Most of the time, I don’t think about my workplace benefits very much.
I make my choices, keep the information I need, and move on with everyday life.
Then something major changes.
Marriage.
A new child.
Divorce.
A move.
A change in my family’s situation.
That’s when benefits I selected months ago can suddenly deserve another look.
I’ve learned that the important question isn’t only:
“What benefits do I have?”
It’s:
“Do the choices I made for my old situation still make sense for my life today?”
I Start With the Event and the Date
Before reviewing anything else, I write down exactly what changed and when.
The date matters because certain benefit-related actions can have specific timeframes.
I don’t want to rely on:
“That happened sometime last month.”
I want the actual date.
That gives me a clean starting point for figuring out what I should review next.
I Don’t Wait for the Next Annual Enrollment Automatically
Annual enrollment is an obvious time to review benefits.
But life doesn’t follow an annual schedule.
A major family change can happen in February.
Or June.
Or two weeks after I made my annual choices.
So I don’t automatically assume that every change needs to wait until the next enrollment period.
I check what applies to my particular situation.
I Make a List Before Changing Anything
I don’t start clicking through choices randomly.
First, I identify the areas that might be affected.
Depending on the situation, my list could include:
- Medical coverage
- Dental coverage
- Vision coverage
- Eligible family members
- Life-related benefits
- Leave programs
- Beneficiary information
- Retirement-related elections
- Contact information
Not every category will require a change.
The list simply prevents me from forgetting something important.
Marriage Made Me Think Beyond Health Coverage
It’s easy to think:
“I got married, so I should check medical coverage.”
That’s reasonable.
But marriage can affect more than one workplace decision.
I may also want to review beneficiary designations and other choices that were made when my family situation looked different.
The mistake would be changing one obvious item and assuming everything else automatically follows it.
A New Child Creates a Completely Different Checklist
A new child changes both immediate and long-term planning.
There may be questions involving coverage.
There may be leave-related considerations.
There may be beneficiary decisions worth reviewing.
And there are practical dates and documents I don’t want to leave until the last minute.
Instead of treating everything as one giant task, I break it into smaller categories.
Immediate
What needs attention soon?
Near-term
What needs to be reviewed after the initial rush settles down?
Long-term
Which previous choices should I reconsider because my family has changed?
That makes the process much more manageable.
I Review Beneficiaries Separately
This is one area I don’t like to treat as an afterthought.
My family situation can change while an old beneficiary choice quietly remains exactly where I left it.
That’s why major life events remind me to review existing designations rather than assuming another update changed them automatically.
I want intentional choices, not forgotten ones.
Moving Can Matter Too
A major life change doesn’t have to involve marriage or children.
Relocation can change practical circumstances.
If I move, I check whether my current contact information is accurate and whether anything about my available programs or circumstances deserves another review.
I don’t assume that because my job stayed the same, everything else is irrelevant.
I Don’t Copy a Coworker’s Checklist
Coworkers can be helpful.
Someone may have gone through a similar situation and tell me exactly what they did.
I listen.
But I don’t assume their process is automatically mine.
Their role may differ.
Their location may differ.
Their family situation may differ.
Their eligibility may differ.
Even two people experiencing “the same” life event can have different decisions to make.
MyNordstrom Gives Me a Starting Point
When something changes, I want to work from current workplace information rather than memory.
MyNordstrom can be part of that starting point for understanding the resources and information connected with my employment.
From there, I can determine which areas actually require attention and which don’t.
I don’t want to make changes simply because a menu exists.
I want to understand why I’m making them.
I Save Important Dates
I keep a small note with:
Life event: What happened.
Event date: Exact date.
Reviewed: What I checked.
Still needed: Anything unresolved.
This prevents the process from living entirely in my head.
That’s particularly helpful during a stressful or busy life event when workplace administration isn’t necessarily my first priority.
I Don’t Assume One Change Updates Everything
This is probably my biggest rule.
Changing information in one area doesn’t necessarily mean every other related choice has changed.
If my family situation changes, I review the relevant categories independently.
That doesn’t mean I need to modify all of them.
It means I consciously confirm them.
There’s a big difference.
I Check My Existing Choices Before Making New Ones
Sometimes I discover that my current selection still works perfectly well.
That’s useful too.
A review doesn’t need to end with a change.
The goal is knowing that the decision still makes sense.
“Reviewed and kept” is just as valid as “reviewed and changed.”
I Keep Documentation Organized
Major life events can generate a lot of paperwork outside work too.
I keep workplace-related information separate enough that I can find it later.
I don’t want an important confirmation buried among moving receipts, hospital paperwork, or unrelated personal documents.
A simple folder structure saves me a surprising amount of time.
My Life-Change Review
After a major event, I ask:
✅ What exactly changed?
✅ What was the effective date?
✅ Is there a specific timeframe I need to consider?
✅ Which benefits could reasonably be affected?
✅ Should I review covered family members?
✅ Are my beneficiary choices still intentional?
✅ Is my contact information current?
✅ Are any leave-related programs relevant?
✅ Have I documented what I already reviewed?
✅ Is anything still unresolved?
Mistakes I Try to Avoid
❌ Automatically waiting for annual enrollment.
❌ Changing one obvious item and forgetting everything else.
❌ Assuming one update changes unrelated elections.
❌ Copying a coworker’s situation exactly.
❌ Forgetting the actual date of the life event.
❌ Leaving old beneficiary choices unreviewed for years.
❌ Making unnecessary changes simply because I’m already reviewing everything.
❌ Keeping important information only in my memory.
Benefits Should Follow My Life, Not the Other Way Around
I don’t want to constantly change workplace choices every time something small happens.
But major life events are different.
They’re natural checkpoints.
The decisions I made two years ago were based on the life I had two years ago.
Sometimes they’re still exactly right.
Sometimes they’re not.
That’s why I use MyNordstrom and the current resources available to me as a reason to stop and review rather than assume.
Marriage, a new child, relocation, or another major change already gives me enough to think about.
I don’t need to make the administrative side harder by discovering months later that I never reconsidered an old decision.
My goal is simple:
When my life changes significantly, I want my workplace choices to still reflect the life I’m actually living now.