Your employees are going to live to 100. Is your benefits package ready?
People are living longer than ever, and that’s creating a new benefits reality. According to the Pew Research Center, the number of Americans aged over 100 is projected to quadruple in the next 25 years. With “retirement” now potentially lasting 30-plus years, the traditional model of retiring at age 65 is increasingly obsolete, bringing a new set of challenges for employers and employees alike. For employers, longevity is not just a retirement planning issue. It is a talent, productivity, and retention issue. As employees work longer, financial decisions around health care, caregiving, Social Security, equity compensation, debt, and lifetime income grow more complex. Treating financial planning as a core benefit — by integrating access to Financial Advisors and planning tools with existing benefits like retirement plans, HSAs, equity compensation, phased retirement, and caregiving support, can help employees make better day‑to‑day decisions that align with a larger, long‑term plan. Employees are asking for both sides of that equation: In Morgan Stanley’s 2025 State of the Workplace Financial Benefits research, access to a Financial Advisor was the most valued form of retirement assistance, and nine in ten employees said they were more likely to stay when benefits align with long‑term needs. When retirement feels like a multi-decade project, access to professional guidance helps employees connect today’s choices to the life they’re trying to fund decades from now. Embedding planning within the workplace and linking it to benefit decisions can help turn intent into action. Here are several ways employers might consider adapting to meet the evolving demands of longevity. Start with Comprehensive Financial Planning Navigating decades of retirement requires more than a larger 401(k) balance. Employees need a way to coordinate income decisions (including tax-aware withdrawal strategies), healthcare and caregiving costs, and what is known as longevity risk: the potential