How RIA is advising those laid off by ExxonMobil

With ExxonMobil planning to cut 2,000 jobs in a global restructuring, Bogart Wealth financial advisor Jung Seh details how her RIA serves employees and former staff from the oil giant. 

“I don't know of any other firm out there that knows Exxon benefits as much as we do,” Seh said in an interview with InvestmentNews. “Exxon has a pretty complicated benefits package. I would say after a person is laid off, the first thing they should do is contact their HR and benefits department to find out whether or not they're going to get a severance pay, how they're going to get their final paycheck, how they can continue their health benefits.”

Bogart Wealth, which has offices in Virginia and Texas, manages $3 billion in assets for clients. Among the firm’s main niches are serving the energy sector via clients from ExxonMobil, Shell, and Chevron. Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Exxon plans to cut 2,000 jobs in its locations outside of the U.S. The cuts reportedly span 1,200 positions in the European Union and Norway by the end of 2027, with other planned layoffs mostly impacting workers in Canada and Singapore.  

“Exxon has a Voya 401(k) portion, it consists of company stocks that the employer has provided to you, and money that you saved either pre-tax or after tax,” Seh explained. “So weighing the pros and cons after you separate from the company — you can leave it there, you can roll it over to an IRA, you can cash it out. So I think that really depends on what your needs are.”

Seh also noted that NUA (net unrealized appreciation) is a key tax strategy Exxon employees should consider taking advantage of to optimize their company stock payouts.

“That's a pretty nice tax-efficient benefit [NUA] where you can essentially take your Exxon stocks and pretty much do a do over. You can convert it from a pre tax 401(k) and then you can pay taxes on the cost basis of the shares that you want to move and move them into an after tax account,” said Seh. “It's only available to companies that provide their company stocks to employees.”

Bogart’s website has also published details on Exxon’s pension plan formula, which employees can choose to take over an annuity period of lump-sum payment. The NUA strategy is only applicable to Exxon employees who reach a qualifying event such as turning age 55 or older, getting laid off, retiring, or disability. 

“If they're closer to retirement and they don't want to go back to work, or go back to work part-time, then taking some of the pension may make sense,” said Seh. “If they're over 59-and-a-half, then taking advantage of the NUA and rolling over the 401(k) may make sense.”