Learn how our Private Client Solutions can help to coordinate your RSUs, employer benefits, and assets to meet your short-term, immediate, and long-term goals.

Alison Wealth Management has created the U |A | E Employee Benefits Process®. This process helps employees of Meta not only understand how their benefits work, but establish a plan to maximize those benefits for themselves and their family.

The U | A | E Employee Benefits Process®

Understand, Analyze, and Establish

Step 1: Understanding Meta Benefits

Meta's employee benefits can be broken down into 7 core categories:

• Health & Wellness
• Family
• Time Away
• Convenience
• Community
• Finance
• Career

For the purpose of this section of our website, we are going to only focus on core benefits that relate directly back to financial planning. For all other benefits, we recommend setting up time with your HR department.

Financially, Meta is focused on taking care of you while you’re bringing the world closer together.

Meta has built a compensation philosophy so that you are invested in the value that you are helping to create. Therefore, they may award you with an equity grant of restricted stock units (RSUs) as part of your overall compensation. The purpose of RSUs are to provide incentives to attract, retain and motivate people whose present and potential contributions are important to the success of the company by offering them an opportunity to participate in the company’s future performance through the grant of awards.

What are RSUs?

Each Restricted Stock Unit is the right to receive one share of common stock upon settlement of your RSUs, following satisfaction of the applicable vesting requirements. Your RSU will vest as set forth in your written Restricted Stock Unit agreement. Generally, within thirty (30) days following the date on which your RSUs vest, shares will be issued to you (such issuance is referred to as “settlement”). Once any shares have been issued to you in settlement of your RSUs, you then own them outright and, subject to the company’s insider trading policy, you may hold, sell or otherwise dispose of them.

For more information, check out my article Simplifying RSUs. Don't forget to download The 3 Restricted Stock Tax Traps!

Click To Download

Meta's 401(k)

Meta allows employees to participate in their 401(k) Retirement Plan offer through Fidelity.

Starting on January 1, 2022, Meta will match $1 for $1 of your 401(k) contribution up to 50% of the IRS Federal limit.

This is an increase from a prior match of 50% of your regular 401(k) contributions up to 7% of pay. If you are under 50 years old you can contribute up to $20,500. If you are 50 or older you are eligible  for a to contribute an additional $6,500/year as a catch-up contribution, enabling you to contribute a total of $27,000.

Now let’s look at Meta’s employer match, assuming you are making the maximum annual contribution. You will earn an additional $10,250 towards your 401(k) if you are under 50.

Now this part is huge! If you are over 50, Meta will match $1 for $1 of your catch up contribution up to 50% of the IRS Federal limit. This is an additional $3,250 towards your 401(k)! Most employers do not match the catch up contribution.  If you are 50 or older we strongly encourage you to maximize this employer match benefit.

For Meta, compensation includes base compensation, overtime pay, commissions and performance bonuses.  It does not include Restricted Stock Unit grants. The IRS imposes a cap of $305,000 of income for 2022.

Setting your participation amounts needs to be coordinated with your immediate and short-term goals. For example, if you have a goal to be able to afford a new home in Menlo Park and you need to implement a significant savings plan to be able to afford a proper down payment, you might want to consider lowering for 401(k) contribution from the IRS maximum, down to the minimum amount needed to get the full company match, then fund the difference in your savings account for your down payment. If you need help mapping out your immediate, short-term, and long term goals and savings plan, schedule an introductory call today!

Within your Fidelity 401(k), you have a multitude of different investment choices to help you meet your retirement goals.

When picking your investments, please note that many of the funds you have the opportunity to invest in own Meta stock. If you have substantial highly concentrated stock because of your Meta RSUs in your after-tax account, you may want to attempt to diversify your positions by not buying more Meta stock! If this is the case, allocate less of your 401k to funds that own a high portion of Meta stock to avoid inadvertently purchasing more.

Also, if you do want to invest in Meta within your 401k, it is much more efficient to just own the stock outright vs buying it within a fund. If you own company stock in your retirement plan, at the time you separate from services you may be eligible for a sophisticated tax strategy called Net Unrealized Appreciation. If this strategy interest you, we recommend discussing with our team before implementing.

As we evaluate the Meta 401(k) plan, we will outline all options from simple set it and forget it to more sophisticated strategies to invest and grow your wealth. For a detailed analysis on all Meta 401(k) Plan investments, click here to request a meeting.

Do It Yourself With Target Date Funds:

Select a target date fund based on a projected retirement date. The fund will adjust to become more conservative over time as you approach your target retirement date. Here is an example of some of the Meta plan's target date funds available:

• Vanguard Target Retirement Income (VTINX) - 30% Equity / 70% Fixed Income
• Vanguard Target 2015 (VTXVX) - 60% Equity / 40% Fixed Income
• Vanguard Target 2020 (VTWNX) - 53% Equity / 47% Fixed Income
• Vanguard Target 2025 (VTTVX) - 62% Equity / 38% Fixed Income
• Vanguard Target 2030 (VTHRX) - 70% Equity / 30% Fixed Income
• Vanguard Target 2035 (VTTHX) - 77% Equity / 23% Fixed Income
• Vanguard Target 2040 (VFORX) - 84% Equity / 16% Fixed Income
• Vanguard Target 2045 (VTIVX) - 88% Equity / 12% Fixed Income
• Vanguard Target 2050 (VFIFX) - 88% Equity / 12% Fixed Income
• Vanguard Target 2055 (VFFVX) - 88% Equity / 12% Fixed Income
• Vanguard Target 2060 (VTTSX) - 88% Equity / 12% Fixed Income
• Vanguard Target 2065 (VLXVX) - 88% Equity / 12% Fixed Income

Do It Yourself With Individual Fund Selection:

In addition to the target date funds, the Meta's 401(k) plan offers other mutual funds to invest your money. Some of these funds include:

In addition to these fund options, Meta has allowed employees to elect BrokerageLink®. BrokerageLink® allows you to go beyond the traditional funds offered in your employer plan by giving you access to thousands of investments. Through your BrokerageLink® account, you have the ability to invest in stocks, corporate bonds, zero-coupon bonds, Options Levels 1 & Level 2 (with agreement), U.S. Treasury securities, mortgage securities and U.S. government agency bonds, certificates of deposit (CDs), unit investment trusts (UITs), foreign securities (through American Depositary Receipts), exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Fidelity mutual funds, and non-Fidelity mutual funds available through Fidelity FundsNetwork®. You also have the ability to hire an outside money manager to actively manage your 401(k) account.

Let Us Help You Decide:

Tell us a little about yourself and the account(s) you want help with. Then we will review your options, answers a few questions to narrow your choices, and help build a custom allocation to best meet your needs that you can implement through your plan website. For those of you who want to outsource our professional asset management services, we provide institutional asset management through BrokerageLink® for an asset management fee. This way you don’t have to worry about logging in to make changes, allocation updates, or rebalancing. You can rest assured that your account is in the hands of a trusted fiduciary.

Click Here To Schedule a 20-Minute Introductory Meeting 

The Mega Back-Door Roth IRA

One of the most overlooked opportunities within a unique 401(k) plan like the Meta Plan is the ability to contribute after-tax money. There is a little known strategy called a Mega Back-Door Roth IRA Conversion that is available to almost all Meta employees. This is different than contributing directly to a Roth 401(k). In 2022, the IRS allows an employee to contribute a maximum of $61,000 into a 401(k) or $67,500 for those 50 and older. $20,500 can be pre-tax contributions, and the rest would be made up of employer match & after-tax contributions. This creates a really unique planning opportunity for high income earners.

Each year, after the plan (Fidelity) conducts its TPA (Third Party Administrator) duties of discrimination testing, we can rollover the after-tax contributions to a Roth IRA tax free! This allows a high income earner the ability to save and grow their money in a Roth IRA even though they surpass the income thresholds for regular Roth IRA contributions. In some cases, we are able to help clients stash away as much as $20,000-$30,000 each year into a Roth IRA, even if they have $1,000,000+ incomes!

Download The Alison Wealth Management

Mega Back-Door Roth IRA Guide

Download Here

If you are interested in the Mega Back-Door Roth IRA strategy, don’t go it alone. There are complex 401(k) and IRA administration rules and ordering that needs to be navigated. Alison Wealth Management has experience working directly with the Meta's Fidelity Plan to ensure you execute properly. Contact us for an introductory call by clicking here.

Meta Group Life Insurance:

 As a Meta employee, you have a minimal amount of group life insurance coverage based on your earnings. The life insurance benefit provided to you is a formula based on your income (not including RSUs). Typically this will equate out to 3x your salary. More often than not, we see this coverage not being nearly enough to protect a family if the unimaginable happens.

Some advantages of the Meta group life insurance plan are:

• Covers employees who otherwise would not be able to afford individual life insurance policies.
• Allows higher risk individuals to be given life insurance coverage.
• Death benefit coverage could be sufficient for younger clients who don’t have many obligations outside of student loan debt.

Some of the disadvantages are:

• The employee has little to no control over their individual coverage.
• Coverage does not continue or follow the employee if you leave your job.
• Healthier individuals pay the same premiums as those who are considered to be a higher risk within the group policy.
• Most people need significantly more coverage than their group policy provides in the event they prematurely decease.

MetaShort- & Long- Term Disability Insurance:

At Meta, you work hard to build a life for yourself, and it's only natural that you want to protect that. Most likely you protect your home, car and family from the unexpected with the appropriate insurance plans. Disability insurance protects your income! If you were suddenly unable to work due to an injury or illness, could you maintain your current lifestyle? If you answered no, you may need to consider additional disability insurance. Meta offers both short-term and long-term disability, but more often than not this is not enough.

Meta's short-term disability covers income for a period of 3-6 months. 

Meta's long-term disability covers a % of your salary until you can go back to work.

Remember, their definition of income does not include the income you generate through Restricted Stock Unit sales. If you rely on RSU income to fund your lifestyle, you may be at risk of not having the disability coverage you need.

Meta Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance:

Accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) is a policy that pays benefits to the beneficiary if the cause of death is an accident. This is a limited form of life insurance which is generally less expensive and is an add on to your group life insurance mentioned above. Typically this benefit will pay 3x your salary for accidental death & dismemberment.

Meta Survivorship Income Benefit:

In the event of an unexpected death, survivor income benefits help ensure that an employee’s family has a continued flow of income to make mortgage payments, pay for education, and maintain their current standard of living.

What is an FSA?

A flexible spending account (FSA) is tax-advantaged account much like a HSA or 529 plan. Funds are contributed to this account on a pre-tax basis and can be used for eligible expenses within the plan year.

Meta Healthcare FSA

For 2022, Meta employees can contribute $2,850 to their health FSAs..

The benefit is you don’t pay tax on this income, so they can become a great tax savings vehicle. If you have set qualified medical expenses you will be spending during the year, this option may be helpful. For example, if you are in the 47% Federal/State income tax bracket, maxing out the Healthcare FSA could save you $1,339.50 of income tax! In addition, money going into an FSA is not subject to payroll tax, which could save up to an additional 7.65%.

It is important to do a medical expense evaluation before maxing out your FSA. The risk of a Healthcare FSA is that you can only roll $500/year over to the following year. At Alison Wealth Management, we can help analyze your medical expenses and conduct a needs analysis to determine proper pre-tax funding into the Meta Healthcare FSA. If you tend to have a lot of medical expenses, it would be wise to max out this benefit.

Meta Dependent Daycare FSA:

A Dependent Care FSA (DCFSA) is a pre-tax benefit account used to pay for eligible dependent care services.

Similar to a Healthcare FSA, you can contribute up to $5,000 of pre-tax funds into your Dependent Daycare FSA. You will need to submit receipts for reimbursement from your FSA and expenses must meet IRS edibility rules. The IRS has provided a wide variety of the types of expenses a Dependent Daycare FSA can be used for, including some of the most common ones we run into with Meta employees: Before or after school programs, Au Pairs, Nannies, Preschool, Nursery school, payroll taxes related to eligible care, and summer day camp.

This can be another significant source of tax savings. Again, if we revisit our client who is in the 40% Federal/State Income Tax Bracket. By funding $5,000 to their dependent care FSA, they would save $2,000 in taxes.

Meta Commuter Benefit FSA:

A Commuter Expense Reimbursement Account, allowed by § 132 of the Internal Revenue Code, allows employees to have their parking and commuter expenses deducted on a pre-tax basis. Employees can deduct up to $280 per month for parking costs or up to a maximum of $280 per month for mass transit or van pooling costs.

Eligible expenses include: Parking, Transit Pass Expenses, & Commuter Highway Vehicle (Vanpool) Expenses.

Expenses ineligible for commuter benefit funds include: Highway tolls, Fuel & Mileage, Bicycle-Related Expenses, & Airline Flights

Other Fringe Benefits of working at Meta include:

• Surrogacy benefits
• Adoption Reimbursement when you adopt a child
• Baby Cash each time you become a parent
• Reimbursement for child care expenses per year
• Wellness Reimbursement for taking care of yourself to use towards wellness activities (gym membership, etc.)
• Paid Parental Leave at 100% of your salary for moms and dads
• Paid Family Leave to care for a seriously ill family member
• Uses of back-up care per year (including in-home care for a child, adult or elder)

Alison Wealth Management is not an authorized representative of the company sponsor and its retirement plans.

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