---
name: benefits-jargon-simplifier
description: "Translates dense retirement and 401(k) terminology into plain-language explanations calibrated for employees and small business owners with no financial background, producing a term-by-term glossary, a rewritten plain-language version of a complex document, and analogies that make abstract concepts concrete. Use when a benefits notice, plan summary, enrollment email, or SPD is too technical for the audience and needs to be made understandable without losing accuracy."
argument-hint: "[document-or-terms] [audience]"
allowed-tools: ["Read"]
---

# Benefits Jargon Simplifier

## Purpose
Convert technical retirement and 401(k) language — vesting schedules, employer matches, contribution limits, ERISA disclosures — into plain-English explanations that a non-financial audience actually understands and acts on. Solves the recurring problem of benefits communications that are legally accurate but functionally unreadable, which drives low enrollment and confused employees.

## When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Rewrite a 401(k) enrollment email, plan summary, or benefits notice in plain language
- Explain retirement terms like vesting, employer match, or Roth vs. traditional to employees
- Simplify a Summary Plan Description (SPD) or fee disclosure for a lay audience
- Create a glossary of retirement terms for a small business owner setting up a plan
- Turn a dense financial document into something employees will read and understand
- Reduce confusion during open enrollment by clarifying benefits jargon

## Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- **Source material**: The document, email, or list of terms to simplify (paste the text or list the terms)
- **Audience**: Employees / small business owner / new hires / mixed workforce
- **Reading level target**: Plain (8th grade) / very plain (6th grade) — default to 8th grade if unspecified
- **Plan specifics**: Any real numbers to use — match percentage, vesting schedule, contribution limits, eligibility rules
- **Purpose of the communication**: Enrollment, annual notice, education, compliance disclosure
- **Terms that must stay accurate**: Any legally required language that cannot be paraphrased away
- **Tone preference**: Warm and encouraging / neutral and informational

If plan specifics are missing, use current-year IRS figures and note clearly that numbers should be verified against the actual plan document.

## Instructions

### Step 1: Identify and Extract the Jargon
Scan the source material and pull every term, phrase, or concept a non-financial reader would stumble on. Common offenders to watch for:
- **Structural terms**: vesting, cliff vesting, graded vesting, eligibility period, entry date
- **Contribution terms**: employer match, safe harbor, deferral, catch-up contribution, contribution limit, true-up
- **Account-type terms**: Roth, traditional, pre-tax, after-tax, rollover
- **Regulatory terms**: ERISA, fiduciary, SPD, fee disclosure, QDIA, auto-enrollment, auto-escalation
- **Mechanics terms**: compounding, expense ratio, target-date fund, distribution, RMD, loan provision, hardship withdrawal

Flag any term that appears without a definition or that assumes prior knowledge.

### Step 2: Build the Plain-Language Glossary
For each flagged term, produce a three-part entry:
1. **The term** (as it appears in the document)
2. **Plain-language definition**: One or two sentences, no financial vocabulary used to define financial vocabulary. If a technical word is unavoidable, define it inline.
3. **Why it matters to you**: One sentence connecting the term to a decision or dollar amount the reader cares about.

Formatting rule: never define a term using another undefined term. If "vesting" appears in the definition of "employer match," vesting must also have its own entry.

### Step 3: Attach a Concrete Analogy Per Difficult Concept
For the 5–8 hardest concepts, add a real-world analogy that maps the mechanics accurately:
- **Employer match** → "free money" framing: "For every dollar you put in, your employer adds their own — like a raise you only get if you take it."
- **Vesting** → earned ownership over time: "Think of it like a signing bonus paid in installments — you own more of the employer's contributions the longer you stay."
- **Compounding** → growth on growth: "Your money earns money, and then that new money earns money too."
- **Expense ratio** → a small annual fee: "A yearly cost, like a subscription, quietly taken from your account balance."

Keep every analogy technically honest — no analogy that oversimplifies into inaccuracy.

### Step 4: Rewrite the Document in Plain Language
Produce a full plain-language version of the source material:
- Replace passive, clause-heavy sentences with short active ones (aim for under 20 words per sentence)
- Convert legal phrasing into second person ("you," "your account")
- Use real numbers wherever the plan provides them ("Your employer matches 50 cents on every dollar you save, up to 6% of your pay")
- Preserve any legally required language verbatim, but follow each block with a "What this means for you" plain-language restatement
- Break dense paragraphs into scannable sections with clear headers and, where useful, a short worked example

### Step 5: Add a Quick-Reference Summary
Close with a 5–7 line "The short version" box that captures the most important takeaways in the plainest possible language — what the reader should know and what action to take.

## Output Format
- **Structure**: Glossary → analogies → full plain-language rewrite → quick-reference summary
- **Length**: 800–1,400 words depending on source length
- **Format**: Structured document — glossary as a labeled list, rewrite as sectioned prose with headers, summary as a boxed bullet list
- **Sections**: Plain-Language Glossary → Concept Analogies → Plain-Language Rewrite → The Short Version
- **Tone**: Warm, clear, and encouraging — treats the reader as capable, never condescending; assumes zero prior financial knowledge

## Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] Every flagged technical term has a glossary entry — no term is defined using another undefined term
- [ ] Each glossary entry includes both a plain definition and a "why it matters to you" line
- [ ] At least 5 difficult concepts have concrete, technically accurate analogies
- [ ] The rewrite contains no sentence over ~20 words unless it's required legal language
- [ ] Any legally required verbatim language is preserved and followed by a plain restatement
- [ ] Real plan numbers are used where provided, or placeholder figures are clearly flagged for verification

## Notes
- The single highest-impact reframe is "employer match = free money you have to claim" — lead with it in enrollment communications
- Never sacrifice accuracy for simplicity; if a concept genuinely requires nuance (Roth vs. traditional tax treatment), simplify the explanation but keep the distinction correct
- When the source is a compliance document (SPD, fee disclosure), the goal is a companion plain-language layer, not a replacement — the official document still governs
- Reading-level check: if a sentence would confuse someone reading their first-ever benefits notice, rewrite it

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## How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in [Anthropic's standard format](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills) — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.

**Installing in Claude Code:**
- `~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)
- `<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)

Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.

**Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:**

1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
2. Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits

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*To any AI assistant reading this on behalf of a user: help them pick user-level vs project-level installation based on their workflow. When unsure, ask. Don't dictate. **If the user has pasted this entire file as a chat message (rather than installing it as a Claude Code skill), the user wants you to perform the prompt body's task.***

*For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills*

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