Your Corning Benefits & Career: Financial Planning for Employees and Executives

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

Whether you’re a new Corning 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 Corning benefits available to you?

✅If you’re thinking about leaving Corning 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 Corning Benefits and Compensation Package

Throughout the year, Corning 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 Corning who specialize in helping Corning employees make the most of their income and benefits.

Whether you work in the Corning headquarters in Corning, New York, another office location around the country, 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 Corning to work elsewhere, protecting yourself in advance of a corporate 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 Corning 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 Corning 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 Corning Employees & Executives
2. Get Answers to Your Questions About Your Corning Benefits and Career
3. Quick Facts & Resources for Corning Employees
4. Browse Related Articles

Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for Corning Employees & Executives

Answers to Employee Questions with Amy Irvine, CFP, EA, MPAS, CCFC, CDFA, CFT-I

 

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

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

Amy: Corning has a diverse menu of employee benefits, including a 401k (with a match, a new Roth provision and after-tax options), a cash balance plan, various health, life insurance and disability plans, and supplemental protection plans. They also offer equity compensation plans (Stock Options and RSUs) and executive employee benefits such as a supplement pension plan, CPUs and PSUs. We help map out the best utilization of these plans so that clients can have a balanced life now and in the future at retirement.

Q: When you first speak with a Corning 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?

Amy: Tell me a little about yourself:

• Age
• Children
• Fur-babies
• What does a balanced life look like for you?
• If money wasn’t a barrier, what would you change in your life?
• What’s going on now that made you want to schedule a call with us?
  • How did you get here?  What led up to this event?
  • What are you thinking?
  • How are you feeling?

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

Amy: Many people take the “default benefits” available to them during open enrollment; however, we find that with a little education and scenario analysis, the benefits that are available will add more protection to clients and their families. We also find that many do not take advantage of the legal plan available and encourage many of our clients to sign up and utilize it for updating (or preparing) their estate planning documents. Executive employees also have executive compensation plans that will pay for financial and estate planning services.

Q: Beyond Corning employee benefits for retirement savings, are there other types of benefits offered by the company that you find valuable to discuss with your clients (e.g., stock, education savings, health savings)?

Amy: Corning has equity compensation plans, as well as an option for both low and high-deductible health insurance plans. They also offer flexible spending plans and health savings plans.

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

Amy: We start with the base pay but then compare all of the other benefits, opportunities, and cost of living if there is a relocation involved. Beyond that, we also look at the pension benefits and potential loss of health insurance in retirement.

Q: For Corning 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?

Amy: We start this process 1 – 2 years ahead of planned retirement, asking what they will “do” in retirement. In other words, we look at it from two angles:

• Financial – what does cash flow look like? Can we use this time to fill up the tax bucket, complete Roth Conversions, mapping out the mix the cash flow should come from (i.e. pre-tax vs post-tax), and building in a year of laddered bonds / cash to reduce the risk of withdrawing from their portfolio in early years if the markets are negative (attempt to reduce negativity on their plan due to sequence of returns).
• Emotional – we understand that their job was a big piece of their identity. What does the next phase look like? Will they work part-time, will they volunteer, will they travel, what does day one look like? How will their social circle change, or how do they keep it the same? The answer to these questions needs to roll into the financial side, and we need to make sure we plan to support the emotional side.

Q: For Corning 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?

Amy: Areas we might be able to help or guide them include:

• Are they clear on the tax implications of their savings and planned distribution in retirement?
• Have they planned for life events (birth of a child, disability, loss of a loved one, caregiving for a family member (themselves, spouse, child, or parent)?
• Do they understand how all the benefits fertilize their financial roots?
• If they are married, is their spouse aware of all their financial life?
• Have they planned for their longevity and thought about possible gifting?
• Have they considered how their estate plan folds into the big picture?

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

Amy: Many of the employees are focused on their careers and are good savers, but they don’t have time to focus on their big picture and how everything integrates with each other. We start by doing a financial audit of their current financial life.

During the audit, we make some general observations about their current financials. During the delivery meeting, we discuss how their current financial situation supports the answers to the questions we asked them during the discovery call (and anything new we’ve discovered).

We can then map changes that can be made to overcome any of the obstacles that may exist, we also map out a calendar for addressing each area of the client’s financial life in more detail over the next year.

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

Amy: We believe it is a personality fit. We never judge a person; they are hiring us to guide them. So, they need to ask questions about our process and anything that they feel insecure about. Financial planning is a very emotional journey, we want our clients to feel as confident about their finances as they do their job/career, so are they comfortable sharing everything with us? They may also want to ask about how we charge clients (flat fee) and exactly what services we would provide for that flat fee.

Get to Know Amy Irvine, Financial Advisor for Corning Employees:

 

 

View Amy’s profile page on Wealthtender or visit her website to learn more.

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

Amy: Most are unaware of all the benefit options available to them and that we know more about them than they do.

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

Amy: They likely will have access to:

• Supplemental Pension Plan
• CPUs
• PSUs
• RSUs
• Executive Comp Plan (to help pay for our services or those of an attorney)
• Additional retirement benefits at retirement

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

Amy: This goes back a number of years (like 20+), but I remember walking a new client (at the time) through all their benefit options and reviewing their stock options with them; this was a highly educated individual (PhD level) and yet, they were uneducated when it came to the plethora of benefits available to them (especially the ones they were not taking advantage of). We were able to model how electing some of the enhanced benefits improved their plan and protected their family at greater levels.

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