Kellie Jones
Staff Recruiter
UC Irvine

Kellie Jones values her health care benefits most, especially family medical coverage. "My partner wouldn’t have access to health care without my employment." She also appreciates the Health Care Facilitator at her campus: "I had some problems understanding my health care, and with the needs that my partner had, I contacted Joe Walsh [the Health Care Facilitator at Irvine] and he was wonderful, helped me understand whether I might need to switch plans."

Now in her sixth year at UC Kellie likes having a lot of choices, but understanding everything UC offers is time-consuming, especially comparing her medical plan options and trying to choose the one that will work best. But she’s philosophical: "The thing that’s best is also what makes it difficult."

As for her retirement and savings program at UC, Kellie values the 457(b) plan, "because there’s no early withdrawal penalty—if something did occur, and I needed the money, I like having the option to withdraw. And I love the pension plan [UC Retirement Plan], that it’s defined. When I retire, I know there will be money."

But even this staff recruiter admits that when it comes to the UC Retirement Plan or UCRP, "trying to determine what I’m entitled to, the calculation" still mystifies her a little. To help figure it out, Kellie has taken advantage of financial planning workshops on her campus: "I encourage everybody to take advantage of all the help out there."

Learn more about the Health Care Facilitator: Have questions about your coverage or need to resolve a problem with your health plan? Contact your Health Care Facilitator, like Kellie did. It’s free and confidential.

Learn more about retirement planning tools and workshops: See your location’s Benefits website or contact Fidelity Retirement Services. Or, get an online estimate of your UCRP benefits with the UC Retirement Plan Benefit Estimator.

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