Welcome, Snowflakes, to 2023!  The start of a year is a great time for checking in on your physical, mental, and financial health. To help kick off the year, we’re giving you some tips and benefits to help you and your family live your best lives all year. 

Mental Health 

Holidays are excellent for catching up with loved ones and enjoying traditions, but they aren’t always stress-free. Sometimes even fun can leave us drained and challenged in returning to a healthy work-life balance. As you return to your regular routines, check your stress levels and pay attention to how you feel mentally. Low energy or sleep disturbances are common signs of stress and can be treated with support from a mental health professional. 

Lyra offers convenient, confidential support for you and your family’s mental health. As a Snowflake employee, you, your spouse or domestic partner, and your dependents to age 26 can each access 25 sessions per year for therapy and coaching.

Click here to get started with one of Lyra’s expert mental health care providers.

Physical Wellness

If you take some time to assess how you’re feeling physically, you can set yourself up to achieve health goals and feel your best throughout the year. Yearly checkups are important to maintaining your health and catching potential issues early when they’re more easily treatable. 

Cigna and Kaiser cover the cost of annual physicals, so be sure you’ve got your annual exam on the calendar now and make any needed appointments with specialists. 

Financial Wellness  

Snowflakes have access to several savings and tax-advantaged accounts to help you save now and invest in your future. 

401(k) plan

Snowflake’s 401(k) Plan through Fidelity will help you prepare for a secure financial future. There are three ways to save:

• Traditional Pre-Tax: Contributions are made from your paycheck before income taxes are applied, reducing your taxable income today. You will pay taxes when you withdraw money from the account during retirement.
• Roth Post-Tax: A Roth 401(k) is an after-tax contribution. You’ll pay taxes now but won’t pay them when you withdraw funds during retirement.
• After-Tax: Contributions are deducted after-tax, as the name implies. Regular income taxes are applied to your contributions, so when you withdraw your principal, it is tax-free. But any earnings on after-tax contributions are considered pre-tax and are taxable income when withdrawn from the Plan in retirement.

Visit the 401(k) webpage for more information.

Health Savings Account 

If you are enrolled in the Cigna High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP), maximizing your contribution to the Health Savings Account (HSA) is a money-wise move. An HSA is a tax-advantaged savings account that allows you to set aside pre-tax money from each paycheck to use for qualified medical, dental, and vision expenses now, next year, or as far out as retirement. 

The funds in your HSA account roll over annually, grow tax-free, and are yours to keep even if you leave Snowflake. Snowflake also contributes $1,000 to your savings for single coverage and $2,000 for those with one or more dependents (our contribution is prorated for new hires and mid-year status changes).

To learn more and to view a complete list of eligible expenses, check out the HSA page on our website.

Happy New Year, Snowflakes!