intermountain Archives | Peterson Wealth

5 Retirement Planning Mistakes Intermountain Employees Should Avoid

Posted on July 30, 2026July 30, 2026 by Daniel Ruske, CFP®

If you work for Intermountain Health, your retirement planning has more moving parts than it used to. Pension changes, 401(k) choices, healthcare costs, and future paycheck questions all feed into the same outcome: how your life gets funded once you stop working.

The most avoidable mistakes here tend to be practical ones. They usually happen when benefits sit on autopilot for years, and then a retirement date, job change, or rollover suddenly makes the decision more urgent than it needed to be.

Mistake #1: Leaving Your 401(k) Contribution Rate on Autopilot

Your contribution percentage is one of the most direct savings choices you control while you are working. With Intermountain’s pension change, affected employees may need their 401(k) s to handle more of the long-term work, even as earned pension benefits remain in place.1

A percentage you set years ago may not fit your life today. Raises, family changes, paid-off debt, a stronger cash cushion, or a revised retirement timeline can all change what your savings rate needs to do.

Automatic enrollment and default rates are a fine starting point, but they are not a personalized plan. In your final working years especially, the pre-tax, Roth, and catch-up choices deserve a closer look.

This is where it helps to slow down and run the numbers against the retirement income you actually want. A small increase may be plenty, or your current pace may already be close, but the answer should come from your goals, not an old payroll setting.

Mistake #2: Leaving Employer Match and Contributions on the Table

Employer contributions can be one of the most valuable parts of your Intermountain 401(k). It pays to know exactly what employer money is available, when you qualify for it, and how much you need to contribute to capture the full match.

This is different from just saving too little. Missing employer dollars costs you twice, since you lose the contribution and all the growth it could have earned over the years.

The specifics matter here. Intermountain matches your contributions up to 4%, and caregivers moving to the 401(k)-based program also receive an automatic 2% employer contribution, so leaving either on the table adds up quickly.2

When we review this with Intermountain employees, we start with employer-funded dollars first. It makes your benefits concrete and shows whether you are capturing everything you are eligible for.

Mistake #3: Misunderstanding Vesting, Portability, and What Is Actually Yours

Your 401(k) balance may show up as a single number, but the dollars inside can follow different rules. It helps to separate what you contributed, what Intermountain contributed, and what still depends on vesting.

That distinction matters most right before a retirement, a job change, or a rollover. If you do not know what is vested and what can move, your next decision rests on an incomplete picture.

Know Which Dollars Are Actually Yours

The total balance does not tell you enough about ownership. Before you lean on the account, break it into its sources so you know what each part means.

Review these categories before any benefit or rollover decision:

Your own contributions. The money you defer from your paycheck is always fully yours, so keep it separate in your mind from employer dollars.
Employer contributions. Matching and company contributions can carry vesting rules, so confirm what is already vested before you count those dollars.
Vesting. Your own contributions, Roth, and any rollover dollars are fully yours from day one, while employer match and automatic contributions may vest over time based on your years of service.
Rollover dollars. Amounts you rolled in from a prior plan can shape later consolidation, withdrawal, and estate decisions.

Reading the account by source, not just by total, prevents a retirement, rollover, or job-change decision from being made before the ownership details are clear.

Please note: Treating every dollar as equally available can lead to a rushed decision about a job change, retirement, or rollover. Confirm ownership and vesting before you set your next move.

Compare Your Options Before You Move Any Accounts

Leaving Intermountain or retiring opens up several choices. You may be able to leave the money in the plan, roll it to an individual retirement account (IRA), consolidate old accounts, or coordinate the 401(k) with a spouse’s accounts.

A rollover deserves a careful comparison before anything moves. Investment options, costs, creditor protection, withdrawal flexibility, taxes, and your future income needs all belong in the same view.

A direct rollover is usually cleaner than having the money paid to you first. The IRS puts timing and withholding requirements on indirect rollovers, so handling the process casually can change your tax outcome.3

From there, we weigh the account’s current role against what a traditional or Roth IRA might offer later. The right answer depends on your income needs, taxes, the level of oversight you want, and the rest of your plan.

Mistake #4: Choosing Investments Without Knowing the Account’s Job

Saving into the 401(k) is only half the work. The account also needs an investment mix that fits your timeline, your comfort with market swings, and the job the money will eventually do.

A few allocation issues are worth a focused review:

Check whether your current mix still fits your expected retirement date.
If retirement is close, you may need a different balance of growth and stability than someone decades away from it.
Being too aggressive near retirement can expose your early withdrawals to bad market timing.
Too conservative too soon can weaken your inflation protection and limit the growth you still need.
Fund fees and overlap can drag on results, especially when several funds hold the same things.
Judge target-date funds, index funds, and the rest by how well they fit your overall risk tolerance, not by convenience.

This works best when the 401(k) is not treated as a stand-alone account. We look at your allocation next to your pension, Social Security timing, and outside accounts so the mix has a clear purpose.

Mistake #5: Retiring Without a Clear Income Plan

A pension estimate, a 401(k) balance, and a Social Security statement do not constitute a retirement plan on their own. Those numbers still have to turn into a monthly cash flow that supports your spending.

The bigger question is how each piece will replace your wages, manage your taxes, and stay flexible over a long retirement. That answer belongs in place before work ends, not after the first withdrawal starts to feel necessary.

Turn Your Benefits Into a Monthly Paycheck

Income planning starts by comparing your expected spending against your reliable income and portfolio withdrawals. Before you retire, each source should have a defined job in your household’s paycheck.

Your paycheck-replacement review should cover:

Pension income, if you have it, and how your election shapes it.
401(k) withdrawals, and how much weight they carry in your early retirement years.
Social Security, and how the claiming age fits the rest of the plan.
Roth accounts and taxable assets for flexible withdrawals in higher-tax years.
Cash reserves for near-term spending, repairs, travel, or family needs.
Healthcare and Medicare costs, especially if you retire before 65. Medicare’s initial enrollment window generally runs from three months before the month you turn 65 through three months after it.4
Irregular costs, giving, and possible long-term care needs.

We use the Perennial Income Model™ as a framework for turning benefits and savings into a structured paycheck. The work is connecting your future needs to specific income sources, rather than hoping the balances sort themselves out later.

Coordinate Taxes, Timing, and Withdrawals

How you draw income affects your taxes, Medicare costs, Roth flexibility, and the plan’s longevity. One timing decision often changes the value of the next.

A strong withdrawal plan answers a few questions before you retire:

Which accounts should fund your early spending before other income begins?
How should pre-tax 401(k) withdrawals work alongside pension income and Social Security?
Could Roth contributions or conversions add useful tax flexibility?
How does claiming Social Security before or after full retirement age change your withdrawals? Delayed retirement credits can raise your benefit after full retirement age, up to age 70.5
Should you plan for required minimum distributions (RMDs) early, rather than letting them force larger taxable withdrawals later?

This is where coordination pays off. We connect your withdrawals, taxes, Social Security, healthcare costs, and timing into one plan, so your retirement rests on decisions that fit together rather than last-minute cash-flow scrambles.

Intermountain Retirement Planning Mistakes FAQs

1. How often should I review my 401(k) contribution percentage?

Once a year, and again after a raise, a household change, a debt payoff, or a shift in your timeline. The right percentage should reflect your current cash flow and the retirement target you are aiming for.

2. Why does the Intermountain employer match deserve special attention?

Because it adds value that does not come entirely from your paycheck, missing the match also means missing the growth those dollars could have earned over time.

3. What does vesting mean for Intermountain employees?

Vesting tells you how much of the employer-funded money you keep if you leave or retire. Your own contributions are always yours, while employer dollars may follow a service schedule.

4. Should I automatically roll over my 401(k) when I retire or leave?

No. Compare your options, costs, protections, withdrawal choices, and tax treatment first, along with how the account fits your spouse’s or outside assets, before you move anything.

5. How should my 401(k) investments change as I near retirement?

Your mix should reflect when you will actually use the money. You may still need growth, but the allocation should account for withdrawals, market swings, inflation, and the account’s broader role.

6. What does a complete retirement income plan look like?

It shows how your pension, 401(k), Social Security, cash reserves, Roth assets, and taxable accounts work together, which dollars pay the bills, which cover irregular costs, and which stay invested.

How Peterson Wealth Helps Intermountain Employees Avoid These Mistakes

Most of these problems trace back to the same habits: leaving benefits on autopilot, misreading the rules, or making decisions one at a time. That is how ordinary slips turn into costly ones right before a retirement deadline.

We help Intermountain employees review contribution rates, employer contributions, vesting, allocation, pension choices, Social Security timing, taxes, healthcare costs, and withdrawals together, as practical planning tied to your situation.

We can also turn those separate benefit decisions into a single coordinated income plan built around your goals, spending, family, and a long retirement. If you would like help building a stronger future from the benefits you already have, schedule a complimentary consultation with our team.

Resources:

1) Intermountain Health Pension Plan Announcement

2) Intermountain Health 401(k) Plan Summary Plan Description

3) Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions

4) When Does Medicare Coverage Start?

5) Social Security Delayed Retirement Credits

Understanding the Intermountain Health Pension Freeze: What It Means for You

Posted on April 23, 2026April 23, 2026 by Daniel Ruske, CFP®

Recent news from Intermountain Health has changed the way many will think about retirement. For those who counted on a pension as part of their long-term picture, this is a real shift, even if the benefits you have already earned are still there.

That does not mean your plan is broken. However, it does mean the path forward may look different from what it did in the past. A frozen pension can still be part of a strong retirement strategy when you understand what is staying in place, what is changing, and how the rest of your income will need to carry more weight.

When Will the Intermountain Health Pension Freeze Take Effect?

The pension freeze takes effect on December 31st, 2026. Intermountain formally announced that currently employed participants can keep earning benefits through the end of 2026. After that date, additional accruals stop.1

Intermountain said earned benefits remain secure in a pension trust. The company attributed the change to several factors, including lower government reimbursement, market volatility, and inflationary pressure. Furthermore, the decision was presented as necessary for achieving future stability and protecting the retirement security of its current and former employees.1

Who Is Affected by the Intermountain Pension Freeze?

The effective date matters, though your current status matters just as much. Here is where the freeze lands for different groups:

Currently employed participants: If you are one of the Intermountain Health caregivers still participating in the pension, the benefit you have already earned stays yours through the freeze date. You can keep earning pension accruals through December 31st, 2026. If you remain employed after that date, pension growth stops, though you can still keep building for retirement through the 401(k) plan if you are eligible to participate.

Retirees and former workers with vested benefits: This group is not losing what has already been earned. The change does not impact retirees or former caregivers who already possess a vested pension benefit or are currently receiving payments.

Future hires and newer employees: Intermountain closed the pension to new participants in 2020, so newer employees have generally been building retirement through the 401(k) structure instead of the traditional pension plan.2 That means this freeze mainly changes the path for people who were still accruing benefits under the older pension design.

What the Pension Freeze Means for Your Retirement Income

Your pension can still be part of your future retirement income. It will just be based on what you have earned by the end of 2026 rather than years worked after that point. For many employees, that changes how future accumulation gets built.

If you stay with Intermountain after December 31st, 2026, you may still contribute to the 401(k) if eligible. This shift away from the pension places more pressure on your retirement income to come from workplace deferrals, employer-backed 401(k) features, personal savings, and the timing of Social Security.

Key Retirement Income Decisions After the Freeze

Once future pension growth has a hard stop, a few decisions start carrying more weight. The reason they matter more now is straightforward:

How much of the gap your 401(k) needs to cover: When pension accruals stop, the 401(k) usually has to do more of the long-term work. Intermountain’s plan generally matches employee contributions up to 4% of eligible compensation, with matching contributions beginning on January 1st or July 1st following the employee’s one-year anniversary. For participants added to the defined contribution program after the pension plan closes, Intermountain also provides a separate 2% employer contribution, which can make the account even more valuable once future pension benefits stop growing.3

When to claim Social Security: A frozen pension can increase the importance of getting this timing decision right. Delaying the start of benefits until age 70 can increase your monthly payment by 8% annually past your full retirement age.4 Conversely, claiming earlier provides access to income sooner, but at a lesser amount. The tradeoff deserves a closer look when one source of future growth has been capped.

How to evaluate a future pension election: Some participants may later compare a monthly pension with a lump sum, depending on plan rules and eligibility. That choice can affect cash flow, flexibility, taxes, and how much responsibility shifts to your investment accounts, which is why it deserves more than a one-number comparison.
How the pieces fit together: Pension income, the 401(k), healthcare costs, taxes, and Social Security timing all affect one another. A decision that looks fine on its own can work very differently once those moving parts are lined up side by side.

Practical Moves to Strengthen Your Plan Around the Freeze

When part of your long-term plan changes, it’s often helpful to do a broader review of the pieces around it. There are other useful moves that can help you make the transition with more confidence:

Confirm what your pension is actually projected to pay: A current estimate helps turn the frozen benefit into a real planning number instead of a rough assumption. That makes it easier to see how much income may still need to come from your 401(k), Social Security, and other assets.

Revisit how your 401(k) is invested: Once the workplace account takes on a larger role, investment choices deserve more attention. Allocation, diversification, fund costs, and overall risk level all matter more when this account may be carrying a bigger share of future income needs.

Use the contribution window well: The years leading up to and following the freeze may be a good time to revisit your savings rate, especially if your cash flow has improved or there are opportunities for additional catch-up contributions. Even modest increases in deferrals can have a meaningful effect when the pension is no longer adding new value each year.

Revisit the retirement timeline regularly: A freeze can change the income picture without changing the retirement date itself. Periodic reviews can help you see whether your projected pension, 401(k), and Social Security strategy are still lining up the way you intended.

Intermountain Health Pension Freeze FAQs

1. Does the Intermountain pension freeze mean I am losing my pension?

No. The freeze means future accruals stop after December 31st, 2026, for affected current participants. Benefits already earned remain in place.

2. Who is affected by the freeze?

Currently employed participants who are still earning pension benefits are affected. Current retirees and vested former workers keep what they already earned, and future hires were generally already outside the pension after the plan closed to new participants in 2020.

3. What does the pension freeze mean for my retirement timeline?

Your timeline may stay the same, though your income plan should be updated and reviewed. A frozen pension means less future growth from that benefit, so your 401(k), savings rate, and Social Security timing may need a closer look.

4. Should I increase my 401(k) contributions after the freeze?

For many people, that is worth reviewing. When future pension accrual stops, the 401(k) typically has to do more of the heavy lifting for retirement accumulation.

5. Should I take my pension as a lump sum or monthly income?

That depends on your broader income structure, tax picture, and comfort level managing assets. A direct rollover may keep a lump sum tax deferred if that option is available under plan rules.

6. How should Social Security fit into this decision?

Social Security should be coordinated with the pension and your 401(k) withdrawals. Delaying benefits can raise the monthly amount you receive for life, which may matter more after a pension freeze.

Turning a Pension Change Into a Retirement Plan

The Intermountain pension freeze changes how future income will be built, though it does not erase the value that has already been earned. For affected families, the real work now is deciding how the frozen pension, 401(k), Social Security, and personal savings will fit together.

That kind of work is hard to do well in pieces. Pension choices touch taxes. Social Security timing affects withdrawal strategy. Healthcare costs shape how much portfolio income you may need. One decision can change the value of the next.

Peterson Wealth Advisors works with Intermountain families regularly, and we help turn these moving parts into one coordinated retirement income plan. If you want to see how your pension, 401(k), and Social Security decisions fit together, schedule a complimentary consultation with our team.

Resources: