Any trips/ tricks on what to do to get as much money / benefits as possible?
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Regarding 401k, is it recommended to keep it within Ford after being laid off or is there a better place to transfer the Obviously the goal is to be no or minimal fee's once the separation happens as well as tax efficiency. My question is related to those that are not retirement eligible.
@zto Yes, you can do it that way too, but dont go to both. I made the mistake of going to VIA and to Healthcare.gov. That screws everything up and it takes numerous calls to get it straightened out because you end up with 2 healthcare accounts. I eventually got it fixed by dealing with VIA. By "eventually" I mean @14 months. The reason that I had to do it that way was because of the Ford contribution to Medicare after I turned 65.
It boils down to 1) dealing with the government or 2) dealing with VIA Benefits. Neither one is very easy.
You do not need to use viabenefits. They will only confuse and provide incorrect, conflicting information. Waste of time. Go directly to Healthcare.gov.
If you get laid off this year, you will pay taxes on your severance this year. That means that next year when your health benefits run out (assuming you dont have another job) you dont have to go with COBRA or the health plans that Ford offers you. You can get state subsidized healthcare. In my case, it went from @350 a month to @75 for the same plan. It took me 10-15 calls to VIA benefits to find this out, but they were able to get me into the cheap plan.