Retirement and benefits

Your goal is to maximize each.  If they are lower in one area, try to get them to max up the other area and then return to strengthening the area they were lower in.

Houston, Texas - (Retirement Planning, Houston, TX)

Retirement Planning

The best way to approach this subject is how long do you plan on working at this current position?  If you are going to be there long enough to become vested in the company's match of the retirement account, you would want to calculate how much you could be given up if you left the employer prior to receiving your full match.  If you ever intend on retiring you should find ways to use your tax savings to fund your employers retirement account.   

For example, let's assume that the employer will match up to 6% of your salary.  If you left before being fully vested in this contribution, you left 6% of your overall compensation on the table for each year that you worked there.  Depending on the size of your salary, this could amount to $20K over a three year period with the growth in your investments. 

Have you ever seen the 2X3 strategy, on how to max out your retirement account?  This is a great strategy for a W-2 employee to get the government to supplement your retirement plan through tax reduction savings that are allocated to make the 401(k) contribution over the total number of paychecks in the year. 

Being an employee does not give you many ways to reduce your overall tax liability, so having the ability to max up to the $15,500 is one of your best options to reduce your overall tax liability.

Remember there are only two ways to become wealty, go make more money or learn to pay less in tax and invest the savings for your future. 

 Best of luck,

Houston, Texas  - (Retirement Planning, Houston, TX)

Retirement Planning

Financial Planning, Houston, Texas

By Financial Planning

Houston, TX

You should always start with your goals in mind and then figure out if the options avilable to you help you get closer or further away from them.  You need to understand that retirement & benefits are very important in your overall financial game plan.  If you looked at the cost to purchase these benefits with after tax dollars, if would cost you a lot more than you think.  Most employers subsidize at least 80 to 85 percent of your health care expenses.  Does the company offer other types of benefits, such as:

401(k) Plan, and if so what is the company match and when are you fully vested?

Tuition reimbursement plan, work on your professional skills while you train for your next promotion.

Health care benefits, how much are you going to spend on health care during the year?

Does your company have a HSA (Health Savings Account)?  This way if you are going to pay for health care benefits, if you leave the company, these benefits will come with you.

If you really calculate the cost of benefits, it will actually increase your salary by 25 to 30 percent. 

The better the benefits and the better understanding of the benefits, will help you make a more informed choice when it comes to finding that ideal job.

Does the company offer any kind of stock options or an ESPP, or maybe a discounted stock purchase plan?

Running the numbers is the best way to make an informed decision on any job. 

Don't forget to max out your retirement account and get a financial plan so that you can figure out what you are trying to accomplish.  If you just graduated college think about how the college program was designed, to help you make it through.  Their job was to systematically walk you through the steps over a finite period of time (4 years to get your first job).  They gave you the marketable skills to get that first job, you should not focus on getting the skills necessary to become wealty, or spend the next 40 years losing money and make bad finaical decisions through trial and error.  This is one game that you can't afford to lose, you don't have enough money to keep losing. 

Hope this helps!

Financial Planning, Houston, Texas

Houston, TX - Financial Planning