How Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina Employees Ages 55-65 with $1M+ in Savings Should Plan Their 401(k) for Retirement
- Daniel Harris
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
If you’re a Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina employee between the ages of 55 and 65, with $1 million or more saved for retirement in your Blue Cross Blue Shield 401(k), you’re in a powerful position. Retirement is near, and making the right moves with your 401(k) now can set you up for financial peace of mind.
I’m Daniel R. Harris, RIA, a fiduciary financial advisor dedicated to helping BCBS NC healthcare professionals like you navigate complex retirement planning decisions. Here’s what you need to know to make your 401(k) work harder as you approach retirement.
1. Maximize Catch-Up Contributions. The IRS lets you contribute an additional $7,500 each year if you’re over 50. This “catch-up” can significantly boost your savings in these final working years. Combined with elective deferrals, BCBS NC employees who are 50 or older may be able to contribute up to $31,000 a year to their BCBS 401(k) as of 10/6/25.
2. Understand Vesting and Employer Contributions. At your stage, knowing how much of your employer’s match and other contributions you own outright is key. Typically BCBS NC matching contributions (the 5% of your pay that BCBS puts in if you put at least 6% of your pay into the 401(k)) are immediately vested. BCBS also makes some non-matching contributions and those typically vest after 3 years as of 10/6/25, according to our knowledge.
3. Consider Smart Rollovers. Deciding whether to roll over your 401(k) into an IRA or leave it in the plan can have big tax and fee implications. Mistakes here can cost you thousands.
4. Plan Your Withdrawals to Minimize Taxes. You’ll start Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) at age 73, which are taxable. Coordinating withdrawals with Social Security and Medicare planning helps reduce tax burdens.
5. Tailor Your Investments. At this stage, your portfolio should balance protecting your savings with growth to outpace inflation and to match your projected spending needs in retirement, in our view. In addition to a mix of low cost index funds, the BCBS NC 401(k) has a brokerage window in it (a Fidelity BrokerageLink Account). This is immensely valuable to a pre-retiree because it allows you to hypercustomize your investments to your risk profile and the opportunities in the market, something that is very hard to do with the standard mutual fund options, typically.
6. Fees Matter. Even small fees reduce your nest egg. Understand your plan’s fees to keep more of your money working for you. As many people with life experience know, paying for professional advice (accounting, investments, legal) tends to be highly valuable because you may be able to use an advisor's professional knowledge base to help you achieve outcomes that may have been difficult to achieve otherwise. With that said while advice can be extremely valuable and smart retirees typically don't skimp on it, investment products often have a commodity like element to them so in general you don't want to pay more for an investment product than you have to. This often means that you have to work with the right firms to get this and your peers may not know who all these firms are or may not have a firm idea of what options are out there. This is where a good fiduciary advisor can be beneficial to discuss your plans with because they likely have far deeper product knowledge than you do. Just an most accountants know the tax code better than their clients and most attorneys know how to mitigate legal risk and maneuver through conflicts better than the public most fiduciary advisors are able to really provide perspective and information that can be difficult to obtain on your own (without a lot of work) and can provide a more sophisticated level of information than what you can read on the internet.
Why Work With Me? I provide advice to BCBS NC employees aged 55-65 with $1 million or more saved, who are comfortable paying $5,000+ annually for fiduciary advice. If you fit this profile and want personalized strategies tailored to your retirement goals, let’s talk.
