Your Con Edison Benefits & Career: Financial Planning for Employees and Executives

Do you work at Con Edison? Get the resources you need and expert insights from financial professionals who specialize in helping Con Edison employees make the most of their compensation package and benefits.

Whether you’re a new Con Edison employee or you’ve moved up the ranks into a management or executive leadership role over 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 Con Edison benefits available to you?

✅If you’re thinking about leaving Con Edison for another job or planning to retire from the company 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 Con Edison Benefits and Compensation Package

Throughout the year, Con Edison provides its employees and executives with updates about their benefits ranging from health insurance and health savings plans to retirement plans like a 401(k), deferred compensation plans, and stock options. While the company offers many useful resources and access to knowledgeable staff who can assist with questions, you’ll also find financial professionals not affiliated with Con Edison who specialize in helping Con Edison employees make the most of their income and benefits.

Whether you work in the Con Edison headquarters in New York City, another location around the region, or remotely from home, 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 at Con Edison to work elsewhere, protecting yourself in advance of a layoff, 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 Con Edison 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 Con Edison Employees & Executives

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 Con Edison Employees & Executives
2. Get Answers to Your Questions About Your Con Edison Benefits and Career
3. Browse Related Articles

Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for Con Edison Employees & Executives

Answers to Employee Questions with Louis Green, CFA®, CFP®

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

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

Louis: We sit down with Con Ed employees, review all of their benefits, explore what benefits are not currently utilized and discuss the pros and cons of any non utilized benefits. The pension benefits play an important role in our work with Con Ed employees. We often use an estimate of their pension plan to help build out their broader financial plan.

Q: When you first speak with a Con Edison 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?

Louis: When we first meet with an employee at Con Ed, we want to learn everything we can about them. We discuss their family, current role at Con Ed, how they spend their time, and what their long term goals are. After learning everything we can about them, we take a deep dive into their finances, specifically asking questions such as what their money means to them and what are each of their financial goals.

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

Louis: I feel the 401(k) is not utilized enough at Con Ed. However, that also applies to many other employees at different companies. Many employees are either not taking full advantage of their 401(k) or need help exploring how it should best be used now and in the long run.

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

Louis: The health savings account. A health savings account is very valuable as it provides triple tax benefits – contributions are tax deductible, the money grows tax deferred and qualified withdrawals are tax free.

Q: For Con Edison employees thinking about leaving the company to accept a job elsewhere, what actions do you recommend they take before resigning and shortly thereafter?

Louis: We recommend employees who are planning to resign to get their house in order. They should consider both the “soft” part of their resignation, such as the extra demand on their time from the transition, the emotional part of their transition and the “hard” part of the transition, specifically regarding their investment and retirement accounts. They should decide what to do with their 401(k) plan, consider their current HSA plan, and make sure to keep a copy of all relevant documents. We recommend employees develop a checklist, and work on each of these items in an expedited manner. If they can take a weekend to develop and execute on these items, they will have an opportunity to hit the ground running in their new role.

Q: For Con Edison 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?

Louis: As Con Edison employees transition to retirement, we recommend they start by developing a solid budget, balance sheet and cash flow statement. For our clients, we use financial planning software to capture all of their sources of income and expenses. We use inflation and projected investment returns to project those numbers forward and along with their goals, help them determine the probability of meeting their goals. Nothing is perfect and as a result, their financial plan must be updated annually. The most important thing for Con Ed employees to do as they transition to retirement is to be aware of their spending needs, live within those means and have a suitable portfolio for them. I wrote a book titled, 5 Steps To Retirement Planning, which can be accessed here. That book has a few checklists they can use as they transition to retirement.

Q: For Con Edison 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?

Louis: Con Ed employees should start by considering if they need an advisor. Do they have complex investments? Are their finances complex? How much time do they want to allocate to their investments and finances? Might working with an advisor free up their time and allow them to spend more time on what they value most such as family or travel? Are they comfortable giving up control of their investments? They can even interview a few advisors before making a decision. As an advisor, we ask that they be upfront with us before setting a meeting and keep us updated along the way. If they decide not to use us or decide to work with another advisor a friendly email or phone call is always appreciated.

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

Louis: A unique challenge we see with Con Ed employees is the lack of a combined plan regarding their pension benefits, 401(k) plan and other investments. We help them overcome these obstacles with a broad financial plan – updated annually that is tailored to their goals.

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

Louis: We recommend Con Ed employees start by asking a financial advisor if they are a fiduciary. Will they always hold their clients interests above their own in any situation? What services do they provide? What are their combined fees including investment fees? Can the financial advisor provide a broad based financial plan? Is there an extra fee for that plan? How often will they communicate with the client? How is the portfolio transition handled?

Q: Is there anything that comes up frequently in your initial meeting with Con Edison employees that surprises you?

Louis: Con Ed employees are hard working and very intelligent. As with all employees, I often find that they need help with comprehensive planning.

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

Louis: Highly compensated employees should take advantage of all of the tax advantaged strategies that Con Ed offers. They should especially consider tax advantaged strategies such as the 401(k) and HSA plans.

Q: Is there a particularly memorable experience or a moment you recall with a client who worked at Con Edison when you realized they have unique opportunities and circumstances when it comes to their financial planning needs?

Louis: I recently completed a financial plan for a client. One benefit available to him was a pension. His pension provided him an opportunity to receive a fixed amount of money or to receive a lump sum payment in the future. The pension plan will potentially serve as a nice source of income for this client.

Get to Know Louis Green, Financial Advisor for Con Edison Employees:

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

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