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Open Enrollment 2025: Important Deadlines You Need to Know

Open Enrollment 2025: Important Deadlines You Need to Know

by | Sep 4, 2024 | For Employers

Open Enrollment 2025: Important deadlines you need to Know. Open enrollment is an important period for your workforce. Learn all about the most critical deadlines for Open Enrollment 2025 in this helpful article.

Open Enrollment 2025 is a critical period during which your workforce can update their benefits choices. Top among those decisions: choosing a health insurance plan for the upcoming year.

Here’s everything you and your team need to know about the most important deadlines for Open Enrollment 2025.

What is Open Enrollment?

Open Enrollment is a window of time when employees are able to review their employee benefits and choose new healthcare options to suit their families’ needs. In most cases, employees who miss this window must wait until the next Open Enrollment period before changing their plans. Prepare for Open Enrollment 2025 with Best Money Moves.

What are the deadlines for Open Enrollment 2025?

For most states, the Open Enrollment period for health coverage that begins on January 1, 2025 starts on November 1, 2024 and runs until January 15, 2025. In order for employees to guarantee coverage in 2025, they must enroll in their health plan by this January 15th date.

However, certain states have different deadlines than the ones listed above:

California: November 1, 2024, through January 31, 2025

Idaho: October 15, 2024, through December 15, 2024

Massachusetts: November 1, 2024, through January 23, 2025

New Jersey: November 1, 2024, through January 31, 2025

New York: November 1st, 2024 through January 31st, 2025

Rhode Island: November 1st, 2024, through January 31, 2025

Washington D.C.: November 1, 2024, through January 31, 2025

Special enrollment periods for Open Enrollment 2025

Outside of the deadlines listed above, there are qualifying life events that allow people to qualify for special enrollment periods. You may be eligible for a special enrollment period if any of the following situations apply to you:

  • A change in household including
    • Marriage
    • A new baby, an adoption or placing a child in foster care
    • Divorce
    • Death in the family
  • A change in residence that involves moving to:
    • A new home in a new ZIP code or county
    • The U.S. from a foreign country or U.S. territory
    • A new school (if you are a student)
    • A new place to live or work
  • Loss of health insurance
    • If you or a member of your household has lost health insurance in the last 60 days or is going to lose health insurance in the upcoming 60 days you may qualify for the Special Enrollment Period.
  • Gaining membership to a federally recognized tribe
  • Becoming a U.S. citizen
  • Leaving incarceration
  • Beginning or ending service as an AmeriCorps State and National, VISTA, or NCCC member.

For more information and updated information about the Open Enrollment period, refer to healthcare.gov.

3 Ways to Improve Employee Benefits Communication Year-Round

Finding effective ways to improve engagement with your benefits is difficult – but it can be the difference between a good benefits program and a truly great one. Open Enrollment is an excellent time to promote the benefits your company offers, but it’s also important to find ways to keep employees engaged throughout the year.

A good benefits communication strategy starts with understanding what your workforce wants and changing course if your methods aren’t working.

In order to improve engagement in your benefits program, consider using these communication strategies:

  • Choose the right channels to deliver your message. Depending on your business, certain methods of communication (email, phone, intranet, print materials etc) might be more effective when providing information about benefits. Try different methods and see which resonates with your employees the most.
  • Personalize your communication. Each employee is different, but there are likely to be demographics you can target. Consider how employees with different backgrounds or stages of life tend to receive their information and tailor your strategy accordingly.
  • Create an onboarding system. When you introduce a new benefit to your employees, it’s important to make the process as smooth and as possible. Benefits can be complex and hard to understand, which discourages engagement. An effective onboarding strategy shows employees how they can use their benefits in a simple way that is relevant to their current lives.
  • Use an open line of communication. If you aren’t seeing success with engagement, consider asking employees directly. Listen to feedback and learn the obstacles that are preventing your workforce from accessing their benefits. Managers should be well versed in company benefits in order to be a resource for other employees.

To learn more about Best Money Moves Financial Wellness Platform, let’s schedule a call. Contact us and we’ll reach out to you soon.

Financial Resiliency: The Skill You Didn’t Know Your Team Needed

Financial Resiliency: The Skill You Didn’t Know Your Team Needed

by | Aug 6, 2024 | For Employers

Financial resiliency: The skill you didn’t know your team needed. Learn why fostering financial resiliency may be key to a more productive, confident workforce.

Everyone encounters rough financial patches at some point. The key is how easily you adapt to these challenging. situations. This concept is at the core of financial resiliency, the skill your workforce may be missing.

Financial resiliency refers to a person’s ability to withstand life events that impact their income, assets, or overall financial wellness. Divorce, sudden medical issues and unemployment can throw a wrench into a person’s finances. However, the right tools and support can help employees build financial resiliency and weather any storm.

Employees often look to their employer as a source of financial wellness support. In a survey of nearly 2,000 employees conducted by Transamerica Institute, seventy-seven percent of respondents rated employee financial wellness programs as somewhat or very important. Yet only 28% of employers report offering such benefits to their teams.

Supporting employee financial resiliency can help companies dial down employee financial stress and accelerate the path to financial security. Learn more about the unique benefits of a financially resilient team. Plus, learn to build resiliency among your organization at large.

1. Many employees cannot afford a $1000 emergency

Having enough money for a rainy day is a key pillar of financial resiliency. According to Bankrate’s 2024 Emergency Fund report, nearly 1 in 3 employees have $0 saved for emergencies — a clear indication of low financial resiliency. If faced with a $1000 emergency, many Americans would have to borrow the money, whether through a loan, from a family or friend, or carrying a balance on their credit card, according to Bankrate’s report.

To help employees craft a more financially resilient future, consider offering an emergency fund as part of your employee benefits package. One practice is to have employees complete financial wellness courses/training in exchange for a $1000 emergency fund — this benefit offering demonstrates a keen dedication to building employee financial resilience and education.

2. Looming debt can impact employees’ financial resiliency and overall health

Debt can come from a myriad of sources — car loans, education, payday loans, medical expenses, and more. Regardless of one’s debt origins, high levels of debt can lower one’s financial wellness and ability to withstand future financial emergencies.

Having a high debt-to-income ratio can limit the options an employee has amid a sudden emergency, even for employees earning six-figure salaries. Lenders and banks may view individuals with a high debt-to-income ratio as high-risk borrowers — this can lead to extremely high interest rates or being denied for a loan altogether. With high interest rates, carrying debt has become increasingly expensive. Over time, the chronic stress from carrying debt can also take a toll on the human body.

According to Forbes’ Mental Health & Debt survey, about 40% of Americans reported experiencing anxiety due to debt-related stress, and nearly half reported having trouble sleeping due to debt-related stress.

3. Help employees build financial resiliency using personalized financial wellness tools

High levels of debt can make borrowers feel stuck and unsure about the best way to manage their looming debt. Moreover, looming debt can feel cyclic.

Employees don’t have to manage their financial stress alone. A robust financial wellness program can empower employees along their financial wellness journey and help them build financial resiliency.

Every employee has a different starting place when it comes to financial wellness and. Find a financial wellness program that personalizes their offerings and counseling, based on each employee’s unique situation, as opposed to taking a cookie-cutter approach. This can help equip employees with the right tools and resources to develop financial resiliency for today and years to come.

Best Money Moves is a mobile-first financial wellness solution designed to help dial down employees’ most top-of-mind financial stresses. As an easy-to-use financial well-being solution, Best Money Moves offers comprehensive support toward any money-related goal. With 1:1 money coaching, budgeting tools and other resources, our AI platform is designed to help improve employee financial well-being.

Whether it be retirement planning or securing a mortgage, Best Money Moves can guide employees through the most difficult financial times and topics. We have robust benefits options for employers, regardless of their benefits budget.

Our dedicated resources, partner offerings and 1000+ article library make Best Money Moves a leading benefit in bettering employee financial wellness.

To learn more about Best Money Moves Financial Wellness Platform, let’s schedule a call. Contact us and we’ll reach out to you soon.

Financial Resiliency: The Skill You Didn’t Know Your Team Needed

Financial Resiliency: The Skill You Didn’t Know Your Team Needed

by | Jun 6, 2024 | For Employers

Financial resiliency: The skill you didn’t know your team needed. Learn why fostering financial resiliency may be key to a more productive, confident workforce.

Everyone encounters rough financial patches at some point — the key is how easily you adapt to situations that threaten your well-being. This concept is at the core of financial resiliency, the key skill you could be missing in your workforce.

What is Financial Resiliency?

Financial resiliency refers to a person’s ability to withstand life events that impact their income, assets, or overall financial wellness. Divorce, sudden medical issues and unemployment can throw a wrench into a person’s finances. However, the right tools and support can help employees build financial resiliency and weather any storm.

Employees often look to their employer as a source of financial wellness support. In a survey of nearly 2,000 employees conducted by Transamerica Institute, seventy-seven percent of respondents rated employee financial wellness programs as somewhat or very important. Yet only 28% of employers report offering such benefits to their teams.

How You Can Build Financial Resiliency

Supporting employee financial resiliency can help companies dial down employee financial stress and accelerate the path to financial security. Learn more about the unique benefits of a financially resilient team. Plus, learn to build resiliency among your organization at large.

For employers, we offer an unparalleled level of customization and curation out–of-the-box, the ability to build in your own benefits, grouped for specific portions of your workforce, as well as analytics that would be difficult to get anywhere else.

Learn How Best Money Moves Builds Financial Resiliency

Today, around 1,000 companies trust Best Money Moves with their employees’ financial wellbeing. What I’ve learned is that when employees feel less financial stress, there’s a real ROI for employers: Less chronic illness and addiction issues, fewer heart attacks, better health outcomes, sure. Also, less turnover and more focused, productive employees. Their employees feel happier and sleep better. Bonus: They’re less grouchy, too.

Since Black and Brown families have about one-tenth the wealth of White families, we’ve found creative ways to work with nonprofits, religious organizations, colleges and universities, local governments and for-profit companies enmeshed in those communities. We’ve developed give-back programs to help fund their initiatives. We’ve created special versions of Best Money Moves, which we call “Pro,” to cater to micro-businesses and start-ups packed with partnerships that we believe will resonate with those employers and their employees. And, we work to make sure everyone who needs access to Best Money Moves has it.

Employers Need Help Building Workforce Financial Resiliency

The feedback, testimonials, and ratings we’ve received make it all worthwhile. We are helping people make smarter decisions with their money everyday. Which is enormously gratifying. Less so is the hard work we’ve done over the past eight years to educate employers on the very real benefits of a less financially-stressed workforce.

Financial stress is the #1 reported workplace stress. Financial wellness has been the #1 requested benefit for the past few years. We must all look for ways to turn down the volume on our highly stressed workforce and find opportunities to help our employees feel better about themselves, their earning potential and their financial futures.

Create a Better Financial Future for Your Employees

I have a few people I’d like to thank starting with our incredible Best Money Moves team, who make us look good every day, my family for all their support, and in particular, I’d like to thank my husband, Sam, who always believes my wildest dreams will come true.

In closing, I’d like to leave you with a quote from the late Herb Kelleher, co-founder, CEO and Chairman Emeritus of Southwest Airlines until his death in 2019: Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with your employees and the rest follows from that.

Thank you.

3 Reasons Financial Wellness is Important to Employees in a Post-COVID Workforce

3 Reasons Financial Wellness is Important to Employees in a Post-COVID Workforce

by | May 4, 2021 | For Employers

3 reasons financial wellness is important to employees in a post-COVID workforce. After COVID-19 highlighted the financial vulnerabilities of millions of employees, financial wellness is expected to be a big component of Post-COVID HR Strategies.

With vaccine rollouts progressing across the country,  Americans are increasingly optimistic about a return to normal life. But even as the physical effects of the virus diminish, financial recovery is complicated.

The pandemic illuminated significant vulnerabilities for Americans working across all industries. In fact, 63% of workers claim their financial stress has increased since the start of the pandemic, according to PwC’s 2021 Employee Financial Wellness Survey. So, when it comes to rethinking benefits in a post-COVID world, Employees need more than a 401(k) and desk back at the office. They need comprehensive and long-term financial wellness solutions to help regain their footing after multiple years of financial uncertainty.  

These are the three major reasons that financial wellness is important to employees in a post-COVID workforce:

1. Your employees need help rebuilding their savings post-COVID. 

For many, digging into savings has been the only way to make it through the pandemic. In September 2020, CNBC reported that 14% of Americans had wiped out their emergency savings. Prudential Financial’s November 2020 report claimed the number of workers who have reduced or exhausted their emergency savings was up to 1 in 4 employees. It’s hard to know how to manage savings especially when we’re living through one very long and nightmarish emergency. According to the Prudential Financial report, 65% and 72% of respondents stated that lack of emergency and retirement savings respectively were the largest barriers to financial security. It’s absolutely critical for employees to feel supported by their companies on the quest towards financial security. 

2. There’s an undeniable connection between mental health and money. 

COVID-19 took a toll on the collective mental health of most (if not all) employees. As workers continue to perform remotely and the lines between work and life blurr, employers are increasingly aware of their responsibility to support the mental health of their employees. That’s part of what employee benefits are all about. Improving the financial wellbeing of your employees helps significantly reduce stress.

3. Your employees need resources that address their individual needs.

Understanding the never-ending array of financial terms and fiscal expectations can be daunting and stressful. The government has provided various support since COVID-19 began but it isn’t always easy to sort through it. Employees could benefit greatly from a one-stop shop to help them work through their individual financial needs. 

That’s where Best Money Moves can help. 

Best Money Moves is a human-centered and individualized approach to financial wellbeing. The comprehensive and user friendly platform provides a plethora of financial resources and educational tools. The library of resources contains over 700 articles, videos, and calculators. Each Best Money Moves user has their personal feed tailored to the several distinct factors that monitor their personal stress. This means your employee can use Best Money Moves to educate themselves on anything from investing in the stock market to co-signing loans to buying their first home. 

Employee information is always private but employers do have access to key analytics that show overall employee financial stress and stress levels over time. The Employer Dashboard also features information on program usage, debt and savings levels and more so employers can see just how valuable Best Money Moves is to their employees.

If you want to learn more about how Best Money Moves can bring financial wellness to your company, download our whitepapers.

How Financial Stress Rises with Your Rent and Home Expenses

How Financial Stress Rises with Your Rent and Home Expenses

by | Sep 7, 2016 | For Employers

There are certain expenses everyone deals with no matter how extravagant or restrained their lifestyle. Housing is at the top of the list, both because you need a place to hang your hat and because it’s usually the single largest bite out of your monthly take-home pay.

Unfortunately, this is the most basic and important of expenses. Whether it’s a house, apartment or condo, everyone needs a place to live and this basic expense can quickly become your biggest source of financial stress.

According to a September National Rent Report by Zumper, eight of the 10 most expensive rental markets in the country have either maintained their spot or moved higher on the list, even as prices for one and two-bedroom units dropped slightly for the first time all year. This might sound like business as usual but for employees looking to decrease their financial stress, it’s bad news for their budgets.

Employees can downsize their budgets in many ways, from cutting meals out to limiting their entertainment spending, but housing is a relatively fixed cost and it’s hard to find wiggle room until your lease comes up for renewal. And then, where do you go if rents are rising everywhere you want to be? one staple that has lost most of its wiggle room. If you want to know what your employees are stressed about, housing is one area you can’t ignore.

What’s the fix?

The recommended rule for figuring out how much to budget for housing is to cap it at 30 percent of your income, leaving at least 60 percent of your budget for other expenses like food, healthcare, debt payments and savings. The problem for an increasing number of employees is that these figures have made maintaining this ratio difficult. If employees want to spend under $1,000 each month on rent, for example, they’ll need to look to the 30th most expensive city on this list, downsize the space they live in, move to another neighborhood or find an alternate way to manage rising rent or housing expenses. And until they can make this change, they’ve got less room in their budgets for other necessities.

Changing a housing situation isn’t impossible, but it is a recurring cost people are locked into for months or years at a time, that will affect them every day. If that cost climbs too high, or there is an unexpected jump, it creates a cycle where that cost eats into the rest of their finances, increasing their financial stress and keeping them from making progress with their budgets, debts and retirement savings.

As an employer, you want to help defray this expense but may be at a loss for where to start. There are small  steps you can take, like offering transit assistance for your workers’ commutes or opportunities to work remotely, but the root of the problem is much deeper.  

Employees have to get control over their budgets and learn how they can change their housing situation for the better. For some cities, moving to a new neighborhood may be the only viable option, but it’s one your employees have to discover in order to take action.

If you want to reduce financial stress in your workplace, talk to your employees and see what assistance they need. With the right knowledge and tools, they can decide on a solution that gets them to a stronger financial position. They can’t count on a major drop in their rent (it’s an expense that tends to rise over time), so it’s time to find a new way around this cost and get it back down to the recommended 30 percent threshold.

Whether it’s small changes or a big move, there’s no better time to get started than right now. You’ll be amazed at what a small savings on housing can do for the rest of the monthly bills and, consequently, your employees’ financial stress level.

 

Dustin Pellegrini is a senior web producer and writer at Think Glink Media, where he specializes in reporting credit and personal finance topics. He studied writing and visual media at Columbia College Chicago.