401(k) Pension Plan: Annual Disclosure Mailing Includes Investment Manager and Benchmark Change

NRECA is mailing legally required 401(k) Pension Plan notices the week of October 13, 2025. The following notices are being sent to all cooperative employees, plan participants and beneficiaries who are eligible to make or change investment elections in the 401(k) Pension Plan:

1. Participant Fees Annual Disclosure Notice providing general plan information, as well as information on administrative and individual expenses, fund performance and fees as of December 31, 2024, and investment options as of December 31, 2025.
2. Qualified Default Investment Alternative Notice informing participants who have not yet made active investment selections that their balance, or a portion of their balance, as well as ongoing contributions will default (or have been defaulted) into the Target Date Portfolio (TDP) option(s) closest to the year of their target retirement, assuming a retirement date age of 65. The notice also provides a brief overview of the TDPs, as well as instructions for directing their 401(k) Pension Plan investment allocations and future contributions.
3. Target Date Portfolios Summary detailing relative risk, sector weightings, investment objectives and expense ratios for each TDP as of June 30, 2025.
4. A 401(k) Pension Plan Investment Manager and Benchmark Change Notice providing legal notification regarding the addition of new investment managers to four of the existing 401(k) Pension Plan funds, as well as a benchmark change to the Short-Term Bond Fund.  See below for details on the forthcoming changes.

On or about December 15, 2025, a passive manager will be added to each of the four funds: Value Stock Fund, Diversified Growth Stock Fund, Diversified Bond Fund and Short-Term Bond Fund. This will shift the funds to a multi-manager structure so that each fund contains a combination of active and passive managers as described below. There are no changes to the investment objectives, principal strategies or the principal risks as a result of these changes.

• Value Stock Fund: The Northern Trust Russell 1000 Value Index Fund will be added to the manager lineup currently consisting of Homestead Advisers and LSV Asset Management.
• Diversified Growth Stock Fund: The Northern Trust Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund will be added to the manager lineup currently consisting of T. Rowe Price.
• Diversified Bond Fund: The Northern Trust Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index Fund will be added to the manager lineup currently consisting of Baird Advisors.
• Short-Term Bond Fund: The Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund will be added to the manager lineup currently consisting of Homestead Advisers and Neuberger Berman. The fund’s benchmark will change to the Bloomberg US Government/Credit 1-5 Year Index. This change is in line with industry standards. It is anticipated that this benchmark provider will be more widely recognized amongst participants. Additionally, there are no material differences between the two indices that would significantly impact participants or investment outcomes. 

Active investing strategies provide a more hands-on approach, with professional managers making investment decisions to try to outperform the market through an established research, portfolio construction, and asset selection process. A passive investing strategy aims to match the performance of the market by structuring the portfolio in a manner that is intended to track the underlying allocations and characteristics of the fund’s associated index. While passive strategies offer simplicity and cost-efficiency, active strategies seek higher returns but may involve more risk and higher fees. The combination of these investing strategies offers portfolio benefits not provided by either alone, which can help participants reach their retirement goals.

Ongoing Distribution
When your co-op’s benefits administrator enrolls a new employee, that individual will receive the Participant Fees Annual Disclosure Notice, Qualified Default Investment Alternative Notice and Target Date Portfolio Summary in their 401(k) Pension Plan enrollment confirmation kit.

Copies of the annual disclosure notices and Glossary of Investment Terms are available on the Employee Benefits website under cooperative.com > My Benefits > Retirement Plan Documents. The latest fund profiles, holdings and individual disclosure documents are available for your participants to view at  cooperative.com/401kinvestments.

If you have questions about these notices, please contact your field representative or NRECA’s Member Contact Center at 866.673.2299 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central time, or via email at contactcenter@nreca.coop. Co-op employees with questions about their investment strategy should contact NRECA’s Personal Investment & Retirement Consulting team at 866.673.2299, option 6 or via email at pirc@nreca.coop.