Can Washington state employees get a free financial advisor?
By Seth Deal, CPA/PFS ·
There’s real free help, but most of it is education, not a personal plan. DRS, the state Employee Assistance Program and SHIBA all offer free help to Washington public employees, and none of them is selling anything. What they don’t do is pull your pension, DCP, Social Security, health coverage and taxes into one plan built around you.
Free help worth using
DRS offers free retirement webinars, a half-day seminar for members within five years of retiring, and short one-on-one education sessions through its Education and Outreach team. Your online DRS account also has a benefit estimator you can run as often as you like. DRS is clear about the limits, though. It says neither DRS nor Voya, the DCP record keeper, can offer financial advice.
The Washington State Employee Assistance Program offers free financial consultations through its Work/Life service. Topics include budgeting, debt, credit and financial or estate planning, but not taxes. You’ll need your organization’s access code, which your HR office can give you.
SHIBA, run by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, gives free Medicare counseling. By law, its counselors can’t work for an insurance company or earn commissions on insurance, so the help is neutral. It’s worth a call before you turn 65.
What free help usually leaves out
Each of these covers one piece. DRS explains your pension and SHIBA explains Medicare, while EAP can help with a budget.
The hard part of retiring from public service is how those pieces affect each other. Your survivor option changes how much your spouse will need from savings. Retiring earlier or later shifts your PEBB and Medicare timing. And DCP withdrawals raise your taxable income, which can raise your Medicare premiums.
That’s the part a planner is for.
A note on "free" from a financial firm
Some firms offer free advice and are paid through commissions on products like annuities or insurance. That isn’t automatically bad, but it’s worth asking any advisor, "How are you paid?" before you start.
Free from me, too
I’m a CPA and fee-only fiduciary, and I host a free 30-minute retirement webinar at lunch every month for Washington public employees, with past sessions available too.
If you’d like to talk about your own situation, the Retirement Clarity Assessment is a free 45-minute conversation on Zoom, with no obligation. If a full plan makes sense afterward, the One-Time Plan starts at $3,000.