BCA

By Jelani Asar

Employees Want Them and More Employers are Offering Them – The  Competition is Heating Up

(Voluntary benefits are insurance products that employees may choose to purchase through their companies at rates that are lower than they could get on their own. A few examples of voluntary benefits are dental, vision, life, disability, supplemental health and cancer insurance. Many employers offer voluntary benefits because they allow companies to provide a more robust benefits package at no cost to them.)

According to benefit trends surveys by MetLife, The Hartford, Colonial Life,  and LIMRA, as well as research executives within companies such as Transamerica,  there are surprising numbers reflecting the building trends in our voluntary  employee benefits market, see here:

• 5 in 10 employees believe voluntary benefits are “very” or “extremely”  important
• 7 in 10 employers believe their employees don’t even want voluntary benefits  at all
• Less than 1 in 10 employees will say they want voluntary benefits when asked  by their employer, yet more than 6 in 10 employees get the voluntary benefits  when offered them by their employer
• More than 9 in 10 Americans would be forced to change their lifestyle if  they lost a portion of their income for 36 months
• More than 1 in 2 employees say they are very worried about the gaps in  medical insurance
• More than 6 in 10 Gen Y, Gen X, younger and older baby boomers understand  they get a better deal, better education, and easier management of their  voluntary coverage as a benefit than individually outside of the workplace

A choice of benefits important for creating loyalty

• More than 4 in 10 of younger to middle aged employees say a choice of  benefits that meets their need is extremely important for creating loyalty
• Nearly 1 in 2 HR Managers and Benefits Administrators plan to add voluntary  benefits
• 1 in 2 employers plan on increasing employees’ health insurance premiums,  deductibles and/or copays
• Over 99 in 100 employers agree employees need guidance for benefits  decisions
• 1 in 2 companies with at least 1,000 employees are interested in  transitioning their existing benefits to voluntary benefits
• More than 1 in 2 US employers offer voluntary benefits right now.

Uncertainty in the economy, shoestring budgets, living paycheck to paycheck,  bankruptcies, foreclosures, and debt problems are causing even voluntary legal  services and voluntary tax services to skyrocket in popularity, with a combined  influence of being offered in over 3 in 10 Fortune 500 companies thus far

How Long Do I Have?

The obviousness of the truth is here – voluntary employee benefits are  leading the trend and the new question is, “How soon before I am losing top  talent to my competitors because of their voluntary benefits?”

Extremely Affordable…Extremely

As Dori Molloy, Regional VP of Transamerica Worksite Marketing and Mike Fish,  VP of The Group Benefits Division of The Hartford Financial Services Group agree  in Voluntary Mandate an advertorial to Employee Benefit News, voluntary employee  benefits are also great because they are affordable and for a small investment  you can have coverage and value far in excess of what you would think its  investment would likely command.

Because in the same way a dollar a day invested in a solid fund in the market  can bring massive long term reward, voluntary benefits are the massive  return-on-investment-product of the benefits market.

With many voluntary benefits, you get access to a group deal, a group rate  that is exclusive to you as an employee, and other people who are not employees  – regardless of their position in life or their connections – do not have access  to! Period.

The deal is equivalent to getting goods at wholesale

Your exclusive deal is basically equivalent getting goods at wholesale rather  than retail, going to Costco and getting huge savings, or clearing the shelves  to take advantage of limited time offers – as many of us are more than eager to  do, aren’t we?

Again, all in all, the voluntary benefit is affordable, exclusive, and may  possibly be one of the best investments you’ve ever made.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jelani_Asar

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6615153

By Susan McCullah

By Elizabeth L. Todd

For complete data charts and story, go to e-marketer.com

By Michael James Arnold Kelly

Some may have heard of a Health Spending Account or HSA, but few know the absolute benefits to a small business owner.

When you leave employment to venture into your own business, you generally leave behind your ‘benefits’ package and suddenly find yourself with no health-care coverage. There is however, a very simple, very cost-effective and tax-effective solution-the HSA.

Most people are familiar with or have had ‘Group Insurance’ and hence are aware how the programs work. They are however Insurance programs and have limitations, restrictions and high risk of fee increases each year. A ‘typical’ group insurance program can cost a business owner $300-$400 per month for family coverage, and this coverage would have significantly low limits for dental, prescription drugs, hospital stays, etc., and would likely not cover eyeglasses, orthodontics, medical devices, certain therapy etc. Under an HSA, all of these items can be covered at a fraction of the cost, in fact, the savings under an HSA can be quite significant – consider the following example:

Jesse is a small business owner, has a spouse and 2 school – aged children. If their medical/dental expenses were $2000 per year, they would have to pay this with ‘after-tax’ dollars, therefore requiring gross income of approximately $3000 per year. However, only a small portion of the expense on for medical would be allowable as a tax-credit on their personal taxes. (medical expenses must exceed 3% of your taxable income before any is allowed for a tax credit) If they were to obtain group insurance, lets assume they paid $300 per month for coverage. Although some this would be deductible by the business as employee benefits, a portion of the plan would be a taxable benefit to Jesse, and the plan would have restrictions.

Now, let’s assume Jesse sets up an HSA for their family. By having the company contribute $200 per month to the HSA, Jesse would effectively have $2400 per year of ‘tax-free’ money to spend on virtually any medical expenses. The company would gain the benefit of a 100% tax deductible amount of $2400 per year.

As the money ‘belongs’ to Jesse, she may determine what expenses to submit for payment; orthodontics, eyeglasses, physiotherapy, contact lenses, prosthetics… and the list goes on.

There are other great benefits to an HSA as well:
Employee retention products; you can establish an HSA for your employees, setting the contribution amount at whatever you want – all employees do not have to be treated equally. ‘Bonus’ payments may be added to the HSA, incentive prizes etc.

You can add an insurance component to your HSA – if someone experiences a catastrophic event, the insurance will pay when you exceed the value of funds in your HSA.

You can add emergency travel medical to your plan – safeguard for when you are out of the country.

One of the best benefits, completely unlike insurance, because the money is YOURS, you can carry forward any unused values at the end of the year to the next year – you do not lose any of your money.

Setting up an HSA is not difficult
Generally, it only takes a couple of days. There is a small setup charge, however, the tax advantages as well as the health advantages far outweigh this fee.

Continuing with our cover story, lets look at the tax benefits of the HSA program for Jesse:

Assume Jesse earns $50k per year and her spouse earns $45k per year. They have family medical expenses of $3,000 per year.

To cover the ‘after-tax’ cost of $3k, they would have to earn roughly $4,500 before taxes. Then, they would be entitled to a medical expense credit of only $251.62 The ending result, They still expended more than $4,000 of gross income to pay for their $3,000 in medical expenses.

On the other hand – if the company contributed to their HSA, $250 per month, they would be out-of-pocket $0. The company would realize a 100% tax deductible expense of $275 per month. (An HSA is a ‘costplus’ program that carries a 10% administration fee, paid by the company – the employee never has to pay a fee.)

From the company perspective, as they have a tax deductible expense of $3,300 per year, assuming a corporate tax rate of 22%, the corporation saves $726.00, therefore, the actual ‘cost’ to the corporation is only $2,574 to give Jesse the BENEFIT of $3,000 per year in FREE medical costs.

HSA’s are not only for Corporations
A sole-proprietor can also realize an even greater benefit – if their marginal tax rate is greater than 22%. The business receives 100% of the tax deduction, whereas personally, the individual would only be entitled to a small non-refundable tax credit.

CRA, in recent Tax Information Bulletins, completely endorses Health Spending Account Programs, get yours today and give your family the medical peace of mind you deserve, and start saving your hard earned money.

To view more articles by Michael visit his blog – Barrie Bookkeepers Blog

Michael Kelly is President and CEO of Ledgers (Barrie). Michael’s firm provides professional accounting, bookkeeping, tax preparation services and advice for small / medium sized businesses needing to realize their growth potential.

Click here for more information about Ledgers’ bookkeeping services in barrie.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_James_Arnold_Kelly

By Steve J. Jackson

When you are trying to resolve a personal debt problem it can be very frustrating if you feel that your debt management company is providing a bad service. We consider what your options are if you find yourself in this situation. Thousands of people start debt solutions each month and most people are very satisfied with the service they receive from their debt management company.

However, if the service you are getting is poor, this can be extremely frustrating. If you find yourself in this situation your options will really depend on the type of solution you are using.

I am in a debt management plan

A debt management plan (DMP) is an informal agreement with your creditors to reduce the amount you repay each month so that this fits into a budget that you can afford.

The most important thing to understand about a debt management plan is that there is no legal contract between you, your creditors or your debt management company. This means that any of the parties can change the agreement at any time.

Often this flexibility can work against you because it means that your creditors can demand that you increase your monthly payments or start charging interest on the outstanding balances without warning.

However, it can also work for you. If you want to increase or decrease your payments or you are getting hassle from your creditors but feel that your debt management company is not responding, there is nothing to stop you moving to another company.

You can simply stop making payments to your old debt management company and start making the payments to one that you feel more comfortable with. There will be no penalties.

I am in an Individual Voluntary Arrangement

An individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) is a formal legally binding agreement.

Once an IVA is in place your creditors make a commitment to you that they will add no further interest or charges to your outstanding balances. They also agree to write off a certain amount of the debt you owe. These are of course significant benefits. However, unfortunately once you are in an IVA, you cannot change your IVA provider.

Even if you are unhappy with the service you are receiving, the only way you can come out of an IVA is if you stop making your monthly payments. However, you must understand that if you simply stop paying your IVA, it is likely to fail.

At best this would mean that you would be back at square one with any remaining unpaid debts still outstanding. But if you are a home owner, your IVA provider could very well then make you bankrupt.

Choosing the right company

The best thing is of course to pick the right company to work with in the first place. Follow the recommendation of a friend if you can. Failing this you need to do plenty of your own research.

The internet is a great place to start looking for the right debt management company. Have a look at the quality of information that they provide and familiarize yourself with the different options available.

Also have a look at some debt management forums where you can ask questions anonymously and judge the quality of the answers you get. Then speak to 2-3 different companies and choose the one that you feel most comfortable with. The bottom line is that if you decide to do a DMP or you are already in one, it is possible to change your debt management company.

If you want to do an IVA however, changing the IVA provider is not possible once the arrangement is in place. As such, making the right decision about which company to work with at the beginning is very important.

Steve Jackson is a debt adviser from BeatMyDebt.com in the UK. For more quality and unbiased information on Debt Management Plans, visit our website at http://www.beatmydebt.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_J_Jackson

A new book reveals the essential elements of a life well-lived

By Tom Rath and Jim NHarter, authors of Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements

“Much of what we think will improve our wellbeing is either misguided or just plain wrong.” So begins the new book Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements by Tom Rath and Jim Harter, Ph.D.

Rath leads Gallup’s workplace research and leadership consulting practice, and his bestselling books StrengthsFinder 2.0, Strengths Based Leadership, and How Full Is Your Bucket? have sold more than 2 million copies in the United States alone. Harter, Gallup’s chief scientist for workplace management and wellbeing, is coauthor of the bestseller 12: The Elements of Great Managing.

That’s a lot of intellectual firepower. But what could they know about wellbeing that the rest of us, who are intimately aware of our own, have overlooked? For starters, the fact that we overlook too much. As Harter and Rath discovered — through a thorough review of decades of scientific research and a comprehensive global study of more than 150 countries, which gave them insights into the wellbeing of more than 98% of the world’s population — most people don’t know what’s good for them.

For the complete story, go to gallup.com

From PhysOrg,com

Intel believes its customers would be willing to have a chip implanted in their brains so they could operate computers without the need for a keyboard or mouse using thoughts alone. The implant could also be used to operate devices such as cell phones, TVs and DVDs.

The chip is being developed at Intel’s laboratory in Pittsburgh, USA. It would sense brain activity using technology based on FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging). The brain sensing chips are not yet available, but Intel research scientist Dean Pomerleau thinks they are close.

Pomerleau said that with human beings and machines converging in many ways, people will want to give up the need for an interface such as a keyboard, mouse or remote control and operate the devices using their brain waves. Pomerleau believes that some time within the next decade or so people will be “more committed” to the idea of the brain implants.

Pomerleau said a headset incorporating brain sensing technology to operate a computer is close, and the next step is to develop the tiny brain implant, which would be much less cumbersome for the user.

While it seems unlikely many people would volunteer for the Intel chip implant at present, it could have applications for people who are unable to move, such as quadriplegics.

For complete story go to physOrg.com.