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Healthcare Provider Update: Healthcare Provider for Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin primarily partners with UnitedHealthcare to provide healthcare benefits to its employees. This collaboration allows Lockheed Martin to offer comprehensive health plans tailored to meet the diverse needs of its workforce across various locations. Healthcare Cost Increases in 2026 As healthcare costs are projected to rise significantly in 2026, Lockheed Martin employees may face increased out-of-pocket expenses. Following trends revealed in recent reports, health insurance premiums for many states are slated to soar, with some seeing hikes exceeding 60%. Contributing factors include rising medical costs due to inflation and the anticipated expiration of federal premium subsidies, which could push the average increase for consumers to over 75%. The combination of these elements suggests that both employees and employers may need to strategize for heightened healthcare expenses in the coming year. Click here to learn more
For Lockheed Martin employees, understanding the impact of financial decisions through detailed cash flow planning is critical to retirement planning - achieving goals while optimizing tax implications and withdrawal strategies - Kevin Landis, representative of The Retirement Group, a division of Wealth Enhancement Group.
'Cash flow planning provides a road map for managing spending, saving and retirement so that employees know when to retire and how to spend their retirement years wisely' - Paul Bergeron, of The Retirement Group, a division of Wealth Enhancement Group.
In this article we will discuss:
1. Role of cash flow planning in helping Lockheed Martin clients manage spending, saving and goal funding.
2. How cash flow planning tools help you decide when to take your retirement & how to manage your assets post-retirement.
3.Benefits of account aggregation & real-time data for creating accurate financial plans.
Modeling goals and expense funding for each year of a Lockheed Martin client's projected lifetime reveals how chronological and priority goal funding affects multiple client goals. The biggest decision clients face in their Lockheed Martin retirement is whether to retire from Lockheed Martin this year or next year. Showing how asset allocation changes due to withdrawals - and the tax implications of those withdrawals - our advisors can better assess client outcomes year over year and help clients decide when to retire from Lockheed Martin.
Clients can understand where their money went and where it will go to fund their life goals with cash flow planning. At any life stage this type of planning can be used - early accumulators, mid-career accumulators, pre-retirees and Lockheed Martin retirees. Early Adopters' cash flow planning can help Early Adopters understand spending, saving and funding of emergency and Lockheed Martin retirement accounts.
Starting cash flow planning should involve proper savings for early accumulators. But good planning also involves getting the client's financial house in order and getting the proceeds invested in a solid, diversified portfolio, says financial planner Michael Kitces. Pre-and post-retirement pre-retirees from Lockheed Martin could use cash flow planning to illustrate how current spending translates to retirement spending and how current spending impacts funding all of their goals.
Lockheed Martin retirees could apply cash flow planning to understand how spending affects distribution of income to fund goals and outlive retirement savings. And the third best use of our cash flow tool - decide whether Lockheed Martin employees should leave Lockheed Martin this year or next year. Cash flow planning can keep our Lockheed Martin clients on the right financial path by integrating income & expenses, investment performance, education funding, insurance and estate planning.
Cash flow planning can also help our Lockheed Martin clients understand where they lose money unnecessarily. Fees, miscalculations, wrong insurance, penalties and other charges can really add up quickly for many families. They lose on average $200 a month. The holistic view that cash flow planning offers means that advisors have points to discuss with clients during planning. Advisors then can analyze data better and make recommendations in the client's best interest. Gamma is a Morningstar research metric that measures how sound financial planning in five areas - asset allocation, withdrawal strategy, guaranteed income products, tax-efficient allocation and portfolio optimization - can deliver 29% more income on average to a retiree. In addition to this value, Morningstar Research estimates that a retiree could realize 22.6% more certainty equivalent income with a Gamma-efficient retirement income strategy than in our base case.
A few output options and tools are provided by our advisors via software. They range from an annual cash flow report with simulations of inflows, outflows and total portfolio assets to an interactive tool called Decision Center that allows the advisor to model recommendations live during a review meeting. Several key data points are applied to project a client's cash flow simulation. Projections include living expenses, liability payments, insurance premiums, gifting, taxes etc. Planned savings are also called an outflow if employee contributions to a qualified account, HSA or taxable investment are made by the employee. Total outflows minus total inflows gives a net cash flow number that is positive or negative.
All liquid investments like taxable accounts, tax deferred, cash etc. will be shown as total portfolio assets at end of year. Some factors that affect the ending total portfolio assets year over year are the growth rates for each account and the ending net cash flow. Simulation uses client inflows such as income, investment distributions, planned distributions and other inflows. And if the client has negative net cash flow, that deficit will have to be financed from available portfolio assets through liquidation. With a positive net cash flow, the surplus will be deposited into the client's core cash account. The core cash account is a hypothetical wallet which measures the inflows and outflows of the client. Advisors may not save excess cash at the end of the year if a client prefers.
An expense number can help advisors start cash flow planning conversations with Lockheed Martin clients. Conversations about spending can be difficult if there are problems that should be addressed. A budgeting solution is a good starting point for discussion of client spending and impact on cash flow plan. With budgeting tools we provide daily updates on a client's spending transactions through connections to their financial institutions. This tool budgets the client's spending so that the advisor has an accurate picture of the spending which can be used for cash flow simulation and where improvements could be made.
Also for Lockheed Martin employees to remember:
entering data - especially expenses - does not have to be time consuming or too finely detailed in cash flow planning. Your advisor and the software give you a lot of flexibility when entering expenses - from an annualized rollup of all expenses to major expense buckets (discretionary, etc.) and the ability to fill out a digital expense worksheet or classify transactions on the Lockheed Martin client site to determine a client's true expenses for the year. Data entry takes time depending on how detailed you need it. Account aggregation is changing financial planning because it allows advisors to plan with their clients. In cash flow planning, aggregation provides an account balance with real-time information that improves a client's cash flow projection. Using account aggregation, we connect with thousands of institutions to collect client account information like balances, holdings, asset allocations and more.
By including accounts held away, aggregation makes the cash flow plan comprehensive. From this information the advisor also understands how an account accumulates for projection purposes. This helps the advisor make recommendations that better meet the client's needs. These provide fully integrated account consolidation (assets under management) and account aggregation (assets held away) functionality across the advisor and client experiences. More than $2 trillion of assets are connected via the platform. All linked accounts update values across the system - including financial plans - every day. We use a commercial aggregator - where more than 90 percent of this aggregation work is done in-house by the team with a small percentage coming from third parties.
A nationwide group of financial advisors known as The Retirement Group. We only plan for and design retirement portfolios for transitioning corporate employees. And each representative of The Group has been hand picked by The Retirement Group in select cities throughout the United States. Each advisor was screened for pension expertise, financial planning experience and portfolio construction knowledge. TRG believes in teamwork to find solutions to our clients' problems. A conservative investment philosophy guides the team in constructing client portfolios with laddered bonds / CDs / mutual funds / ETFs / annuities / stocks and other investments. They handle retirement / pensions / tax / asset allocation / estate / elder care issues.
Articles you may find interesting:
- Corporate Employees: 8 Factors When Choosing a Mutual Fund
- Use of Escrow Accounts: Divorce
- Medicare Open Enrollment for Corporate Employees: Cost Changes in 2024!
- Stages of Retirement for Corporate Employees
- 7 Things to Consider Before Leaving Your Company
- How Are Workers Impacted by Inflation & Rising Interest Rates?
- Lump-Sum vs Annuity and Rising Interest Rates
- Internal Revenue Code Section 409A (Governing Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans)
- Corporate Employees: Do NOT Believe These 6 Retirement Myths!
- 401K, Social Security, Pension – How to Maximize Your Options
- Have You Looked at Your 401(k) Plan Recently?
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- Worst Month of Layoffs In Over a Year!
- Corporate Employees: 8 Factors When Choosing a Mutual Fund
- Use of Escrow Accounts: Divorce
- Medicare Open Enrollment for Corporate Employees: Cost Changes in 2024!
- Stages of Retirement for Corporate Employees
- 7 Things to Consider Before Leaving Your Company
- How Are Workers Impacted by Inflation & Rising Interest Rates?
- Lump-Sum vs Annuity and Rising Interest Rates
- Internal Revenue Code Section 409A (Governing Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans)
- Corporate Employees: Do NOT Believe These 6 Retirement Myths!
- 401K, Social Security, Pension – How to Maximize Your Options
- Have You Looked at Your 401(k) Plan Recently?
- 11 Questions You Should Ask Yourself When Planning for Retirement
- Worst Month of Layoffs In Over a Year!
This document uses different research tools and techniques. All attempts to estimate future results involve assumptions and judgments and are therefore only tentative estimates. The law, investment climate, interest rates and personal circumstances will all change and will affect how accurate our estimations are and how appropriate our recommendations are. Such a plan requires ongoing change sensitivities as well as constant re-examination and alteration of the plan.
So update your plan a few months before your expected retirement date and do an annual review. Nothing contained herein shall be construed as an attempt by The Retirement Group, LLC or any of its employees to practice law or accounting. We look forward to speaking with any tax and/or legal professionals you may select regarding the implications of our recommendations. Through your retirement years we will continue to update you on issues affecting your retirement via our complimentary and proprietary newsletters, workshops & periodic updates. Or call us at (800) 900-5867.
Sources:
1. Mariner Wealth Advisors. 'In Retirement, Cash Flow is King.' Mariner Wealth Advisors, 6 Feb. 2025, https://www.marinerwealthadvisors.com/insights/in-retirement-cash-flow-is-king/?utm_source=chatgpt.com .
2.Blanchett, David, and Paul D. Kaplan. 'The Value of a Gamma-Efficient Portfolio.' Morningstar Investment Management LLC, 25 Oct. 2017, https://www.morningstar.com/content/dam/marketing/shared/research/foundational/831611-GammaEfficientPortfolio.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com .
3. Fidelity Investments. 'Retirement Bucket Approach: Cash Flow Management.' Fidelity, https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/retirement/managing-cash-flow?utm_source=chatgpt.com .
4. Mariner Wealth Advisors. 'In Retirement, Cash Flow is King.' Mariner Wealth Advisors, 6 Feb. 2025, https://www.marinerwealthadvisors.com/insights/in-retirement-cash-flow-is-king/?utm_source=chatgpt.com .
5. The Tax Adviser . 'Planning for Cash Flows in Retirement.' The Tax Adviser, Dec. 2015, https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2015/dec/planning-for-cash-flows-in-retirement.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com .
How does Lockheed Martin determine the monthly pension benefit for employees nearing retirement, and what factors should employees consider when planning their retirement based on this calculation? Specifically, how do the concepts of "Final Average Pay" and "Credited Years of Service" interact in the pension calculation under Lockheed Martin’s retirement plan?
Lockheed Martin Pension Calculation: Lockheed Martin calculates monthly pension benefits using the "Final Average Pay" (FAP) and "Credited Years of Service" (CYS). The FAP is determined by averaging the three highest annual compensations prior to 2016, while CYS counts the years from employment start to December 31, 2019, when the pension was frozen. The benefit per year of service is calculated based on whether the FAP is less than or exceeds the Social Security Covered Compensation, with specific formulas applied for each scenario. These calculations directly affect the monthly pension benefit, which may also be reduced if retirement commences before a certain age due to early retirement penalties.
Given the recent changes in Lockheed Martin's pension policy, what implications could this have for employees who are planning to retire in the near future? How should these employees navigate their expectations regarding retirement income given that the pension has been frozen since 2020?
Implications of Pension Freeze: Since Lockheed Martin froze its pension plan in 2020, no future earnings or years of service will increase pension benefits. This freeze shifts the emphasis towards maximizing contributions to 401(k) plans, where Lockheed Martin increased its maximum contribution to 10% for non-represented employees. Employees planning for imminent retirement should recalibrate their financial planning to account for this change, prioritizing 401(k) growth and other retirement savings vehicles to compensate for the pension freeze.
What options does Lockheed Martin provide for employees regarding healthcare insurance as they approach retirement age? How do these options compare in terms of coverage and cost, particularly for those who will transition to Medicare upon reaching age 65?
Healthcare Options Near Retirement: As Lockheed Martin employees approach retirement, they can choose from several health insurance options. Before Medicare eligibility, they may use COBRA, a Lockheed Martin retiree plan, or the ACA's private marketplace. Post-65, they transition to Medicare, with the possibility of additional coverage through Medicare Advantage or Medigap plans. Lockheed Martin supports this transition with a Health Reimbursement Arrangement, providing an annual credit to help cover medical expenses.
Understanding the complex nature of Lockheed Martin's pension and retirement benefits, what resources are available to employees to help them navigate their choices regarding pension claiming options? In what ways can the insights from these resources aid employees in making informed decisions about their financial future?
Resources for Navigating Retirement Benefits: Lockheed Martin employees have access to resources like the LM Employee Service Center intranet, which includes robust tools such as a pension estimator. This tool allows for modeling different retirement scenarios and understanding the impacts of various pension claiming options. Additional support is provided through HR consultations and detailed plan descriptions to ensure employees make informed decisions about their retirement strategies.
For employees with varying years of service at Lockheed Martin, how can their employment history impact their pension benefits? What strategies should individuals explore to maximize their benefits given the different legacy systems that might influence their retirement payout?
Impact of Employment History on Pension Benefits: The length and nature of an employee’s service at Lockheed Martin significantly influence pension calculations. Historical changes in pension policies, particularly the transition points of the pension freeze, play critical roles in determining the final pension benefits. Employees must consider their entire career timeline, including any represented or non-represented periods, to understand and maximize their eligible pension benefits fully.
How does the Lockheed Martin retirement plan ensure that benefits are preserved for spouses or dependents after an employee's passing? How do different claiming options affect the long-term financial security of the employee's family post-retirement?
Benefit Preservation for Dependents: Lockheed Martin's pension plan includes options that consider the welfare of spouses or dependents after an employee's passing. Options like "Joint and Survivor" ensure ongoing benefits for surviving spouses, while choices like "Life with X-Year guarantee" provide continued payments for a defined period after the employee’s death. Understanding these options helps secure long-term financial stability for beneficiaries.
What steps can Lockheed Martin employees take to prepare financially for retirement, especially if they have outstanding loans or financial obligations? How crucial is it for employees to understand the conditions under which these loans must be settled before retirement?
Financial Preparation for Retirement: Employees approaching retirement should focus on clearing any outstanding loans and maximizing their contributions to tax-advantaged accounts like 401(k)s and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). These steps are crucial for ensuring a smooth financial transition to retirement, minimizing potential tax impacts, and maximizing available retirement income streams.
With the evolution of Lockheed Martin's retirement initiatives, particularly the shift toward higher 401(k) contributions, how should employees balance contributions to their 401(k) with their overall retirement savings strategy? What factors should they consider in optimizing their investment choices post-retirement?
Balancing 401(k) Contributions: With the pension freeze, Lockheed Martin employees should increasingly rely on 401(k) plans, where the company has increased its contribution cap. Employees must balance these contributions with other savings strategies and consider their investment choices carefully to ensure a robust retirement fund that can support their post-retirement life.
How does Lockheed Martin's approach to retirement planning include the management of health savings accounts (HSAs) for retirees? What are the tax advantages of HSAs, and how can employees effectively utilize this resource when planning for healthcare expenses in retirement?
Management of HSAs for Retirees: Lockheed Martin encourages maximizing contributions to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which offer significant tax advantages. These accounts not only provide funds for current medical expenses but can also be used tax-free for healthcare costs in retirement, making them a critical component of retirement health expense planning.
What is the best way for employees to contact Lockheed Martin regarding specifics or questions about their retirement benefits? What channels of communication are available, and how can they access the most current and relevant information regarding their retirement planning? These questions aim to encourage thoughtful consideration and discussion about retirement planning within Lockheed Martin, addressing various aspects of the company's benefits while promoting engagement with internal resources.
Contacting Lockheed Martin for Retirement Benefit Queries: Employees should direct specific inquiries about their retirement benefits to Lockheed Martin's HR department or consult the benefits Summary Plan Descriptions available through company resources. These channels ensure employees receive accurate and comprehensive information tailored to their individual circumstances.
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