1.       Are your beneficiary designations up to date?  Check your 401(k) plan, your pension program and all your life insurance coverages.  Do your beneficiary designations reflect your intentions? 

Health Insurance

2.      Do your doctors, dentists and pharmacies have your most current health plan coverage information?  Do they have a copy of your current ID card on file?

3.      Are you taking advantage of available wellness programs and incentives?

Life Insurance Protection

4.      Is the amount of your life insurance coverage appropriate to your current situation and future needs?  If you're traveling more for business, do you need more travel accident coverage?

5.      Does your spouse or partner have appropriate coverage?  Have you considered dependent life insurance through your company's voluntary benefits program?

6.      If your company offers or facilitates group universal life coverage, have you taken advantage of the attractive interest rates within the cash value account feature of the program?

Long Term Care

7.      If you don't have Long Term Care coverage now, have you considered the available Long Term Care policies offered through your employer on a payroll deduction basis, or offered through plans available on an individual basis?

8.      If you currently have Long Term Care coverage, have you taken advantage of available inflation adjustment features that will enable you to better protect your other resources?

401(k) Plans

9.      Are you taking full advantage of your employer's matching contributions?  If you're not, you're leaving money on the table.

10.   Were you automatically enrolled in your 401(k) plan without making elections?  If so, you'll want to consider increasing your contributions and reviewing the investment alternatives available in the plan.

11.   For effective financial planning, you may want to further increase your contributions which can maximize the tax effectiveness of pre-tax contributions and tax deferral on investment returns.  And don't forget about catch-up contributions if you'll be 50 or older this year.

12.   Does your 401(k) plan include a Roth feature and have you evaluated this alternative?  Roth features are new to many plans and offer what may be attractive financial and estate planning opportunities.

13.   The beginning of the New Year is a good time to look at fund performance and evaluate your investment strategy.  Are you taking advantage of investment education and advice services offered within your employer's plan?  If you're still a participant in a former employer's 401(k) plan, be sure you include this plan in your analysis.

14.   While there's been a great deal of public focus on the fees charged under 401(k) plans and the adequacy of disclosure, many plans already provide a great deal of information on the investment management and administrative fees under the plan.  Make sure you consider this information as you develop your investment strategy.

15.   If you have a traditional or rollover IRA, 2010 brings the opportunity to convert this to a Roth IRA.  Although this can be beneficial to some, there are complex considerations in making this move.  Consider these carefully working with your tax advisor.

Help is available.  Be sure you've explored all the resources on the websites for your benefits plans.  Health plan websites often contain valuable information and links to other useful resources.  401(k) provider sites feature financial planning tools and retirement calculators to help you plan for your future.

Share this list with your friends.  Benefits are personal, and you don't have to work in employee benefits to use this checklist!  An easy way to share this is to use the "Forward email" link below.  And here's a link to download a PDF of a convenient reference format of Your 2010 Personal Managing Benefits Checklist.

Of course, no list limited to 15 items can be all inclusive − rather, these are some key questions to think about now.  We welcome your input on other topics that could be added to future checklists.