Choosing work benefits

[Yellow mellow]

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I need some advice on which benefits I should enroll in. Benefits I'm interested in includes:

Annual Leave
Enhanced Non-Industrial Disability Insurance (ENDI)
Non-Industrial Disability Insurance (NDI)
Life Insurance
Long Term Insurance
FlexElect Program

If anyone is familiar with these plans or thoughts, please share. Thanks

 

[ResidentSensei]

I need some advice on which benefits I should enroll in. Benefits I'm interested in includes:

Annual Leave
Enhanced Non-Industrial Disability Insurance (ENDI)
Non-Industrial Disability Insurance (NDI)
Life Insurance
Long Term Insurance
FlexElect Program

If anyone is familiar with these plans or thoughts, please share. Thanks

I'm not really sure you "enroll" in Annual Leave or not. Is it some kind of all or nothing kind of deal where your salary increases if you forego your annual leave?

As for the rest, for the most part employer insurance plans (both life and disability) are usually pretty bad and coverage ends when if you leave the job. I would not count on them. Just take whatever your employer offers you for free. That said, you should really carry your own life and disability insurance as that will follow you wherever you go. I am sure there are other posts that deal with this, but you really want Term Life Insurance ($1-$3 mil depending on your needs) and Occupation Specific, Guaranteed Renewable, Non-Cancelable disability insurance (with Future Increase Option [FIO]).

Long Term Care Insurance I don't know much about it. However, I think it is generally not needed provided your disability insurance is good enough and you save enough money for retirement.

I didn't know what FlexElect was, so I googled it, and it seems to be state of California's version of an FSA (Flexible Spending Account). You can set aside money (pre-tax) from your paycheck to cover "expected" medical expenses during the course of the tax year. Anything you pay out of pocket related to medical expenses can be used. Basically they take money from your paycheck and hold it for you pre-tax. You then pay whatever your out of pocket medical expenses are (medication, co-pays, etc.) and then you submit it for reimbursement. They then would reimburse you the difference. It's great because it's basically free money, but it also requires you to have a good knowledge of what you expect to spend so you don't carry over too much into the next year. I am unsure if the FlexElect has a maximum on carryover to the following year, or if you lose whatever you have left at the end of the tax year.

If you have more questions, feel free to PM me and I will try to help.

-Sensei

 

[bc65]

I agree with the above. Take whatever they offer for free. Please describe the "annual leave" in more detail if it's optional.

Some elaboration:

Long term care ( aka nursing home insurance) from an employer is usually just for a limited time, eg one year. It's unlikely to be used. In fact, no one recommends that you buy it before the age of 60 or so, and then most people recommend against it. You will probably be able to pay for care yourself by then if you need it. You may have some partial coverage through regular health insurance, and medicare covers 3 weeks a year. If a limited amount is free (eg one year) then take it, of course.

Term life insurance: only if you have dependents, or if you will have them soon. The only reason to get it sooner is if you want to lock in a policy while you are still insurable. If you develop an illness, you may not be able to get coverage. I would get a 3 million 30 year policy. ( about $160/month for a 30 yo male) The employer policy will cover much less and will stop when you leave the job. If it's really cheap, you might take it anyway. However, if you have dependents, and no private policy, take it for now until you get your own policy

Buy a 5 million umbrella policy on your own. Mine is $800/year. Max out your renter's or homeowner's liability and your auto liability.

Disability insurance: Agree with the above. Get your own policy. Some other options include level premiums, which have advantages and disadvantages, and inflation protection, which I had but probably isn't worth having if you have the future increase option. Some policies guarantee increases in the early years, and that might eliminate the need for the future increase opiton, depending on your future salary structure. It's complicated.

However, if your employer's policy is very cheap, you might want to get it in addition to your own. . You don't want to be without it, and it sounds like you don't have one already. Often if you don't take the group policy when you sign up, you can't get it later, so take the group policy for now and drop it later after you get your own. You might even keep it if it's cheap enough. Some are worth having as a supplement to a private policy. Group policies that are comparable to the ones employers offer are available through specialty societies or the AMA, and you don't need to be a member to get them. The AMA has a group policy that you might use to supplement your own, but it's not a substitute for a good private policy.