details of it, and you're going to make sure you understand it, because sometimes you can use it improperly.
Speaker 2:So, for example, like a vision plan may offer um, you might be able to get new glasses every other year and not every year. So if you make the mistake of getting it one year and then you try to get it the next year as far as getting glasses, then you might have to pay out of pocket when you thought that was going to be covered.
Speaker 1:So it's making sure that you just understand the specifics of the details and the plans that you have. I feel like our eye care office is really good about telling us, okay, this year you can do contacts, or this year you can do your glasses, and letting us know. But again, if you follow us on socials you know I've gotten got in this last year with all sorts of ridiculous things and it is up to us to look at our plan and understand what we have available to us and what we don't, even if somebody should be telling us and they don't.
Speaker 2:Well, also, too, with the addition of so many other places to get glasses and contacts, so you're not necessarily always going through your eye doctor to get these things anymore. So, for example, like me, I'm a Warby Parker guy and I always buy my glasses from Warby Parker, and it's up to me to know when I'm going to be able to get reimbursement and when I'm not, because Warby Parker is not going to do that for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I get my glasses from ZLUEL online because I get a bunch of different pairs that are fun and all different colors and patterns and shapes, because they're super cheap. But I can actually use my FSA card for that, for those as well.
Speaker 2:And shout out to Warby Parker I will start wearing my glasses all the time if you want to sponsor the podcast.
Speaker 1:Yes, Thanks, Warby. Perfect. What's next babe?
Speaker 2:Well, next, I would kind of say what's kind of the second tier, because the first ones we talked about those are the primary ones that most people know about. When it comes to open enrollment, I would say this is kind of the second tier in regards to people know about them, but I don't think they take them quite as serious as they should, because I think they are very important benefits and it's very important for you to understand what are they offered and also what are the details and make sure that you're enrolled in them.
Speaker 1:What are they?
Speaker 2:First is going to be disability insurance. All right, I think that's one of the most overlooked type of insurances there is because people from an illness standpoint, it's significantly higher than dying during your primary earning years, when life expectancy is significantly longer than what your current age is.
Speaker 1:Brandon loves talking about disability insurance. He takes it very seriously.
Speaker 2:Because it's one of those things where, as a healthy person, you don't think like, oh, it can't happen to me. It can't happen to me, but for most of us we are determined, we are dependent upon our future income. And if something happens where you are no longer able to bring in that future income, what happens? Because you do all the financial planning, you can do all the right planning in the world, but a lot of that planning is dependent upon an income coming in. So if there's anything that you can do to protect your future income, I highly recommend doing it.
Speaker 2:So one is taking a look in. Does your employer offer disability insurance? And by that I mean short term disability and long term disability. All right, so you want to see if they offer it first Hopefully they do and in the event that they do offer it, you want to understand the specifics of that plan. By specifics I mean one how long is the short-term disability and what is the payout? Is it 100% of your income, 80%, 60%, whatever it may be? You need to know what that is, because it's going to make a big difference in regards to if you have to go on it and whether or not you're going to be able to cover all your bills.
Speaker 1:And that is especially important for people who earn a commission, because typically get to that part, oh OK.
Speaker 2:So, with the long skipping, ahead with the long term disability.
Speaker 2:You also want to know whether or not you have that and what percentage of your income will it cover. All right, whether or not you have that and what percentage of your income will it cover? All right, I would say. The standard that I've seen when an employer offers it is that it is covered at 60% of your income. Now, the big thing, kind of just was about to bring up, is that normally, disability insurance only covers your base salary. So if you're someone that highly is dependent upon commissions or bonuses as part of your total compensation package, then this part is not going to be included on your disability insurance policy. All right, now, with that being said, there are other ways to you know. Take care of those which we'll get to in a minute. But you also want to also understand you know, keep in mind that since your employer if you have an employer that's paying for your disability insurance plan, then you will be taxed if you go out on claim, if you have to pay a certain portion of it yourself, then you may not be taxed on if you went out on claim.
Speaker 2:Now there are also some more minor details that you need to understand too. Makes $10,000 a month and your long-term disability package provides a 60% benefit, which means that if you went out on disability claim, you'd be receiving $6,000 a month. However, there are might be other stipulations where it has a $5,000 a month cap, so you're not getting 60% anymore, you're only getting 50%. So you need to keep that in mind also because, like I said, there are different details that can be written into these policies. You just want to make sure you clearly understand them, and one of the things I also think people miss is that just because you have a disability insurance plan through your employer doesn't mean that you are not eligible for an individual disability plan outside of your employer, which can help increase the amount of money that you would receive if you did go on a disability claim. So always keep that in mind as well.
Speaker 1:Is that something you could help people with?
Speaker 2:That is 100%, something I can help people out with.
Speaker 1:Perfect, what else?
Speaker 2:We kind of mentioned it earlier. But the life insurance aspect. Often they offer some form of life insurance, whether the employer is paying for it or it's a very small amount for you to pay out of pocket, and it normally can be anywhere from, you know, one or two times your salary to even more if you want to pay more for it. So you can. Sometimes you have a base amount that the employer pays for for you and then you can opt into paying for additional life insurance.
Speaker 2:Now, with that, one of the benefits is is that some people are uninsurable, whereas if they were to go to a life insurance company and try to get a plan on their own, they would not be eligible for one. However, they would be eligible for a plan through their employer because the underwriting that occurs and the underwriting is simply the process of determining whether or not you are eligible for life insurance policy and how much you would pay for it. If you the underwriting process for these group plans through your employer don't have medical underwriting for the most part, now sometimes they do If you want to get a certain amount of additional life insurance uh, life insurance then you might have to go through the underwriting process, but normally for a base policy. I'm just, words are eluding me. Today, for a base policy, there's no medical underwriting, so this can be extremely beneficial for people that cannot get policies elsewhere.
Speaker 1:And again, these are typically pretty inexpensive and sometimes free, depending on where you work. So enrolling for them when the premiums are really low in comparison to what they might be if you were paying outside of your employer, get them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you also may have the option to enroll your spouse, so you could have a spouse that otherwise would be uninsurable, that you might be able to get them life insurance through your employer, same with your children. So the idea is just look at the options that are available to you and make sure you understand them. And also one of the benefits is that sometimes these plans are also what's called portable, so you could get a life insurance policy through your employer without having to go through medical underwriting, because otherwise you'd be uneligible, ineligible, like I said. Words.
Speaker 1:Words are hard.
Speaker 2:And if you were to leave that employer, you might be able to take that plan with you, which could be, like I said, extremely beneficial for people who otherwise wouldn't be able to get one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and even if you have, like we have external policies for life insurance and disability insurance, but I always still get them through my employer, because who is going to complain about extra money, should something happen?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're normally very cost efficient and, once again, this is something I can help you out with as well, if you need help with a plan, yeah, absolutely All right.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about some of the other benefits that are not as obvious but are good to be aware of and potentially good to enroll in.
Speaker 2:Now I would say the first one I want to talk about is HSAs and FSAs. I put them in this category because I think people overlook them. They maybe have heard of them, have a kind of an idea of what they are, but often don't enroll in them.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:All right. So with the HSA, a health savings account is a way for you to put pre-tax dollars away into a HSA and that allows you to one. You can use them to pay for qualified medical expenses or, if you don't need to use it for those medical those qualified medical expenses you actually can invest these dollars in the market and they can grow.
Speaker 1:People in the fire movement financial independence, retire early. People in fire love HSAs.
Speaker 2:Because it's the one way that can be a triple benefit in regards to not paying taxes on the amount going in, not paying taxes on any growth and not paying taxes on the way of it going out.
Speaker 1:Triple tax advantage.
Speaker 2:And that's one of the things that I don't think people use it quite enough, and especially when you're younger, this is the time period because you can only have an HSA with a HDHP, a high deductible health plan. That's the only way that you can have an HSA and actively contribute to it, which is why we don't have one.
Speaker 1:Correct, because we have a PPO, but it is. I mean, it is a great vehicle. If it makes sense for you, yeah.
Speaker 2:And for those individuals who obviously may not be in an HDHP and don't have access to an HSA, you can have access to an FSA, a flexible spending account, where it works very much the same in the sense of it's putting pre-tax dollars away that you can use for qualified medical expenses. The main difference being is that with an FSA, you have to use it in that given year.
Speaker 1:Remember we had a very early on episode if you've been with us for a long time, where we said FSA fast, you have to use it fast because you only have 12 months. So whatever you don't use, you lose. Now I will say, for example, my employer there's actually an entire portal where, towards the end of the year, it'll say you have X amount of dollars left and then it'll flash up the website and you can use it on all sorts of things, even Ray-Ban sunglasses, I mean heating pads, feminine care products, body washes, I mean pretty much anything. Contact lens solution, I mean the sky's the limit, almost right. But there's an entire portal where they want to make sure that you're not losing that benefit.
Speaker 1:What I will say, because we have an FSA, the reason we enrolled is because my company gives us essentially free money towards it. So if you enroll in the FSA, you contribute a certain amount. They will either match or give you X amount of dollars. I think in our case it was 1500, quote, unquote free dollars. Right, that makes sense because I have monthly prescriptions and etc. Etc. So what I will say and what's been driving me crazy is that there is a lot of documentation involved in the FSA because there are requirements, legal requirements from the. I don't know if it's on the medical providers, whoever.
Speaker 1:They need documentation to make sure that when I swipe my card at Walgreens or at my rheumatologist office, that I'm actually I mean, I don't know what else I would be purchasing at the rheumatology office but they want to make sure that they have all of the codes needed to understand why I was there, when I was there, what money I spent, why I was seen. Needed to understand why I was there when I was there, what money I spent, why I was seen and the portal. I know all the portals are different. The portal that I have to use is ancient and terrible and I've spent lots and lots of time cursing this portal and I've told Brandon in my fits of anger and rage I'm like we're not doing an FSA again. This is garbage. Fits of anger and rage. I'm like we're not doing an FSA again. This is garbage. I don't have time for this. So just know that there is a an accountability part to the FSA that you will need to document, uh, where you are making your purchases or where you're swiping that card.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so just make sure you know the difference. Hsa, you don't have to use it in one year HSA.
Speaker 1:hold any amount. You don't have to use it. In one year you can hold HSA hold.
Speaker 2:Any amount that you don't use can roll over to future years and with the FSA you have to use it in that given year Fast, Because either use it or lose it.
Speaker 1:Yes, fsa fast.
Speaker 2:The next one is the Dependent Care Assistance Programs, and the one that I'm more specifically talking about is a dependent care flexible spending account. So this is a way for you to put pre-tax dollars away to help pay for child care or elder care, and this is one that I think a lot of people overlook. So, for example, like if you are looking to, possibly, and if you're going to be having a baby if you're already pregnant now you know that that baby is going to be coming in the new year, and if you're going to be having a baby, if you're already pregnant now you know that that baby is going to be coming in the new year, this would be something that you might want to go ahead and enroll in, because it allows you to put pre-tax dollars away to help pay for child care and, as we know, child care, especially initially on, is the most expensive thing that happens. You know expense that you incur now that you have a child.
Speaker 1:Just know it is not going to cover all of your child care for the year. Nope, it won't at all, not even close, maybe like two months worth.
Speaker 2:But it's better to have it and at least you know, put some tax-free money towards it.
Speaker 1:Yes, better to have and not need.
Speaker 2:Some of the other ones that I would say are a little bit lesser known are adoption assistance. We have definitely had friends that have utilized this benefit through their employer and it definitely helps out because it provides additional resources and money towards the adoption reimbursement, towards the adoption process.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely One of the ones that we've most recently used, and if you follow us on socials, you'll know this. But we actually are enrolled in a legal plan benefit. This one happens to be through MetLife, but it costs me $8.08, a pay period. So we did the math, it's like $210 a year, but we just recently updated our wills and our trust and it cost us nothing additional. Now what I will say is it did take us a little while to find an attorney who wasn't a million miles away and who was taking on new clients, so we did have to wait about three months to be seen.
Speaker 2:I do believe that was just kind of like in general for having a will created, so I don't think it was associated with the plan per se.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she did say that things have just been backed up and they've been super slammed. But you know, for $210 a year to have access to all sorts of networks of attorneys. You know whether it's for your estate planning, whether it's for I know colleagues who've used it to help them get out of speeding tickets and parking tickets all sorts of different attorneys that you would have access to. We're also looking into the benefit for a postnup. We're coming up on our eighth wedding anniversary but we do want to do a postnup since we didn't have a prenup.
Speaker 2:And we do have a previous episode with an amazing family law attorney, family law attorney, yeah you were about to say prenup attorney. I sure was, and that's not a thing Correct.
Speaker 1:You were about to say prenup attorney. I sure was, and that's not a thing Correct, however. So for $210 a year, we were able to get our new wills and our trust done, and that would have cost us easily $800 just right out the gate.
Speaker 2:Normally $800 to $1,000 is what that costs.
Speaker 1:Right, and so that was fantastic.
Speaker 2:Immediate savings.
Speaker 1:So that was a great benefit that we will certainly look for in the future. So definitely take a look at any kind of legal plans.
Speaker 2:So if you do, not have a will or trust or stuff of that nature for the estate planning and you have this benefit to you. Go ahead and enroll in it and get it done, especially if you have children and I'm talking to our friends out there who have children, know me and don't have a will set up. Do it.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, just please don't wait on that. We just did an episode with an estate planning attorney, and especially again, if you have children, it is so important to make sure that you have guardianship outlined on paper in a legal document. Otherwise your kids could literally end up in foster care, and I know that sounds dramatic, but it happens every single day. Go get your will. Go get it done now some of the other ones.
Speaker 2:You know pet insurance, because I can tell you that I'm not the one that normally takes our dog to the vet.
Speaker 1:But I definitely hear about the bill that I've never seen pet insurance on my benefits uh package, but that would be great if you have access because pets are expensive.
Speaker 2:I have seen it though.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's good, we should talk about where.
Speaker 2:Reimbursements for health and wellness. So this could be things as far as a certain amount of reimbursement for gym memberships, different types of health equipment. So, if you want to buy weights for home running shoes, I got an Apple Watch once, remember Smartwatches, oh, and a standing desk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, smartwatches standing desk. Again, the plans vary depending on who your employer is getting them through. Sometimes it's just an internal portal where you have to submit your receipts, and if they say, hey, you can get new running shoes and an Apple Watch, just show your receipt, then good, get that extra money back in your paycheck.
Speaker 2:Yeah, another one employee assistant program, eap, and what it does is it provides short-term access for counseling. A lot of people think of it in terms of, you know, mental health counseling, so it would allow you to maybe go see a therapist, psychologist, and I would say, on average I've seen that it basically covers maybe normally six sessions at least that you don't have to pay.
Speaker 1:Mine covers 10.
Speaker 2:Okay, Well, then see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but totally free. You'll get paired with a counselor. It also includes family counseling that you can utilize elder care counseling as well, as well as dependency counseling. So if you are struggling with substance abuse of any kind, you can utilize your EAP for that as well, and then, if you needed to continue your care, they'll point you in the right direction based on your health plan.
Speaker 2:I've also seen plans that have financial wellness programs, so they sometimes provide you access to financial advisors for sometimes free, sometimes a lower fee. They also can provide educational resources, webinars, different things that allow you to increase your financial literacy and also help with your financial planning overall. Sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I could meet with a finance counselor of some sort or a financial advisor. Obviously, obviously, I don't need to do that, but it is a benefit that we have available.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so definitely see if you know your employer has that. Some of the other ones are tuition reimbursement, continuing education. I mean, we've talked in here time and time again how expensive it is as far as from an educational standpoint. So if you can get that you know student loans paid off through your employer, I think you should go ahead and do it.
Speaker 1:Yes, Now I will do one quick call out on that, because my company talks about tuition reimbursement and I do know people who have gotten it. But there's a little caveat and it's that my department would have to pay for it and so, for example, my department does not have the funding to reimburse any of my professional development or additional degree programs. However, if your department does and you get it approved and it's approved through finance, then yes, you would get that reimbursed. There are also caveats with that. Of course you have to maintain a certain GPA, take a certain number of course hours, etc. Certain GPA take a certain number of course hours, etc. In order to be reimbursed.
Speaker 1:Like you can't get into these programs and then flunk out of them and then get that covered. So again, make sure that you're looking at where does the money come from, what kind of approvals are needed and what kind of grade point average or grades per course do you have to maintain in order to get that reimbursement. In my experience you get it's called a reimbursement for a reason you pay up front and they will pay you back. I don't know of any programs that will pay up front for you, unless it's, you know, a portion of the job, right, like, hey, you need your MBA to do this job and the company's going to cover it. But even then, I do think most of the time it is a reimbursement program. So just read the fine print, as always.
Speaker 2:Some of the benefits are paid. Volunteer time slash like community service programs. I know that you just have taken advantage of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I get. Currently I get 80. Is it 40 or 80 hours a year? No, uh, it's two full weeks. Yeah, so 80 hours a year of um volunteer time where I can put that into a portal. They'll actually make a donation towards the organization where I'm volunteering. It's it's really fantastic um to have give back programs like that available.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a great way for people who want to volunteer and give back, but maybe sometimes you can't find the time because you can't take off. You don't want to take off work because then you might not get paid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or you don't want to spend every weekend volunteering because that's time for your friends and family, correct, yeah?
Speaker 2:And then one of the other ones I saw that I think you know a lot of people should utilize is identity theft protection.
Speaker 1:I just signed up for that one not too long ago. It was not something that was advertised, I just happened to come across it, but that's something that was completely free. Now I have I mean, obviously our credit bureaus are locked but it's an added protection on top of the protections that we get through some of our credit cards. And if it's free, you know, make sure that you're getting that you're getting covered. I think it's a wonderful benefit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. I when I was, you know not self employed and had employee benefits.
Speaker 1:I would just check all the free ones for sure. I was like it's free, it's free, what's it matter? Yeah, absolutely. If it's free, 99, sign up for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the main, like I said, the main purpose of this episode was to make you guys aware of some of the things that you should definitely understand about your workplace benefits package and then also make you aware of some of the overlooked benefits that could probably be beneficial to you if your employer does offer them.
Speaker 2:And the idea is, you know, making sure that you understand when that open enrollment period opens and when it ends, and scheduling time, schedule dedicated time to look through the packet and understand the benefits you might want to schedule.
Speaker 2:If you're married, you know, want to schedule time with your spouse in order to look through the packet, like Jess said earlier, analyze maybe some of the benefits you use last year, maybe some things that you want to change, but you want to have this conversation prior to open enrollment and hopping on there and having to enroll. You want to have this conversation prior to open enrollment and hopping on there and having to enroll, because I think I've said be here before is that one of my first roles within financial services was working at Fidelity and basically the call center, and one of the aspects of what I did was open enrollment, and so I remember people calling in and they had not looked at the benefits package at all and they're like so what do I do? I'm like I don't know anything about you, so I can't really tell you what you should and shouldn't choose. Don't be that person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't be that person. Get after it. Look through all the information that your employer is sending you. Write down your questions. Take advantage of those webinars, the open enrollment, guided tours. Employers are doing all sorts of things to make sure that you fully understand and have all of the information you need to make an informed decision about what your health care plans are going to look like for the upcoming year. So do your research, write down your questions. Get them answered before open enrollment.
Speaker 2:And also I do offer open enrollment, like basically an analyzation package where we sit down. You send me all the information in regards to your benefits package. I look it over, we schedule a time to talk and I go through all the details, answer any questions and actually help you make the selection that I think would work best for you, based on your situation.
Speaker 1:Did you just say analyzation?
Speaker 2:I probably did.
Speaker 1:We're going to just leave that one alone, guys.
Speaker 2:Analysis analysis.
Speaker 1:There we go, perfect.
Speaker 2:Like I said, words are eluding me today.
Speaker 1:He's really good at his job, guys, I promise. Well, if this episode was helpful, please remember to leave us a review and share it with a friend or family member that could benefit. We'll talk to you soon, don't forget. Benjamin Franklin said an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. You just got paid. Until next time. Thanks for listening to today's episode. We are so glad to have you as part of our sugar daddy community. If you learned something today, please remember to subscribe, rate, review and share this episode with your friends, family and extended network. Don't forget to connect with us on social media. At the sugar daddy podcast, you can also email us your questions you want us to answer for our past the sugar segments at the sugar daddy podcast at gmailcom, or leave us a voicemail through our Instagram.
Speaker 2:Our content is intended to be used, and must be used, for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment based upon your own personal circumstances. You should take independent financial advice from a licensed professional in connection with, or independently research and verify any information you find in our podcast and wish to rely upon, whether for the purpose of making an investment decision or
