Do you work at General Motors?
Get expert insights from financial advisors who specialize in helping General Motors employees and executives make the most of their compensation package and benefits.
Looking for a financial advisor who specializes in working with General Motors employees? You’re in the right place. Below, you’ll find advisors who understand General Motors benefits and compensation — along with their answers to common financial questions from General Motors employees and executives.
Whether you recently joined General Motors or you’ve advanced into a management or executive leadership role over a multi-year career, making smart decisions about your income and General Motors benefits can have a lasting impact on your financial future. For example:
✅ Do you know the right moves to get the greatest value from the General Motors benefits available to you?
✅ If you’re thinking about leaving General Motors for another job or planning to retire in a few years, are you taking the right steps today to receive all the compensation and benefits you’ve earned?
Key Takeaways
GM Pension Holders Face a Lump Sum or Monthly Payment Decision
Eligible GM employees choose between a lump-sum distribution and pension payments, a decision that shapes retirement income for decades. The advisor below helps employees compare those options alongside their other benefits.
Retirement Shifts GM Employees from Saving to Spending — and Opens Tax Opportunities
Great savers, including many GM engineers, can find it hard to start spending what they’ve accumulated. Once paychecks stop, lower-income years can create significant tax planning opportunities that are easy to miss without a plan.
A GM Retirement Plan Should Cover Income, Investments, Taxes, Health Care, and Legacy
The advisor below builds retirement plans around those five areas. For employees leaving GM for another job, the most immediate decision is whether to roll the 401(k) to the new employer or into an IRA.
Why General Motors Employees Work with a Specialist Financial Advisor
Throughout the year, General Motors provides its employees and executives with updates about their benefits, ranging from health insurance and health savings accounts to retirement plans like a 401(k) and, for many longer-tenured employees, a pension — along with vehicle discounts and, for eligible salaried leaders, stock awards. 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 General Motors who specialize in helping General Motors employees make the most of their income and benefits.
General Motors is headquartered in downtown Detroit, Michigan, and its largest concentration of salaried employees is at the Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. GM also operates major assembly and manufacturing plants in states including Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, and Ohio. Whether you work at one of those sites, another office, 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.
Sensitive topics — like the steps you should take before quitting your job at General Motors 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.
Should You Hire a General Motors Specialist or a Local Financial Advisor?
You’ll likely find dozens of nearby financial advisors well-suited to help you reach your money goals with a personalized plan. But it can be harder to find a financial advisor who specializes in serving General Motors employees. Fortunately, many financial advisors offer virtual services, so you can meet online no matter where you (or they) live — which means you can hire a specialist financial advisor who lives hundreds of miles away if their knowledge and experience working with General Motors employees is the better fit for your unique needs.
💡 In the Q&A below, you’ll gain insights from financial advisors who work with General Motors employees to help them make smart decisions, get the most value from their compensation and benefits, reduce their money stress, and prepare for a comfortable retirement.
🙋♀️ Have a question not yet answered? Use the form below to submit your question. You can also contact financial advisors directly to set up an introductory call or contact them with your questions.
Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for General Motors Employees & Executives
In this section, you’ll learn how you can make the most of your General Motors employee benefits and gain valuable tips from financial advisors who specialize in working with General Motors employees and executives.
Financial Advisor Q&A · General Motors Employees
Christopher Berry, JD, CELA®, CFP®
Castle Wealth Group · Brighton, MI · Serves clients nationwide
We help individuals and families work toward achieving their ideal retirements.Christopher Berry is a financial advisor based in Brighton, Michigan, who specializes in offering financial planning services to General Motors employees. Christopher helps his clients get the most value from their General Motors benefits and compensation package so they can enjoy life and feel confident about their financial future.
QAs a financial advisor with experience helping General Motors employees save for their retirement, how do you help them make the most of their employee benefits?
I help them understand the employee benefits as well as pension vs. lump-sum distribution options.
QWhen you first speak with a General Motors 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?
I like to focus on building a Retirement and Legacy Blueprint by helping them understand the transition options out of GM and help them understand the transition from an accumulation phase of life while working at GM versus the preservation and distribution phase of life of retirement.
QIs there a particular benefit available to General Motors employees you feel isn’t as well utilized or understood by employees as it should be?
General Motors offers a range of employee benefits to its workers, including:
- Health insurance: GM offers a variety of health insurance plans, including medical, dental, and vision coverage.
- Retirement benefits: GM offers 401(k) retirement savings plans, as well as pension plans for eligible employees.
- Paid time off: GM offers vacation time, as well as paid time off for holidays, personal days, and sick leave.
- Employee assistance programs: GM offers resources and support for employees who may be facing personal or professional challenges, including counseling and legal services.
- Career development: GM offers a range of training and development programs to help employees advance their careers and improve their skills.
- Employee discounts: GM offers discounts on GM vehicles and other products and services to its employees.
- Other perks: GM may also offer other benefits and perks to its employees, such as gym memberships and employee social events.
QFor General Motors employees thinking about leaving the company to accept a job elsewhere, what actions do you recommend they take before resigning and shortly thereafter?
One of the biggest issues is what to do with their 401(k). Depending on the situation, we may want to roll the 401k to the new employer, or we may want to roll the 401k to an IRA.
QFor General Motors 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?
I recommend building a Retirement and Legacy Blueprint that focuses on five key areas of planning, which are:
- Income Planning
- Investment Planning
- Tax Planning
- Health Care Planning
- Legacy Planning
QFor General Motors 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?
During the accumulation phase of working for GM, it’s pretty straightforward, invest and save as much as you can. However, when you move into retirement, there needs to be a switch in mindset to preservation and distribution. Plus, upon retirement, there are HUGE tax planning opportunities now that the wages are not showing up on 1040.
QWhat are some of the unique financial planning challenges you commonly see among your clients who are General Motors employees, and how do you help them overcome these obstacles?
One of the biggest obstacles for our clients from GM, especially the engineers, is just the mindset shift of now spending that money that you’ve worked so hard to accumulate. Typically, what we see is that you were a great saver, but now is the time to spend the money in retirement.
QWhat questions do you recommend General Motors employees ask financial advisors they’re considering hiring to help them decide if they’re a good fit?
Are they a fiduciary? Are they a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®? What other credentials do you have? Do you tie legal, financial, and tax planning all into one package?
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About the Author
Brian Thorp
Founder & CEO, Wealthtender · Editor-in-Chief
Brian Thorp is the founder and CEO of Wealthtender and serves as Editor-in-Chief. With over 25 years in the financial services industry — including nearly 22 years at Invesco, where he led strategic partnerships with wealth management firms representing more than $100 billion in assets — Brian founded Wealthtender to help people find financial advisors they can trust and make more informed money decisions.
A member of the National Society of Compliance Professionals and its SEC Marketing Rule Working Group, Brian was recognized by WealthManagement.com as one of its “Ten to Watch in 2024” for his work reshaping how financial advisors market their services. He holds a B.B.A. in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin.
Brian and his wife live in Austin, Texas.