Protecting against the unexpected

You may not want to think about it, but now’s a great time to evaluate life and disability insurance. Are you and your family adequately covered?

LIFE INSURANCE

What it is

  • Provides a monetary benefit to your family (or whomever you choose) in the event of your death

What you get

  • Pearson automatically provides you with basic life insurance in the amount of one or two times your annual pay, depending on employment category, up to a maximum benefit of $1 million

What you should consider

  • You can purchase supplemental coverage for yourself of one, two, three, four, five or six times your annual pay, up to a maximum benefit of $2 million
  • You can also purchase life insurance for your spouse/same-sex domestic partner and/or eligible dependent children

DISABILITY INSURANCE

What it is

  • Provides income replacement in the event you are unable to work because of disabling illness or injury

What you get

  • Short Term Disability (STD) replaces all or part of your income for up to 25 weeks if you are unable to perform your job because of a non-work-related injury or illness, including pregnancy or childbirth. STD benefits are company-paid
  • If you are still unable to work after 180 days, basic Long Term Disability may take over. It replaces 50% of your monthly pay, up to a maximum of $20,833 per month

What you should consider

  • You can also purchase Supplemental LTD equal to an additional 10% of your monthly pay (60% total benefit instead of 50%), up to a combined maximum benefit of $25,000 per month

Find helpful insurance calculators at:

For complete details, see the Life Insurance and Disability sections on the Pearson Benefits website. You may wish to check with your tax/financial advisor before making your elections.

MAX YOUR TAX SAVINGS WITH FLEXIBLE SPENDING ACCOUNT
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) let you save on taxes by paying for eligible health care and dependent day care expenses with pre-tax dollars.

Because the money you save is deducted from your pay before federal and, in most cases, state income taxes, these accounts lower your taxable income. But since you gain tax advantages with these accounts, the IRS puts certain restrictions on how they work.

If you do not use all the money you deposit during the calendar year, the IRS requires that you forfeit the unused balance. But if you plan carefully, you can take advantage of the tax savings without worrying about leaving a balance in your account.

The Health Care and Dependent Day Care FSAs are separate. You cannot use your health care account to pay for dependent day care expenses, or vice versa. You must keep copies of your receipts for substantiation purposes by Benefit Concepts or in case of an IRS audit of your FSA expenses.

Please Note: As of publication, the health care limit for 2014 is $2,500 and dependent day care is $5,000.