Tax Time = Financial Planning Time

It’s tax time. It’s not everyone’s favorite time of year, but a tax refund is a good time to create and implement some financial strategies:

• Review your paycheck tax withholding. A large refund may indicate that you have too much withholding while having to pay the government may indicate that you need to adjust your withholding’s.
• Review and adjust your retirement savings amount. Increasing your retirement savings by 1% can increase your retirement income.

• Pay down high-interest debt. If you pay off a credit card bill that was charging you an 18% interest rate, it’s like earning 18% on your money. It’s never a bad idea to minimize credit card debt whenever possible.
• Increase your Lifetime Income Score (LIS) with one easy step.
  • Review your VRS projected monthly income (go the VRS website to access your account)
  • Login in to your Empower 457 Deferred Compensation Plan
    • Take note of your LIS (green circle) 
  • Under “Other Assets”, add an Account
  • Select “Monthly Income During Retirement”, add VRS (as source) and your monthly amount
  • Save
  • Now, look at how your LIS changed. o Send an email to Anne Strine with your name, last 4 digits of your SSN and note that says “I increased my LIS!”. Each week in March, we’ll draw the name of someone who increased their LIS and they’ll be awarded a gift card. Spread the word.

Bonus: If at the end of March, we’ve had more than 500 employees increase their LIS, we’ll draw 10 more name from the pot.