Your Mayo Clinic Benefits & Career: Financial Planning for Staff and Executives

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

Whether you’re a new Mayo Clinic staff member 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 Mayo Clinic benefits available to you?

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

Throughout the year, Mayo Clinic provides its staff and executives with updates about their benefits ranging from health insurance and health savings plans to retirement plans. 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 the Mayo Clinic who specialize in helping Mayo Clinic employees make the most of their income and benefits.

Whether you work in the Mayo Clinic headquarters in Rochester, Minnesota, another facility 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 Mayo Clinic 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 Mayo Clinic 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 Mayo Clinic 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 Mayo Clinic Employees & Executives
2. Get Answers to Your Questions About Your Mayo Clinic Benefits and Career
3. Quick Facts & Resources for Mayo Clinic Employees
4. Browse Related Articles

Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for Mayo Clinic Employees & Executives

Answers to Employee Questions with Hunter Kelly, CFP®

Hunter Kelly is a financial advisor based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, who specializes in offering financial planning services to Mayo Clinic employees. Hunter helps his clients get the most value from their Mayo Clinic benefits and compensation package so they can enjoy life and feel confident about their financial future.

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

Hunter: I help Mayo Clinic staff review their employee benefits, maximize 403b/457b benefits, and determine the best options for them.

Q: When you first speak with a Mayo Clinic 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?

Hunter: How long have you been working at Mayo Clinic? What does your income look like when you retire? Will someone depend on your pension benefits? How are you reducing your income from a tax standpoint?

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

Hunter: The pension plan versus the lump sum option. Employees default to the pension payout, but often times, I find it’s better for an employee to do a lump sum from a tax and investment standpoint.

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

Hunter: They are offered a pension, and the physicians are offered both a 401k/403b and a 457b, which allows them to double up on pretax retirement savings. They are also offered a Health Savings Account (HSA) and disability insurance.

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

Hunter: Understanding what your pension plan options are. Know how to access other retirement plans as well.

Q: For Mayo Clinic 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?

Hunter: Mayo Clinic employees should understand the implications of each pension payout not only from an income perspective but also from a tax perspective. Many of them will be heavily weighted in pretax dollars, so taking a pension may hurt them from a total income perspective than taking the lump sum and dragging those distributions out longer or doing Roth conversions.

Q: For Mayo Clinic 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?

Hunter: Do they understand the impact of taxes and longevity risk in each pension plan option? Do they know how to reduce Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)? If they aren’t sure how much they should take out of their investments each year or unsure of how to effectively pass down money to their kids and avoid estate taxes.

Get to Know Hunter Kelly, Financial Advisor for Mayo Clinic Employees:

View Hunter’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 Mayo Clinic employees and how do you help them overcome these obstacles?

Hunter: Being heavily weighted in pretax dollars since they were avoiding taxes in high-income earning years. Using Roth conversion strategies, donor-advised funds, and Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) are some ways that we can help reduce their lifetime tax bill when taking distributions from those accounts.

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

Hunter: Run Mayo Clinic Pension analysis. Do you understand deferred compensation plans? Are you well-versed in Roth conversion strategies?

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

Hunter: Many Mayo Clinic employees do not understand their pension options.

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

Hunter: The ability for the employees to contribute to both the 457b and 401k, which, as of 2024, can give them $46,000 (or more if over 50) in income deductions.

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

Hunter: When I was able to help two clients who are Mayo Clinic employees decide on their pension options.

For the first client, we determined that the lump sum was the best option. We turned around and did a Roth conversion strategy for a number of years, which has saved them tens of thousands of dollars each year.

The other client needed to protect his spouse, so we chose the joint lifetime pension payout and helped them better manage the 403b account they had with Mayo. Pensions are not common anymore, but for those that do have them, it is a crucial decision to make when retiring.

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