Readers, what are some of the things you have been/are doing to increase your financial security? Increasing income? Minimizing spending? Getting into another career path? Starting a side hustle? Building a large investment portfolio? Acquiring rental properties? For those of us who are receiving W2 income, do you rely on your employee non-wage benefits (such as insurance and retirement benefits) for financial security? In this post, I share how I used to perceive my employee non-wage benefits, how I came to see their true values and why choosing the best benefits options for myself and my family is a great thing I can do to increase my family’s overall financial security.
How I Used to Perceive My Employee Non-Wage Benefits
For a long time, I took my employee benefits for granted. I used to only focus on the numbers on my bi-weekly pay statements. I could actually do something with my W2 earnings (such as purchasing more stocks and paying bills). My non-wage benefits were something that my husband and I typically looked at few times a year, and then they were forgotten until we needed to reevaluate the benefits options again. It wasn’t until earlier this year (2016) that I realized how much those non-wage benefits contribute to my overall financial security.
As a new employee, I loved reviewing my employment benefits. I thought it was so cool that my employer was paying me while I went on vacations, giving me extra money toward my retirement savings, offering me discounted life and group disability insurances and allowed me to take eight months off to spend with my daughter after her birth (and I also got paid during part of the time off!). The list could go on. I felt great having all those “freebies” that came with my employment compensation. While I appreciated my employer looking out for my well-being and that of my family, for a long time I never realized how much I’ve came to depend on those non-wage benefits for peace of mind. I suppose I didn’t or couldn’t see the true values of those benefits when I wasn’t paying the premiums out of my pocket or no monetary values were placed on them. What I couldn’t see didn’t count, right?