Southwest Training Resources

Help Your Customers “Retire On Time”:

If you will do some investigating you will discover that 65% to 75% of the people you see each day are not covered by a retirement plan at work.  Even if the Social Security age goes up to 68 or 69, your institution can assist the people in your community “Retire on Time” by encouraging them to regularly invest in an IRA.  If they wish to retire by age 62, they will need to have enough IRA assets to last them at least until their social security benefits kick in.  Is your financial institution up to the challenge of building a secure retirement future for your friends and neighbors?

Why “Health Savings Accounts”:

Health Savings Accounts are fairly new since they were only signed into law in December of 2003.  They are actually a better version of medical savings accounts.  An HSA is an account, similar to an IRA, devoted solely to health expenses and used with a high deductible health insurance policy.  The idea is the high deductible insurance policies cost less and the money saved can be put into the HSA account.  The funds are then used for medical fees until the deductible is met.  Any unused portion remains in the account and earns tax-free interest.  The insurance is used for medical problems that exceed the deductible of the policy.

Here is a quick comparison of a BlueCross-BlueShield HSA account and a non-HSA family plan for a family of four:

By taking some of the monthly premium savings and investing in a Health Savings Account, the customer actually becomes partially “self-insured” – and if there are no medical expenses, the customer keeps the money.

There is no doubt that the new Health Savings Accounts will provide lower premiums for health insurance, be a great investment vehicle, and provide tax benefits for those who are able to use them.  Just the ability to use pre-tax dollars to pay for medical fees is a huge improvement.  Because the high premium of regular health insurance is a stumbling block to many of your customers’ ability to afford health insurance, the use of HSAs might be the edge they need to manage insurance now.