Deadline Approaching for Requesting 2016 RS Plan Benefit Projections

In August, NRECA notified cooperatives about timelines for Retirement Security (RS) Plan benefit projections. These timelines will ensure that NRECA is able to provide your co-op’s employees with the benefit projection information necessary to make informed decisions around quasi- and full-retirement.

For employees deciding whether to retire or quasi-retire in 2016 or 2017
Requests involving both 2016 and 2017 calculation dates should be run by benefits administrators on the Employee Benefits website in October. If the projection tool indicates that a special (manual) calculation is necessary, requests for 2016 and 2017 projections should be submitted using the “Special Request” link no later than November 1. IMPORTANT: In the “(Optional) Enter a description to be sent with the projection request” comments box, please type in “Hold for 2017 interest rates” as shown below:

hold-for-2017-interest-rates-picture_b

Once these hold request calculations are completed, the 2016 and 2017 projections will be emailed to the benefits administrator at the same time, soon after the 2017 rates are announced in mid-December. Generally, manual requests that do not include 2017 rates will be fulfilled within four weeks of submission. However, participants affected by special circumstances may experience a four-to-six-week turnaround time due, in some cases, to additional compensation information that will need to be provided by the co-op.

Resources for your employees
To help you with employee discussions, NRECA has developed two resources:

a sample email template that you can use for contacting retirement-eligible employees,
the Answers You Need: Weighing Your RS Plan Payment Options flier, that can help participants evaluate their RS Plan benefit options.

RS Plan participants also have access to the Personal Investment & Retirement Consulting (PIRC) team. A PIRC team member can provide personalized guidance to co-op employees and can be reached via email at pirc@nreca.coop or by phone at 866.673.2299, option 6.

Questions
As always, we are here to help you. Contact your field representative for specific questions or concerns.