News
HSA Are A Healthcare Cost Savings Solution
What is an HSA? “HSAs or Health Savings Accounts, are probably one of the less utilized solutions in the marketplace today even though they’ve been in effect for 10 years, ” says Steve Brown, Owner and Principle Broker at Group Benefits Northwest. “An HSA is a bank account that you put money into, pre-tax, for
Read moreImportant Numbers for 2019
The Internal Revenue Service announced some very important number companies and employees need to know about health savings accounts, 401(k)s and flexible spending accounts. Note: All of the changes take place in January 2019. 401(k) Pre Tax Limit Increases – Pre-tax contribution limits for employees who participate in a 401(k), 403(b) and most 457 plans increases
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Coverage For Your Employees
Are you looking for health insurance coverage for your employees? Give us a call in Seattle at (206) 910-4630 or in Mount Vernon at (360) 419-9999. Group Benefits Northwest has provided health insurance and group benefit plans to Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish and King County small and midsize companies for 35 years. Partnering with trusted insurance providers,
Read moreLong-Term Care or Long-Term Disability?
What is the difference between long-term care and long-term disability insurance? Long-term care insurance Since people are living longer, employees are asking more about long-term care (LTC) insurance and want to know if it is part of their employer provided group benefits insurance plan. While most realize LTC will cover their end of life nursing
Read moreLevel-Funded Health Plans
Looking for a solution to rising healthcare costs and to keep your health care spend down? Up until recently it’s been too ‘risky’ for small businesses to ‘self-insure’ but new options in health plans give small and midsize companies similar self-insured employee coverage that the larger companies have long utilized. Level-funded plans essentially bundle the
Read moreEmployee Group Benefit Basics
What are employee group benefits? Between the years 1930 to 1950, in response to Labor Unions’ demands for better wages and working conditions, U.S. companies and the unions negotiated the employee benefits which are commonly found today in ‘both union and non-union companies.’ Much like today, employers used wages to compete for the best talent
Read moreHealth Savings Accounts (HSA) Are Still A Good Choice For Small Business
HSAs or Health Savings Accounts are a great way for small businesses to provide benefits for their employees. They are probably one of the less utilized solutions in the marketplace today even though they’ve been in effect for 10 years. The IRS may allow for employee, employee family members and employer to ‘make tax-deductible contributions’
Read moreHow To Plan For A Secure Retirement
by Barry H. Spencer | Dec 26, 2017 When most people think about investing for retirement, it’s usually in terms of market returns — because that’s what the media wants us to think about. Every evening on the news, right before a commercial break, they’ll give you a 20-second market update: The S&P was up 1 percentage point,
Read moreEmployee Recruitment and Retention
Second in a series of five ‘HR challenges’ facing small businesses, we take a look at why, especially now, HR is so important to small and midsize (SMB) companies (Related post: “Why HR For Small Business“). Here in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle and the North Puget Sound small and midsize companies are competing with one
Read moreWhy HR For Small Business?
First in a series of ‘HR challenges’ facing small businesses, we take a look at why, especially now, HR is so important to small and midsize (SMB) companies. Every company has its own culture and set of rules which impact how well a team can work together toward their common goal. Often large companies have
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