bWell Update

Steppers Select Charity to Receive BMC Donation

The Red Hot Chili Steppers, winners of the 2019 Step-IT-Up Challenge, recently voted and selected St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital as the deserving charity to receive the $5,000 donation from BMC. 

Named for the patron saint of desperate and lost causes, St. Jude takes on the most challenging cases of childhood cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. And consistent with the vision of St. Jude’s founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion, or a family's ability to pay. No family ever receives a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food.

The donation could cover the cost of life-saving chemotherapy treatment, or provide ten, one-hour physical therapy treatments to help a child with a developmental, cognitive, or a physical impairment caused by cancer or its treatment.

 Congratulations to the Red Hot Chili Steppers for stepping IT up to help save children's lives!

Attention, Please. Don’t Forget Your Rewards!
Remember, you have until August 31 to redeem your rewards for gift cards* or discounts on your 2020 medical premiums. Visit mybmcwellness.com and use the Rewards Mall Quick Start Guide. Employees enrolled in a BMC medical plan with rewards not redeemed by August 31 will automatically receive the discount on medical premiums for 2020. Employees not enrolled in a BMC medical plan will lose rewards not redeemed by August 31.

The Reward Now or Discounts Later program feature is new for the 2018-2019 bWell year. So, for this year only, BMC is providing an automatic reward redemption for medical premium discounts for employees with expired rewards. For future program years, employees will lose rewards not redeemed by the program end date.

Please note: *If you choose a cash reward (gift card), the Internal Revenue Code considers the gift card value as taxable income. 

Benefits Help with Back to School Scramble

Summer camps are winding down, and the start of school is coming up. If you’re a working parent, that can mean gaps in childcare, half-days at school, and many other seasonal scheduling challenges. How will you find a reliable back-up plan when your regular care isn’t available, or your child is mildly ill, and you have to be at work? Your Bright Horizons Back-Up Care and Bright Horizons Additional Family Supports benefits can help. Read More [Employer Username: BMC; Password: care4you].

Download the AppApp Store or Google Play.

How to Grow Resilient Children, Become Stronger Parents

Prolonged stress often leads to burnout that can destroy your energy levels, cause unusual mood swings, and lower your work performance. Join Magellan’s live interactive webinar on Wednesday, August 14‘Emotional Muscle’: How to Grow Resilient Children and Become Stronger Parents. Learning objectives include:

  • Learn about child development through the concept of emotional muscle
  • Learn how parents and children can grow together through different life stages to become stronger and more resilient
  • Learn how to bounce back when bad things happen 

Space is limited, so register now.

Strengthening Your Family’s Emotional Muscles

If you’re a parent, one of your most important roles is to help your family members build the inner resources they’ll need to face life’s inevitable adversities. If you’re not already doing it, you can actively teach youngsters how to manage their emotions during tough times, such as problems with peers, significant stress, trauma, and even tragedy. Everyone can build their resilience throughout life.

  • Show children the value of maintaining mutually supportive connections with others and showing empathy for others’ challenges.
  • Remind them of how they’ve gotten through difficult times in the past. Point out and build on prior successes.
  • Promote a positive, forward-facing outlook by explaining how even though a current situation seems bleak, the future will be brighter.
  • Help them understand the unavoidability of change during all life stages.

Source: magellanascend.com

July FEDTalks Prize Winners

Congratulations to Bryan J., who attended the Houston workshop “Take the First Step to Investing” on July 16, and won a pair of AirPods. Richard D. also won a pair of AirPods in the prize drawing for attending the virtual workshop on July 24. Congratulations Richard!  

Watch your email for details about the next FEDTalk in the fall.

How to Plan for Rising Health Care Costs

According to the Fidelity Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate, an average retired couple age 65 in 2019 may need approximately $285,000 saved (after tax) to cover health care expenses in retirement. Of course, the amount you'll need will depend on when and where you retire, how healthy you are, and how long you live.

If you are like most Americans, health care is expected to be one of your largest expenses in retirement, after housing and transportation costs. But unlike your parents' generation, you won't likely have access to employer or union sponsored retiree health benefits. So, health care costs will likely consume a larger portion of your retirement budget—and you need to plan for that. Read More

Source: fidelity.com

How to Make the Most of Your 401(k) and HSA

The BMC 401(k) Savings Plan and a Health Savings Account (HSA) allow you to save a lot of money every year. If you can’t afford to max out your contributions to both accounts, how do you decide how much to allocate to your 401(k) and how much to set aside in your HSA?

You are eligible to contribute to a Health Savings Account if you are covered under the BCBSTX HSA medical plan option. The law limits how much you can contribute to your 401(k) and HSA each year. Maxing out on your contributions to both accounts each year is great if you can do it. But if you can’t afford to set aside that much, here’s how to decide how to allocate your money. 

Step 1 – Take Care of the Basics
Your 401(k) – Fidelity recommends saving at least the equivalent of 15% of your income for retirement, including BMC’s contribution, throughout your career. A good starting point is to make sure you are contributing at least 5% of your pay to take advantage of BMC’s matching contribution to your account.

Your HSA – It’s also important to set aside at least enough to cover this year’s medical expenses in your HSA. Most people spend at least some money on health care every year, whether it’s a visit to a walk-in clinic or something more serious. Think about how much money you spent last year, and try to contribute at least that amount to your HSA. 

If you’re not sure how much you spend on health care, consider contributing the amount of your deductible to your HSA as a starting point. If you don’t spend it all this year, you won’t lose it—that’s one of the benefits of saving in an HSA; the money is yours until you need it, even if you change jobs.

Step 2 – Max Out Your HSA
Once you’ve saved enough to get the BMC match in your 401(k) and cover your health care expenses in your HSA, you can focus on maxing out your HSA. Why not put more money into your 401(k) next? Because your HSA is a powerful tool to help you save for retirement. Your HSA and 401(k) have the same tax advantage when you put the money in—you trim your federal income tax bill this year. But they are not the same when you take the money out.

With a 401(k), you pay federal income tax on the money when you withdraw it, no matter what you do with it. With an HSA, you don’t owe federal income taxes on withdrawals, as long as you use them for qualified medical expenses. Watch this Benetube video to learn more about the benefits of contributing more to your Health Savings Account.

Step 3 – Max Out Your 401(k)
Once you’ve maxed out your HSA contributions, focus on contributing up to the maximum in your 401(k) as well. Once you get there, congratulations! You’ve made the most of your workplace savings.

Useful Links
5 Ways HSAs Can Fortify Your Retirement, from Fidelity.

Source: Fidelity

Disclaimer:

The content on this site includes links to tools and information that are not the property of BMC Software, and BMC Software is not responsible for their accuracy, completeness or continued availability. Some of the material contained in this site is based on official plan documents. It is not, nor is it intended to be, the legal plan document or a contract between the company and any employee or contractor. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this material. In the unlikely event that there is a discrepancy between the site and the official plan documents, the official plan documents will control. BMC Software reserves the right to amend or terminate the plan(s) or program(s) at any time. If you believe the benefits do not describe those available to you, contact the Benefits Center at 877-BMC-4849.

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