Company Benefits
Another item to consider is whether your company benefits will continue into your retirement.
Many companies continue some form of benefits for their retirees, even if they are generally not as generous as they were when you were employed.
Other companies, when offering an early retirement program, will offer benefits for a specified period of time.
Make sure that you determine what your benefits will be in retirement and evaluate whether or not you will need to enhance your coverage to suit your lifestyle. For example, if you travel out of the country, will you have out of country coverage from your previous employer?
One area that is usually of concern to many employees is the issue of life insurance. Upon leaving a group plan, you are usually eligible to convert your group coverage to private coverage.
The benefit of this option is that the conversion can usually be done without a medical exam. For those individuals where a medical examination would not be an issue, simply compare the cost of private coverage to the cost of the converted group coverage to determine which is most beneficial (assuming that you are comparing the same type of coverage). It is also important at this point to assess just how much life insurance coverage you actually require.
In addition to life insurance, you may also be able to retain your company dental and/or medical coverage.
Don't overlook the importance of company benefits when you leave an employer or when you retire.
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