Periodically, the Retirement & Employee Benefits Branch of the Office of Human Resources (OHR) receives calls from NIH employees who have been contacted by financial planning company representatives by telephone or mailings.  The representatives are asking to meet to discuss benefits and are implying they represent the NIH or the Federal Government in an attempt to target employees as clients.  The OHR Retirement & Employee Benefits Branch administers the Federal benefits program for NIH.  It is not the practice of OHR to contact employees in any manner to sell financial planning information.  We have no connection with, or responsibility for, any "supplemental" financial planner.  Our office does not use sales agents or telephone solicitations or mailings of any kind.

It is also important that you watch out for e-mail solicitations.  If you receive an e-mail pertaining to your benefits, check to see if the e-mail is coming from an internal NIH source or an outside source.  E-mails from outside sources are usually easily identifiable.  The sender’s e-mail address does not end with a .gov suffix, and typically there is a brief footnote at the bottom of the e-mail in small print stating that the sender’s company is not affiliated with the Federal Government.  All Federal employees are free to pursue financial planning with outside sources; however, employees should not be misled into believing that the caller or e-mail represents or is sponsored by NIH or the Federal Government. 

 Should you have any questions, please notify your Benefits Contact or AskBenefits@nih.gov.