Now that open enrollment is over, brokers everywhere are sipping mai tais on a beach in... just kidding. It’s already the end of January! Time to prepare for next year.

Jokes aside, I’ve asked hundreds of brokers over the past few months what they offer to stay competitive and what excites their clients most. Here are three things to keep an eye on in 2018.

1. Pet insurance (yep, really)

Insurance for Fido and Fluffy seems wacky — but let’s be honest: do your clients’ employees care about anything more than their pets? Probably not. In fact, pets (nope, not children) are the top reason millennials cite for buying a home.

Sometimes the strangest benefits are what give you that competitive edge. Many of the brokers I’ve talked to in the last few weeks say pet insurance has come up in every client meeting this year. As a dog lover myself, I’d recommend we all keep tabs on this trend.

2. Education tools

This one seems like a no-brainer, but it’s a high priority for most clients. As costs are shifted more and more to employees, HR teams want to make sure no one’s getting screwed over. Enter: education.

Speaking of education… #3 is a whopper when it comes to educating and engaging employees.

3. Health savings accounts

HSAs might not be the sexiest thing in the world, but they’re definitely the next big thing in healthcare benefits.

With more and more clients switching to HDHPs, people want to know how they can protect their employees from financial harm. There’s no better solution than an HSA — but traditional HSAs, well… suck. And employers are starting to take note.

Here’s the question I keep hearing:

What’s the point of even offering an HSA if no one signs up for it?

Not going to lie — I think Amino is a pretty darn innovative solution to this problem. No one has ever combined healthcare transparency with an HSA before, which is particularly exciting since millennials have surprised us all with their affinity for saving. It’s the one solution all your HDHP clients should know about, and it has in-product education (to satisfy point #2 up there).

But don’t take my word for it. See what people are saying about Amino, or book yourself a quick demo. Quick — before a client brings it up first (that would be kinda embarrassing).