RS Plan: Timing for Requesting Year-end Benefit Estimates
As we move into the fall, many cooperative employees who are eligible for full or quasi-retirement will be requesting benefit estimates from the Retirement Security (RS) Plan. To ensure timely and accurate completion of these requests, please be aware of the following timing.
Benefits administrators can run 2023 estimates—and, for participants who want to compare results for more than one retirement date, 2024 estimates using assumed rates—on the Employee Benefits website.
If the online estimate tool indicates that a special (manual) calculation is necessary, requests for 2023 and 2024 estimates should be submitted using the “special request” link on or before October 27, 2023, to guarantee delivery of these estimates before the end of 2023. Please provide any special handling instructions in the comment section of the special request.
The current latest date we are targeting for delivering the estimates is December 27, 2023. However, this date depends on the IRS announcing the required interest rates on or before December 15, 2023. If the rates are released by the IRS later than that, the delivery of some estimates may occur after December 27, 2023.
For participants who wish to receive a single cash payment estimate for 2024 using the actual 2024 interest rates, benefits administrators should enter “hold for rates” in the online estimate tool’s “special request” link. These estimates will be sent when the actual 2024 required interest rates are released, typically mid-December. Benefits administrators will be notified when they can run estimates using the new interest rates.
On Monday, August 16, updates were made to the interest rate assumptions used to estimate the value of single cash payments for 2024 and later to better reflect the current interest rate environment. As a result of that update, we expect 2024 estimates prepared after August 16 to provide a better, and still conservative, estimate of 2024 single cash payment values.
Manual calculation requests for both 2023 and 2024 will be limited to two calculations, except for participants with a birthday in January or February 2024. To better understand how their change in age affects their benefits, participants with January or February birthdays can request two calculations for 2024—one for just before their birthday and one for just after their birthday. Estimate requests for 2023 and 2024 will have priority over other future retirement or quasi-retirement estimates after 2024.
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. A PIRC team member can provide personalized education to co-op employees and can be reached via email at pirc@nreca.coop or by phone at 866.673.2299, option 6.
Questions?
We are here to help you. Please contact your field representative for specific questions or concerns. If you have questions for the retirement plan distributions team, representatives are available Monday through Friday, 7 am – 5 pm, Central time at 866.673.2299 or via email at RPDMailbox@nreca.coop.