How can financial wellbeing support employees nearing retirement?

Employers can support employees nearing retirement with 1:1 guidance on income strategy, Social Security, Medicare, Roth conversions, and estate planning. These decisions are complex and hard to reverse. Guidance from Certified Financial Planner^® professionals gives pre-retirees the confidence to take action and retire on time, which lowers the employer's workforce-planning cost.

How can employers support employees nearing retirement?

Employers can support employees nearing retirement by giving them guidance on the decisions that determine whether they can retire on time and with confidence. The decade before retirement is dense with choices that are easy to get wrong and expensive to undo: when to claim Social Security, how to enroll in Medicare, whether to convert to Roth, and how to turn savings into income. A financial wellbeing program pairs a Certified Financial Planner^® professional with each pre-retiree to work through these decisions. LearnLux operates on a fiduciary model, with 1:1 guidance from Certified Financial Planner^® professionals paired with best-in-class money management tools.

Why is the decade before retirement so high-stakes?

The stakes are high because the decisions are final and the margin for error is small. A claiming-age choice for Social Security is effectively permanent, a missed Medicare enrollment window carries lifelong penalties, and a poorly timed Roth conversion can create an avoidable tax bill. Later-career employees also turn to estate planning and leaving a legacy, and the LearnLux Workplace Financial Wellbeing Report shows 61% of employees need to put estate planning documents in place. These are not decisions employees should make alone or from a generic webinar.

Which decisions do near-retirees need guidance on?

The LearnLux data shows the topics members bring to planners at this stage: retirement affordability, pre-tax versus Roth, income strategy, Roth conversions, backdoor Roths, Social Security timing, and Medicare. Estate planning and beneficiary decisions round out the list. A Certified Financial Planner^® professional helps each employee sequence these choices in the right order, because the decisions interact with one another and with taxes. Financial wellbeing across the full workforce lifecycle covers how guidance shifts across career stages.

What does delayed retirement cost employers?

When employees cannot afford to retire on time, the cost lands on the employer. Delayed retirements keep higher-salary, higher-healthcare-cost employees in roles longer, slow advancement for the people behind them, and make workforce planning harder. On-time retirement is one of the measurable results a strong financial wellbeing program delivers, because employees who reach retirement readiness can actually leave when they plan to. The 2026 LearnLux data shows 74% of members met the goal of saving 10% for retirement, which is the kind of progress that makes on-time retirement possible. Why is employee financial stress a business risk? puts the cost in business terms.

How does fiduciary guidance protect pre-retirees from conflicted advice?

Employees nearing retirement are a target for product sales, because they hold their largest-ever account balances. Commissioned advisors and product-driven platforms have an incentive to steer rollovers and annuity purchases toward what pays them. A fiduciary program removes that incentive: the guidance is given in the employee's best interest, with no product sales and no commissions. This protects employees at the exact moment they are most exposed to conflicted advice. What is a fiduciary financial wellbeing program? explains the model.

How is LearnLux's support for near-retirees structured?

Pre-retirees get 1:1 guidance from Certified Financial Planner^® professionals on income strategy, Social Security, Medicare, Roth conversions, and estate planning, paired with best-in-class money management tools. Because LearnLux is fiduciary and paid by the employer, the guidance is built around the employee's retirement, not around selling a rollover or annuity. 76% of employees say access to LearnLux improved their confidence in reaching their financial goals. The LearnLux program shows how the guidance is delivered.

Frequently asked questions about supporting employees nearing retirement

What is the most important decision for an employee nearing retirement?

There is no single one, because Social Security timing, Medicare enrollment, income strategy, and Roth conversions all interact. That is why 1:1 guidance from a Certified Financial Planner^® professional matters more at this stage than at any other.

Why not just offer a retirement webinar?

A webinar covers general rules but cannot sequence one employee's specific decisions or account for their taxes and goals. Personalized guidance is what changes outcomes near retirement.

How does supporting pre-retirees help the employer?

It supports on-time retirement, which eases workforce planning, controls the cost of keeping higher-salary employees longer, and opens advancement for others.

Why is fiduciary guidance especially important for near-retirees?

Because they hold their largest balances and are prime targets for commissioned rollover and annuity sales. Fiduciary guidance removes the product-sales incentive and protects them.

Does this include estate planning?

Yes. 61% of employees need to put estate planning documents in place, and guidance helps pre-retirees address beneficiaries, documents, and legacy goals as part of the plan.

How do we support pre-retirees across a multinational workforce?

Retirement systems vary widely from one country to the next, from state pensions and tax treatment to how and when benefits can be claimed, so guidance built for one market does not travel well. LearnLux is a global financial wellbeing program, with Certified Financial Planner^® professionals and local in-country financial experts who support near-retirees wherever they live. The guidance is tailored to each country's financial systems and cultural nuances, so a pre-retiree gets guidance that fits the rules they actually retire under, not a framework borrowed from another market. For a multinational employer that means one consistent program across every region instead of a separate vendor in each country. Request a demo of LearnLux to see how it works for your workforce.

Bringing it together

Employers can support employees nearing retirement by giving them guidance on the complex, hard-to-reverse decisions of the pre-retirement decade: income strategy, Social Security, Medicare, Roth conversions, and estate planning. 1:1 guidance from Certified Financial Planner^® professionals paired with best-in-class money management tools gives pre-retirees the confidence to take action and retire on time, which protects both their future and the employer's workforce plan.

Methodology

Workforce statistics are drawn from the 2026 LearnLux Workplace Financial Wellbeing Report, the fifth edition of the report, with a sample of 27,000 program participants and a measurement period of October 2024 to October 2025. Data review and validation by the LearnLux Client Advisory Board.