Financial Wellbeing

401(k) Plan

Financial Advisor With Piggybank. Money Saving Calculation

401(k) Plan

No matter where you are on your journey to retirement, NorthWestern provides you the resources to help you prepare for the future you want through Fidelity Investments, which provides services to the 401(k) plan.

Visit Fidelity's website to set up your online account, see how your investments are doing, and name your beneficiaries.

Get a sense of your financial health with Fidelity's financial wellness checkup tool, designed to suggest next steps to improve your financial health along with easy-to-use personal finance calculators, designed to help you discover what it will take to reach your savings goals.

Employees are automatically enrolled to make 4% pre-tax contributions 35 days after being hired. Prior to being auto-enrolled or anytime thereafter, you can change your contribution rate, including electing to make Roth and after-tax contributions, or choose not to contribute to the plan.

NorthWestern matches  up to 4% of the pay you elect to contribute on a pre-tax and/or Roth basis. In addition, the company provides non-elective contributions of up to 7% even if you don't contribute to the plan! That means that if you contribute at least 4% of your pay to the plan, the company will provide up to 11% in contributions (4% matching contributions plus up to 7% non-elective contributions).

For more information on eligibility and plan design, review the Plan Summary. 

401 (K) Plan Summary | Fidelity Website



Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance

While no one likes to think about it, planning for your family's financial security in the event of serious injury or death is one of the greatest gifts you can give your loved ones.

NorthWestern Energy partners with Lincoln Financial to offer life and accidental death and Dismemberment (AD&D) insurance benefits at competitive rates.

Basic term life insurance coverage equal to 1 times your annual salary is provided at no cost to you. Enrollment in this benefit is automatic.

You have the option to purchase additional life and AD&D coverage for yourself and your dependents. You can choose to purchase additional life or AD&D, or both.

These benefits have limits on the coverage amount and are employee-paid. Additional life rates are age-based while AD&D has a fixed rate amount.  As a new hire, certain coverage will be offered as guaranteed coverage, meaning that you can't be turned down for the coverage based on medical history. If you elect an amount over the guarantee or decide to purchase this down the road (outside of your new hire 31-day period), you will be required to submit Evidence of Insurability, or information regarding your medical history, and the coverage will be subject to approval by Lincoln Financial. 

Benefit Summary

Life Insurance Rates

 AgeMonthly Rate per $1,000
Dependent Child Life<24$0.290
Employee/Spouse AD&DAll Ages$0.040
Spouse Basic Life - $10,000All Ages$0.168
Employee/Spouse Additional Life<25$0.050
 25-29$0.060
 30-34$0.080
 35-39$0.090
 40-44$0.110
 45-49$0.184
 50-54$0.297
 55-59$0.437
 60-64$0.750
 65-69$1.270
 70-74$2.060
 75-79$7.507

 

Financial Wellness Resources

Money is a leading source of stress for most people. NorthWestern Energy and Fidelity have partnered to provide employees with an array of educational materials such as videos and podcasts; financial tools that can help you assess your preparedness for unforeseen expenses, retirement and other known and unknown life events; access to debt solutions and many other tools to help you understand, plan and manage your financial present and future.  (Use your Fidelity login to access the resources.)

Basic Financial Education

Busy work and family life? Don’t know much about financial concepts? Check out this library which contains several short videos about basic financial concepts, debt management, investing, retirement and other topics.

Financial Wellness Hub

Got the basics down? Ready to take action? Fidelity provides several personalized tools and resources to help you get on the road to debt management or building up savings for rainy days, college, retirement and other life events and more.

Life Events Tool

When you have immediate needs for guidance due to a job change, pending home sale, aging or….ugh…filing your taxes. Fidelity provides a “Life Events” resource which allows you to access advice and guidance with regard to several key life events.

Personalized Planning and Advice

If you would like help managing your 401(k) account to ensure you meet your retirement goals, you can take advantage of Personalized Planning and Advice (PPA) for a small fee deducted directly from your 401(k) account. PPA can be accessed by logging into your account at www.401k.com and selecting the “Learn More” button on the “Personalized Planning and Advice” tile. If you would rather talk to somebody, call 866-811-6041.