Your University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Benefits & Career: Financial Planning for Faculty and Staff

Do you work at UNC Chapel Hill? Get the resources you need and expert insights from financial professionals who specialize in helping UNC Chapel Hill faculty and staff make the most of their compensation package and benefits.

Whether you’re a new UNC Chapel Hill staff member or you’ve gained tenure as a professor 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 UNC Chapel Hill benefits available to you?

✅If you’re thinking about leaving UNC Chapel Hill for another job or planning to retire from the school 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 UNC Chapel Hill Benefits and Compensation Package

Throughout the year, UNC Chapel Hill provides its faculty and staff with updates about their benefits ranging from health insurance and health savings plans to retirement plans like a 403(b), and deferred compensation plans. While the university offers many useful resources and access to knowledgeable staff who can assist with questions, you’ll also find financial professionals not affiliated with UNC Chapel Hill who specialize in helping UNC Chapel Hill faculty and staff make the most of their income and benefits.

Whether you work on the UNC Chapel Hill campus, another location around the state, 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 UNC Chapel Hill 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 UNC Chapel Hill faculty and staff 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 UNC Chapel Hill Faculty and Staff

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 UNC Chapel Hill Faculty and Staff
2. Get Answers to Your Questions About Your UNC Chapel Hill Benefits and Career
3. Browse Related Articles

Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for UNC Chapel Hill Faculty and Staff

Answers to UNC Chapel Hill Employee Questions with Nick Faulkner, CFP®

Nick Faulkner is a financial advisor based in Cary, North Carolina who specializes in offering financial planning services to UNC Chapel Hill faculty and staff. Nick helps his clients get the most value from their UNC Chapel Hill benefits and compensation package so they can enjoy life and feel confident about their financial future.

Q: As a financial advisor with experience helping UNC Chapel Hill faculty and staff save for their retirement, how do you help them make the most of their employee benefits?

Nick: We help professors and employees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill evaluate their retirement plan and pension options to make the sure they are making the best decision for their future.

Q: When you first speak with a UNC Chapel Hill 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?

Nick: How long have you been employed at UNC, what retirement plan option did you choose, and how much longer to you plan on working there?

Q: For UNC Chapel Hill faculty and staff thinking about leaving the school to accept a job elsewhere, what actions do you recommend they take before resigning and shortly thereafter?

Nick: Before leaving UNC Chapel Hill, you definitely need to look at your years of service to make sure you aren’t just a few years or months away from a guaranteed pension.

Q: For UNC Chapel Hill faculty and staff 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?

Nick: If you are employed at UNC Chapel Hill and you only have a pension plan – not a retirement account that carries stocks and bonds, I would definitely recommend to start putting money aside in an IRA or brokerage account. The reason being is that many professors retire with just a pension and no retirement assets. Meaning that they only have a stream of income for retirement that does not get adjusted with inflation or grow from year to year like a retirement account does.

Q: For UNC Chapel Hill 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?

Nick: The majority of experienced UNC professors or employees have such a nice pension plan but like other retirement accounts. Having a stream of income in retirement is nice, but there are a lot of considerations you need to take into account when contemplating retirement. What assets should you be invested in outside of your pension? If your pension doesn’t fully cover living expenses, and you aren’t taking social security, where does the additional income come from? How is your health insurance structured in retirement prior to Medicare? Typically UNC pension plans have no adjustment for inflation or cost of living, how do you plan to combat this during retirement as the cost of living in North Carolina keeps increasing?

Q: What questions do you recommend UNC Chapel Hill faculty and staff ask financial advisors they’re considering hiring to help them decide if they’re a good fit?

Nick: My pension doesn’t fully cover all of my expenses, what should I do? What pension payout option should I choose? I have a large pension, but a small retirement savings account, how to I increase the money in my retirement account?

Get to Know Nick Faulkner, Financial Advisor for UNC Chapel Hill Employees:

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

🙋‍♀️ Have Questions About Your UNC Chapel Hill Benefits or Career?

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