When computers took up entire warehouses, many people thought there was no way your average consumer would have a computer in their house. Now we have them in our pockets. The future is all about portability, baby.
Portable benefits are the same idea: employee-sponsored benefits that you can take with you. When you leave your job, you should be able to transfer things like your 401(k) either to yourself (IRA) or to a new 401(k) with your new employer via a rollover.
For the boomer generation who stayed at the same company for 50 years, portable benefits weren’t thought about too much. Today, they’re a basic feature, making changing jobs a lot less worrisome. Still, be on the lookout, since you might lose a good chunk of money in a rollover process.
Portable benefits apply to most 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, and health savings accounts (HSAs). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) makes individual healthcare plans portable, and has done so since 1996. Other types of plans, like defined-benefit plans and flexible spending accounts (FHAs), won’t fit so easily in your pocket, since they’re not portable. Bigger isn’t always better.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What are Unemployment Benefits?3 Views
Finance Allah Shmoop What are unemployment benefits Well a century
ago and you lost your job This is what happened
to you then this and then this Well the government
decided that America was better than this and that there
should be a shock absorber in the personal economies of
individuals when they were fired And yes sometimes employees did
such a lousy job at work They deserve to get
fired But other times cos downsized into higher divisions so
employees who are at no fault of their own were
fired And other times injuries illness and other factors played
a role in turning this guy into this guy So
the U S Government created an unemployment benefit system that
filtered through out the country And it was a kind
of buffer when an employee went from earning a grand
a week Teo nothing Unemployment benefits comprise a few things
Well first there's the money And in order for there
to be money in the till somewhere too Hey for
that unemployment benefit system the US introduced attacks that basically
socks away money for the future with certainty that well
at some point a whole lot of people will be
unemployed and appreciate the buffer It's a fair question to
ask What about the people who were planners plotters preparers
for a rainy day But why do you tax those
people so that they then pay for workers who got
fired and weren't disciplined enough to save their own damn
money Well it's kind of the price you pay for
being a superpower So yeah the US does have freeloaders
criminals leeches on the system lazy people and bad workers
But we have so many more of the good egg
kind of people that we can at least as faras
today goes afford TTO have a generous unemployment system So
how does one actually qualify for unemployment benefits Well usually
you have to have lived in your state for at
least a year before collecting them and typically you have
to show that you're continually actively seeking employment and not
just binging Handmaid's tale on your sofa And often you
have to show that you were laid off through no
fault of your own Like if you were fired from
RVs for throwing four pounds of roast beef at the
head of a customer No you'll probably need to look
into you know Plan B i e soliciting your family
for alone instead of hoping unemployment covers Yeah And well
don't expect the benefits to allow you to continue your
existing quality of life Generally even if you do qualify
for benefits well you'll get about a third or after
our last of your old salary So you're less likely
to end up on easy street with unemployment benefits than 00:02:29.25 --> [endTime] you are to end up on the streets
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