5 Things You Should Do After Starting A New Job
Jacob Bazzrea
Helping Business Owners and Professionals Reduce Tax Exposure and Make Wise Decisions with Their Financial Matters | Efficient Transfer of Wealth to Future Generations | Insurance & Retirement Planning
So, you took a leap of faith and started a new job, congratulations are in order! Have a celebratory drink of your preferred sort in honor of the occasion, you deserve it!
Now, obviously you are going through the onboarding process at your new job now, and there are certainly lots of things to be done there; however, there are some housekeeping items you should square away on your end before you get too distracted.
The first thing you should do is contact your financial advisor to roll over your old 401k into a personal IRA. In fact, there are enough reasons to do this that I dedicated an entire post to just this subject here.
The second thing you should do is enroll for your group benefits at your new job. The sooner you enroll in your new group benefits, the sooner you begin contributing to the new retirement plan. It is advisable to have your advisor review the plan documents and help you setup the allocation within the retirement plan, as well as discuss the implications of your contribution amounts.
The third thing you should do after starting a new job is review any tax implications that may have changed between your old job and your new job. Nobody wants to pay taxes, and your advisor can help you get out in front of any changes and ensure you are both aware of those, and prepared for them.
The fourth thing you should do is begin reviewing your insurance coverage. Always take the free life insurance coverage provided by your employer; however, your old coverage from your previous employer will go away. It may be advisable to take on permanent coverage that will not go away when you change jobs, or retire, as well depending upon what your desires and circumstances are. Any legacy plans you have put in place should likely be reviewed at this point as well to ensure the original plan still achieves the desired outcome.
The fifth thing you should do is evaluate your contribution amounts to any investments you are actively contributing to on a regular basis. Your advisor should also do a current overview of the active strategy and consult with you about whether any situational changes are advisable, and whether or not you want to make those changes at this time.
Hopefully this helps you navigate all the chaos of starting a new job a little more easily!