Deadline Approaching for Requesting 2017 RS Plan Benefit Projections

In September, NRECA notified cooperatives about the 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 2017 or 2018
Requests involving 2017 and 2018 calculation dates should be run by benefits administrators on the Employee Benefits website in early October. If the projection tool indicates that a special (manual) calculation is necessary, requests for 2017 and 2018 projections should be submitted using the “Special Request” link no later than October 23.

IMPORTANT: In the “(Optional) Enter a description to be sent with the projection request” comments box, please type in “Hold for 2018 interest rates.”

Once these hold request calculations are completed, both the 2017 and 2018 projections will be emailed to the benefits administrator at the same time, soon after the 2018 rates are announced in mid-December. In some cases, the co-op will need to provide additional compensation information to complete the projection requests.

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

• A sample email template that you can use with retirement-eligible employees;
• A flier, Answers You Need: Weighing Your RS Plan Payment Options, which can help participants evaluate their RS Plan benefit options.

RS Plan participants also have access to the Personal Investment & Retirement Consulting (PIRC) team. PIRC team members are available to educate co-op employees about their retirement options 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. Please contact your field representative for specific questions or concerns.