Your City of New York Benefits & Career: Financial Planning for Employees

Do you work for the City of New York? Get the resources you need and expert insights from financial professionals who specialize in helping City of New York employees make the most of their compensation packages and benefits.

Whether you’re a new City of New York employee or you’re nearing retirement after a multi-year career, it’s important to make smart money moves with your income and employee benefits. For example:

✅ Do you know the right moves to make to get the greatest value from the City of New York benefits available to you?

✅If you’re thinking about leaving the City of New York for another job or planning to retire in a few years, are you taking the right steps today to ensure you will receive all of the compensation and benefits that you’ve earned?

Get the Most Value from Your City of New York Benefits and Compensation Package

Throughout the year, the City of New York provides its employees with updates about their benefits ranging from health insurance and health savings plans to retirement plans like a 401(k) and deferred compensation plans. While the City offers many useful resources and access to knowledgeable staff who can assist with questions, you’ll also find financial professionals not affiliated with the City of New York who specialize in helping NYC employees make the most of their income and benefits. You may have questions about your compensation package and benefits better suited for a financial professional who can offer unbiased advice and guidance.

For example, sensitive topics like discussing the steps you should take before quitting your job working for the City of New York to work elsewhere or deciding when you should plan to retire are all conversations that may be more comfortable with a trusted financial advisor.

💡 In the Q&A below, you’ll gain insights from financial advisors who work with City of New York employees to help them make smart decisions to get the most value from their compensation and benefits, reduce their money stress, and prepare for a comfortable retirement.

🙋‍♀️ Do you have questions not yet answered? Use the form below to submit questions anonymously and watch this article for updates with answers to your questions. You can also reach out to the financial advisors below to set up an introductory call or contact them with your questions by email.

💸 Smart Money Insights for City of New York Employees

This page is organized into sections to help you quickly find the information you need and get answers to your questions:

1. Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for City of New York Employees
2. Get Answers to Your Questions About Your City of New York Benefits and Career
3. Quick Facts & Resources for City of New York Employees
4. Browse Related Articles

Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for City of New York Employees

Answers to Employee Questions with Jason Lampert, CFP®

Jason Lampert is a financial advisor based in New York City who specializes in offering financial planning services to City of New York employees. Jason helps his clients get the most value from their City of New York benefits and compensation package so they can enjoy life and feel confident about their financial future.

Q: As a financial advisor with experience helping City of New York employees save for their retirement, how do you help them make the most of their employee benefits?

Jason: NYC employees with pensions need to think about how their pension options affect the rest of their financial planning around retirement, when and where they should retire, what life insurance they need, how to structure retirement income withdrawals, taxation of benefits, retirement health benefits, when to claim social security and a host of other specific areas. The considerations around these financial elements change when retiring with benefits that are specific to a particular city union, contract, or tier level.

Q: When you first speak with an NYC employee, what questions do you like to ask to better understand their unique circumstances and determine how you can best help them achieve their goals?

Jason: What union are you in? What are your contracted pension requirements (minimum age/years of service)? What provisions have you made to protect your spouse?

Q: Is there a particular benefit available to City of New York employees you feel isn’t as well utilized or understood by employees as it should be?

Jason: Pensioned NYC employees have the ability to save to the annual maximums in the city’s 457 and 401k deferred compensation programs. Each of the plans has a separate maximum annual contribution amount, not a combined maximum, as well as catch-up contribution features. This is a huge opportunity for people approaching retirement to put away money in a tax-advantaged way. Both the 457 and 401k plans have ROTH options. And the city allows 401k Roll-ins so that the 401k can be used to filter out blended post-tax basis from funds in a traditional IRA, instrumental for doing what is known as a “Mega Roth Conversion.”

Q: Beyond City of New York employee benefits for retirement savings, are there other types of benefits offered by the City that you find valuable to discuss with your clients?

Jason: Each of the city’s many unions has bespoke benefit packages for employees, retirees, and their spouses. It’s really important that the employee knows exactly what benefits are available via their contract and which will continue in retirement and after their death. In addition, employees have access to benefits that are often underutilized, such as FSA accounts for health care and child care.

Q: For City of New York employees thinking about leaving the City to accept a job elsewhere, what actions do you recommend they take before resigning and shortly thereafter?

Jason: It is vital that NYC employees have a plan for and examine carefully the pension options that will be available to them, specifically when they separate from service if they have qualified for pension. The options can be a bewildering array of choices that can have significant effects on the benefit amounts for an employee and their beneficiaries.

Q: For City of New York employees approaching retirement age, how do you recommend they prepare to make the transition from living off their salary to relying upon other sources of income?

Jason: Pensions can be used to bridge the gap between retirement and claiming Social Security retirement benefits, allowing City retirees to take advantage of Social Security delayed retirement credits. With careful advanced planning, City employees can maximize social security benefits for additional income in retirement that is inflation-adjusted and guaranteed. Although having a pension is great, pension COLAs are usually very limited and not indexed for inflation, which can lead retirees to have cash flow problems down the line if they do not have other income sources that manage inflation risk.

Q: For City of New York employees who have managed their finances on their own to this point, what would you suggest they consider to help them decide if they should begin working with a financial advisor at this stage in their lives?

Jason: Just the complexities of analyzing pension options, withdrawal strategies, and taxation of retiree benefits should give people pause, especially as they approach retirement. An integrated retirement income strategy that looks to the future can be crafted from the miscellaneous pieces that are accumulated during your work life.

Get to Know Jason Lampert, Financial Advisor for City of New York Employees:

View Jason’s profile page on Wealthtender or visit his website to learn more.

Q: What are some of the unique financial planning challenges you commonly see among your clients who are City of New York employees, and how do you help them overcome these obstacles?

Jason: Often, NYC employees regard taking a 401k loan as an easy way to access capital without regard for how that affects the longer-term goal of retirement. By planning for goals through earmarking additional savings allocations, clients can work toward a shorter term without endangering the long-term one. Often, this involves prioritizing spending and reallocating current cash flow, a process that I facilitate.

Q: What questions do you recommend NYC employees ask financial advisors they’re considering hiring to help them decide if they’re a good fit?

Jason: What do you know about NYC pensions and retiree benefits?

Q: Is there anything that comes up frequently in your initial meeting with City of New York employees that surprises you?

Jason: How few people have read the deferred compensation and pension benefit guides (SPD-Summary Plan Description) despite participating in these programs for years or decades.

Q: For highly compensated City of New York employees and executives, are there any special benefits you believe it’s important to take into consideration when preparing their financial plan?

Jason: Whether they can take advantage of both the 401 and 457 deferred compensation offerings.

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