To access your pension account on the VALIC/AIG Retirement
website, click here: https://my.aigretirement.com/retirementonline
NOTE: On March 29, 2009, VALIC/AIG Retirement made
a few changes to our account log-in page. These include
some new security steps which are similar to those required
by online banks. If you have any trouble logging into
your account, please see the hints below in Section 12.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS FOR THIS
WEB PAGE:
Section 1: QPP and SPP Plan Information
Section 2: Our Pension Account Administrator:
VALIC (formerly known as AIG Retirement)
(This Section Contains Investor Education Links from VALIC)
Section 3: Your Pension Investments and
the "Default Investment Portfolio"
Section 4: "HOW CAN I OBTAIN DISTRIBUTION
OF MY PENSION FUNDS?"
(Information
for Terminating and Retiring Pension Members)
Section 5: Distribution Forms
Section 6: Address Changes
Section 7: Information for Our Plan Members
Over the Age of 70 1/2
Section 8: Message to Plan Members about
Plan Operating Expenses
Section 9: Beneficiary Forms
Section 10: Miscellaneous
Section 11:
Frequently Asked Questions ("FAQ")
Section 12: Logging Into Your Individual Account on
the VALIC/AIG Retirement Web Page
Section 1:
QPP and SPP Plan Information
Central Texas
College maintains two IRS Section 401(a) defined contribution
ERISA-compliant qualified pension plans for its employees.
The Employees’
Pension Plan and Trust (referred to as “QPP”) is
for full-time employees (with some exceptions). Eligible
employees must satisfy a one-year waiting period for participation
in QPP, after which time they are entered into QPP on the
next entry date (either March 1 or September 1). Employees
contribute a mandatory 6% of their wages to QPP, and CTC
contributes a mandatory 7%. Employees may contribute an
additional 4% if they wish. Employees are always 100% vested
in their own employee contributions, but they must satisfy
a 6-year vesting schedule in order to become 100% vested
in the employer contributions.
The Employees’
Supplemental Plan and Trust (referred to as “SPP”)
is for part-time employees (with some exceptions). There
is no waiting period for SPP participation; eligible employees
participate from their first day of employment. Eligible
employees contribute a mandatory 3.75% of their wages to
SPP, and CTC contributes a mandatory 3.75%. Employees are
always 100% vested in both their own employee contributions,
and also the employer contributions.
Special rules
apply to our “wage-determined” employees. Wage-determined
employees are eligible to participate in SPP, but not QPP.
Some exceptions may apply, depending on your individual
circumstances.
When individuals
leave CTC (and are officially and completely terminated/retired
from the employer), they can take distribution of the vested
balance in their pension account, which consists of: employee
contributions, vested employer contributions, and vested
accrued earnings. Plan rules mandate that inactive accounts
with balances under $5,000 should be distributed as quickly
as possible. If you are no longer an active employee of
the college, and your pension balance is under $5,000, please
contact us so that we can process your distribution in the
manner that you choose. If you do not choose the manner
of distribution, an involuntary distribution may be made.
If your account balance is over $5,000, you may leave your
funds in “QPP” and “SPP” after you terminate/retire. You
will continue to participate in our portfolios, just as
you did before you terminated/retired. Once you reach the
age of 70 ½, IRS rules require that you begin taking annual
minimum distributions.
CTC pension plans
operate in compliance with ERISA regulations, and are audited
every year by an outside independent audit firm.
The pension plans are monitored by a Pension Plan Trust
Committee, which is composed of active employees from various
CTC departments. The Trust Committee meets at least
four times per year, and all meetings are open to plan members.
If you would like to attend a Trust Committee meeting, just
call us at 254-526-1416 for more information.
Section 2: Our Pension Account Administrator:
VALIC (formerly known as AIG Retirement)
In an effort
to improve our pension plans and provide more options to
our participants, CTC engaged a new pension account administrator,
AIG Retirement, on September 1, 2004 (AIG Retirement is
now known as VALIC, the Variable Life Insurance Company,
a Texas corporation). VALIC/AIG Retirement is one of the
largest, most experienced pension administration providers
in the country, specializing in higher education clients.
VALIC/AIG Retirement was engaged to use their specialized
software to maintain our accounts, coordinate with selected
mutual funds, process our distributions, prepare quarterly
statements, help with compliance issues, and provide a variety
of other administrative functions.
QPP and SPP plan rules remain
the same, but many new options are now available to our
participants:
Participants can now choose their own investment
options from a diversified portfolio.
Accounts are now adjusted to market value
on a daily basis.
Participants have 24-hour access to their
accounts on the VALIC/AIG Retirement website, where they
can
print a statement
whenever they need one.
VALIC/AIG Retirement works with us to provide our participants
with investor education seminars and
materials, including asset allocation information, using
a variety of delivery methods.
To access your pension account
on the VALIC/AIG Retirement website, click on the link
at the top of the page.
You will be taken
to a customized section of the VALIC/AIG Retirement website
that was built just for us. In addition to accessing your
own pension account, you can find lots of helpful information
through this web page.
- For example, click on the tab entitled “Plan
Details”. Then click on “Full-Time Employees”,
where you will find lots of info on our Employees’ Pension
Plan and Trust (“QPP”). Click on “Part-Time Employees”
to find info on our Employees’ Supplemental Plan and Trust
(“SPP”). These pages will tell you about plan rules, contributing,
vesting, distributions, etc.
- Under the tab entitled “Learning Center”,
you will find lots of investment education information.
Topics include: Investment Options, Financial Planning
Courses, Multimedia Resources, and there is also a Glossary
of Financial Terms. You can learn about money management,
investment strategies, and lots of other subjects.
You can watch videos entitled "Financial Planning",
"Cash Management", "Risk Management",
"Investment Types", "Investment Strategies",
"Retirement Planning" and "Estate Planning".
There are eNewsletters called "Retirement Essentials"
for individuals in different age groups.
- Under the tab entitled “Financial Planning”,
you will find even more information on the following subjects:
Life Events, Money Management, Estate Planning, Insurance
Planning, Planning for a College Education, Retirement
Planning, and a section with interactive tools called
"Tools That You Can Use".
- In order to access your own pension account, click on
“Access Your Account”. You will be asked
to log in, using your Social Security Number and/or one
of your account numbers (available on your most recent
quarterly statement), and you will be asked to choose
a “pin number” (password). You will be asked to
answer certain security questions. Please be sure
to "log out" when you are finished.
We also have an VALIC/AIG Retirement
financial advisor who has been engaged to provide investor
education and asset allocation advice to all QPP and SPP
plan members. His name is Mr. Roy E. Box, Jr., CFP, CPA,
and he presents investor education seminars on Central
Campus, and can provide you with basic investor education
and show you how to learn more about the mutual funds
that your pension dollars are invested in. You can contact
Roy by calling 254-213-3162, or by emailing him at Roy.Box@aigretirement.com.
If you want to make sure the “default” allocation
is the best allocation for you, or if you would like to
move out of the “default” allocation into the other funds
in our portfolios, please contact Mr. Box and ask for
an appointment. His assistance is free to all our
QPP and SPP members.
VALIC/AIG Retirement,
through Mr. Box, has provided us with some excellent investor
education videos, to help our pension members that are
not located near our Central Campus. Just click
on these links for lots of helpful information:
Estate
Planning:
http://www.brainshark.com/aigretirement/vu?pi=748342290
Retirement
Planning:
http://www.brainshark.com/aigretirement/vu?pi=455825540
Investment
Planning:
http://www.brainshark.com/aigretirement/vu?pi=256245238
Cash
Management:
http://www.brainshark.com/aigretirement/vu?pi=339409030
Tax
Planning:
http://www.brainshark.com/aigretirement/vu?pi=153327013
Risk
Management:
http://www.brainshark.com/aigretirement/vu?pi=51838553
VALIC/AIG Retirement
also provides us with a toll-free Client Care
Center at 1-800-448-2542, where you can get help
with your account. You can speak to a Client Service
Professional, and be referred to an investment consultant.
You can request asset reallocations through this
service, and find out about reallocation rules.
This service is available Monday through Friday from 7
am till 8 pm (Central U.S. time). The toll-free
Client Care Center phone number does not work for overseas
calls. If you are calling from outside the U.S.,
please call the Client Care Center at 281-878-7400 from
8am till 5pm (Central U.S. Time).
Whenever you make changes
to your investment portfolio, you should be aware
of VALIC/AIG Retirement's trading policies and any
trading fees that might arise. In order to review
their trading policies, just log into your individual
account, and click on "Account Detail".
Then click on the "ePrint" logo, and then
click on "Other Important Materials".
This will take you to VALIC/AIG's document entitled
"AIG Retirement Revenue Sharing and Investor
Trading Policy".
Section
3: Your Pension Investments and the "Default
Investment Portfolio"
When CTC employees
begin to participate in "QPP" or "SPP",
our Pension Plan contributions must be placed in an initial
automatic "default" asset allocation or "default"
portfolio. After those initial contributions, plan
members can choose from a variety of other options.
They can choose to stay in the "default" portfolio,
if they wish, or they can transfer all (or a portion)
of their pension funds into other investments. They
can re-allocate their funds periodically, subject to VALIC/AIG's
published trading policies.
In the past,
Pension Plan Trustees had to decide what the initial automatic
"default" portfolio would be. The new
Pension Protection Act ("PPA") of 2006 changed
that. The Pension Protection Act and the Department
of Labor now dictate what the automatic "default"
portfolio should be. We must now use special mutual
funds called "targeted retirement date funds"
as our automatic "defaults". In our case,
we use four T. Rowe Price Targeted Retirement Date Funds.
These four
T. Rowe Price Targeted Retirement Date Funds are tailored
to individuals, based on their estimated future retirement
date. They consist of a diversified mix of stocks
and bonds, which are automatically reallocated and rebalanced
over time by the fund's managers. The funds become
more conservative as the individual gets closer to the
targeted retirement date. They assume a retirement
age of 65 years old. The four T. Rowe Price funds
that are utilized as our new "default" portfolios
are as follows:
T. Rowe Price Retirement 2010 Fund
T. Rowe Price Retirement 2020 Fund
T. Rowe Price Retirement 2030 Fund
T. Rowe Price Retirement 2040 Fund
During the
week of May 19, 2008, letters were sent to all our plan
members, informing them of the government-mandated changes
to our "default" portfolios. Those changes
only applied to those individuals who had remained in
the "default" portfolio, and never made any
investment reallocations on their own. Individuals
who had remained in the "default" portfolio
had the opportunity to "opt out" of the change,
and remain in the old "default" portfolio, if
they wished, by returning an election form to us.
All individuals
who had not assumed self-direction of their accounts,
or who did not return an election form to us, were rolled
to the new government-mandated "defaults" on
July 8, 2008.
Those individuals
in the new "defaults" are not required to remain
in the "defaults", however. They can choose
to change their investments at any time. In fact,
all pension members are encouraged to take advantage of
the opportunity to choose their own investments.
If you would like to obtain assistance in that area, please
don't hesitate to call our AIG Retirement investment advisor,
mentioned above.
Section
4: "HOW CAN I OBTAIN DISTRIBUTION OF MY PENSION
FUNDS?" (Information
for Terminating and Retiring Pension Members)
If you are terminated
or retired from CTC, or if you are just thinking about terminating
or retiring from CTC, here is some information you need
to consider when planning your pension distribution:
AFTER-TAX
VS PRE-TAX: All of your employee contributions
in your “QPP” and/or “SPP” account are AFTER-TAX (the tax
has already been paid). All of the employer contributions,
and all of the accumulated earnings, are PRE-TAX or “tax
deferred” (the tax has not yet been paid).
UNDER
AGE 55: If you are under the age of 55
years when you terminate/retire, and you decide to take
all of your funds as a “cash distribution”, the IRS will
impose a 10% “Early Withdrawal Penalty” on the pre-tax portion
of your distribution. In order to avoid that penalty, you
can rollover the pre-tax portion to one of the retirement
vehicles listed below.
BALANCE
UNDER $5,000: If your account balance
is under $5,000, we are required to distribute the balance
to you as soon as practical. If your account is over $5,000,
you can leave your money in the plan, where it will continue
to participate in normal gains and losses (depending on
your asset allocation and market fluctuations). You can
continue to reallocate your funds, but you will not be able
to contribute more funds. You will continue to get your
quarterly statements, as before. You will still be eligible
for free access to our AIG-Valic financial advisor, as long
as you have funds in the plan. When you reach the age of
70 ½, you will have to begin taking required minimum
distributions annually, just as you would with an IRA. If
you wish to leave your funds in the plan, but avoid any
possible market fluctuations, you could allocate your entire
balance to the Valic Fixed Account, which pays a guaranteed
fixed amount of interest --- but be sure to talk to your
investment professional or our in-house AIG-Valic financial
advisor before you make any reallocation decisions.
DISTRIBUTION
OPTIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
- You may leave your funds in QPP and/or SPP (if the
balance is over $5,000).
- You can take a full or partial cash distribution.
- You can rollover your funds to another plan or financial
instrument.
- You can establish a periodic distribution plan.
ROLLOVER
OPTIONS: Your funds can be
directly rolled over into any of the following plans/vehicles:
- A Traditional Retirement IRA (not a Roth IRA and not
a tax-deductible IRA)
- Another 401(a) plan
- A 403(a) or 403(b) plan
- A 401(k) plan
- A 457 plan
- A TSP (Thrift Savings Plan)
You may
treat your after-tax dollars and your pre-tax dollars separately
when planning your rollover, if you wish. For example:
You can roll your entire balance (both the after-tax dollars
and the pre-tax dollars) into one of the plans/vehicles
above (providing that the vehicle you choose accepts both
types of dollars --- some plans only accept pre-tax dollars).
You can take your after-tax dollars as a direct cash distribution
to you, while rolling your pre-tax dollars into one of
the vehicles above (thereby continuing their tax deferred
status). AIG calls that a “split distribution”.
You can establish
a Traditional Retirement IRA at any bank or credit union
in just a few minutes, at no charge. You can also use a
financial advisor to set up your IRA, or to help you make
arrangements for other types of plans/vehicles.
DISTRIBUTION
FORMS: There are three types of distribution
request forms used by VALIC/AIG Retirement, depending on
your circumstances:
1. If you decide
to take your money as a direct cash distribution, please
use the "AIG CTC QPP Request for Cash Distribution"
or the "AIG CTC SPP Request for Cash Distribution"
form (you can print it out in Section 4 below).
2. If you decide
to take your distribution as a rollover to another investment
plan/vehicle, please use the "AIG CTC QPP Request for
Pension Rollover" or the "AIG CTC SPP Request
for Pension Rollover" form (you can print it out in
Section 4 below).
3. If you are
over the age of 70 ½, AIG requires that all of your
distributions (whether cash distributions or rollovers)
be processed using their AIG “Required Minimum Distribution
Form” (this form is not yet available on this web page,
so please give us a call at 254-526-1416 or email us at
Pension.Plan@ctcd.edu and we will send you the form).
These
forms can be obtained in the following ways:
(1) Print the
forms from this web page (see Section 4 below), or
(2) Email us
at Pension.Plan@ctcd.edu and we will send you the forms.
Why do we like
for you to print your forms from our web page? That's because
VALIC/AIG Retirement occasionally revises or updates those
forms, and we post those revised or updated forms on our
web page. If you print your forms from the web page, that
will insure that you have the most recent, most useful form.
NOTE
ABOUT WHERE TO MAIL YOUR DISTRIBUTION FORMS:
The standard VALIC/AIG forms instruct you to send the forms
to VALIC/AIG for processing. However, if you send your forms
directly to VALIC/AIG, they will have to re-route them to
us for plan administrator approval, which is required by
our plan rules. Therefore, it is much more efficient if
you just mail the forms directly to us at the address below.
After we perform our required procedures on them, we will
forward them to VALIC/AIG for final distribution.
VALIC/AIG will not accept faxed forms or emailed forms,
because they require original signatures, so please send
the original forms to us at the following address:
Central
Texas College Pension Plan
P
O Box 1800
Killeen
, TX 76540-1800
STEPS IN THE DISTRIBUTION
PROCESS – HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?
Federal laws require that a person
must be officially terminated/retired (both full-time
and part-time) from their employer in order to request and
receive a pension distribution. This requirement is so important
that we are required to “document” that you are officially
terminated/retired, and attach that documentation to your
paperwork, before we can approve your distribution request
form and forward it to AIG-Valic for processing. How do
we obtain the “documentation” that we must attach? That
process starts with your department or site, which must
officially terminate you. Your department or site will have
you sign a “Terminating Personnel Status Form (“PSF”)”.
When that “Terminating PSF” is completed and signed by you,
it is sent to CTC Main Campus, where it passes through several
departments that need that information in order to do their
jobs. For example, it goes through the Payroll Department,
and that alerts Payroll that your final paycheck (and possibly
a vacation payoff) must be taken care of. It also goes through
the Benefits Department, which must check on the status
of your various benefits, such as insurance, etc. Once every
department is finished with their wrap-up procedures, and
you have been issued your final paycheck, and the college
does not owe you any more pay, the CTC Human Resources Department
uses that “Terminating PSF” to officially terminate you.
All of the procedures required to officially terminate an
employee usually take from 30 to 45 days. In the meantime,
we have usually received your distribution request form,
but we must hold it until we see that the college has officially
terminated you. While we are waiting, we will check every
day to see if you have been officially terminated. As soon
as you have been officially terminated, we will print out
a copy of the documentary proof, showing your official termination
date, attach it to your distribution request form documents,
and forward the original form to VALIC/AIG for processing.
We send batches of distribution request forms to VALIC/AIG
every week, usually on Thursdays. By the following Tuesday,
VALIC/AIG will have the forms. Within 10 business days after
they receive the forms, your distribution check should be
in the mail.
In short, the distribution process moves very quickly ONCE
YOU HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY TRANSFERRED TO TERMINATED STATUS.
If there is a delay in the process, it is always due to
the time it takes to get you officially terminated by the
college. If your department or your site does not terminate
you by completing the necessary “Terminating PSF”, the process
will be delayed. If there are errors on your “Terminating
PSF” which require a re-do, the process will be delayed.
If you still have an outstanding paycheck or “vacation payoff”,
the process will be delayed until those checks have been
processed through our Payroll system, and any resulting
pension deposits have been sent to VALIC/AIG and deposited
into your pension account. Therefore, it is a good idea
to touch base with your department or your site, and make
sure that they have prepared and forwarded the necessary
“Terminating PSF”, so that you can get your pension distribution
as quickly as possible.
TRANSFER FROM FULL-TIME
TO PART-TIME OR FROM PART-TIME TO FULL-TIME:
If your employment status changes from full-time to part-time
(or from part-time to full-time), that change of status
does not qualify as a termination/retirement for pension
plan purposes. It is considered a change of status. In either
case, the individual is still a current and active employee,
and is therefore not eligible to apply for or receive a
distribution of their pension plan funds. That rule applies
to both "QPP" and "SPP" pension funds.
In order for a termination/retirement to generate a pension
distribution, it must be a bona-fide termination/retirement
from both full-time and part-time employment with the employer,
and there must not be any intention or agreement to return
to employment with the employer after a pension distribution
has been made.
OVER 70 ½ YEARS
OF AGE: If you decide to leave your funds
in “QPP” or “SPP”, when you reach the age of 70 ½,
the IRS will require that you begin taking annual “Required
Minimum Distributions” (just like you would with an IRA
or other tax-deferred instruments). The amount of each annual
distribution will depend upon a table published by the IRS,
and the distribution factor will be based on your age and
the estimated life expectancy of yourself and your spouse.
Please use an VALIC/AIG “Required Minimum Distribution”
form to initiate your distribution.
VESTING:
In many pension plans, there is a “vesting requirement”
connected to the “Employer Contributions”. That is the case
with “QPP”. In “QPP”, you are always 100% vested in your
own “Employee Contributions”, however you must meet a six-year
“vesting schedule” in order to be 100% vested in the “Employer
Contributions”. Your first year, you are 0% vested in the
“Employer Contributions”. The second year, you are 20% vested.
Then 40%, 60%, 80%, and finally, after six years, you are
100% vested in the “QPP” “Employer Contributions”.
“SPP” does not contain a “vesting
requirement”. Therefore, in SPP, you are always 100% vested
in both your “Employee Contributions” and your “Employer
Contributions” from your very first day in the plan.
TYPES OF PENSION PLANS:
There are two basic types of employer-sponsored pension
plans. Understanding the difference between these two types
of plans may help you understand your options under our
two plans.
A “ Defined Benefit Plan ”: A “Defined Benefit
Plan” plan is an “old-fashioned” type of plan in which
an individual must meet certain age and years-of-service
requirements in order to be eligible to “retire”, at which
point the employer will begin to pay the retiree a monthly
benefit payment. TRS is a “Defined Benefit Plan”.
A “ Defined Contribution Plan ”: “QPP” and “SPP”
are both “Defined Contribution Plans”. This type of plan
does not have most of the typical age and years-of-service
requirements that the “old-fashioned” type of plan has.
Instead, when individuals leaves the employer, they are
simply entitled to their vested balance in their pension
account. They may withdraw their balance in several ways,
but there is no automatic monthly benefit payment.
IF
YOU NEED ASSISTANCE:
Distribution decisions can be complicated. We will be glad
to work with you to give you all the information that we
can to help you make your decision. Just call us at 254-526-1416,
or call the VALIC/AIG Retirement Client Care Center at 1-800-448-2542.
Section 5: Distribution
Forms
NOTE:
Due to their recent software changes, VALIC/AIG has issued
new distribution forms. They will no longer accept
the old forms. If you wish to request a distribution,
please use these new forms, or email us at Pension.Plan@ctcd.edu,
and we can send you hard copies of the new forms.
You can print your own forms by clicking on the links below.
FOR CASH DISTRIBUTIONS:
From the "QPP" Plan:
FOR ROLLOVERS
OR PARTIAL ROLLOVERS:
FOR REQUIRED
MINIMUM DISTRIBUTIONS (for individuals
over the age of 70 1/2) - This form is not available
online at the present time. Please call us at 254-526-1416
or email us at Pension.Plan@ctcd.edu, and we will mail you
the necessary forms.
Send your completed
forms to the following address for processing:
Central Texas College Pension Plan
P O Box 1800
Killeen, TX 76540-1800
Section 6: Address Changes
To change your address for your
VALIC/AIG Retirement quarterly statements, please call the
VALIC/AIG Retirement Client Care Center at 1-800-448-2542
(Central U.S. time). If you are calling from outside
the U.S., please call the Client Care Center at 281-878-7400
from 8am till 5pm (Central U.S. time). The quickest
way to change your address is to go into your online account
screen and click on "Change Address".
Section 7:
Information for Our Plan Members Over the Age of 70 1/2
In
most retirement plans containing tax-deferred money, the
IRS requires the account owner to begin taking withdrawals
of a portion of that tax-deferred money every year, beginning
at the age of 70 ½. Those withdrawals are called
“Required Minimum Distributions” (“RMDs”) and are based
on a table published by the IRS. Beginning January 1, 2009,
the QPP and SPP plan rules regarding “RMDs” have changed.
Prior to 2009, our plan members who reached the age of 70
½ were required to take an “RMD” every year, even
if they were still current employees. Starting
in 2009, any plan member who has reached the age of 70 ½
can choose to delay taking their “RMDs” until they terminate
their employment.
(1)
If you are a current employee over the age of 70 ½,
and you want to delay your “RMDs” until you terminate employment,
you do not have to do anything. However, if you have already
begun taking an automatic “RMD” distribution from VALIC
(every month, every quarter, or every year), you will need
to contact the VALIC Client Care Center at 1-800-448-2542
and give them verbal instructions to STOP your automatic
“RMDs”.
(2)
If you are a current employee over the age of 70 ½,
and you do NOT want to delay your “RMDs”, just contact us
and we will get the appropriate “RMD” distribution form
to you. All “RMD” forms should first be sent to the CTC
Pension Plan Administration Office for plan administrator
signature, after which they will be forwarded to VALIC for
processing.
(3)
If you are a former employee (or retired employee) over
the age of 70 ½, you must begin taking your “RMDs”
every year. The deadline for your first “RMD” is April 1
of the year after you turn 70 ½ (although that first
“RMD” may also be done by December 31 of the year you turn
70 ½). The deadline for “second year” and
all subsequent year “RMDs” is December 31 of each year.
Contact us for the proper “RMD” distribution form. All “RMD”
forms should first be sent to the CTC Pension Plan Administration
Office for plan administrator signature, after which they
will be forwarded to VALIC for processing.
SPECIAL
EXCEPTION FOR 2009: On December 23, 2008, President
Bush signed the Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act
of 2008. This Act applies to individuals who are terminated
or retired from employment, and who have reached the age
of 70 ½. Normally, those individuals would have to
take an “RMD” for 2009. However, because of this Act, those
individuals can choose to waive their “RMD” for 2009, if
they wish. The reasoning for this special 2009 exception
is the decrease in many retirement account values due to
recent market losses. If you are taking automatic “RMD”
distributions, but you want to take advantage of the opportunity
to waive your “RMD” for 2009, just call VALIC's Client Care
Center at 1-800-448-2542. They will accept your verbal instructions
to waive your “RMD” for 2009.
Section 8:
Message to Plan Members about Plan Operating Expenses
There have always been operating
expenses involved in maintaining CTC’s pension plans,
and those expenses have always been absorbed by our accounts,
on a pro rata basis. In the past, you may not have realized
that expenses were being paid, because the earnings distributions
on your quarterly statements were “net of expenses” (after
expenses were paid). Our new quarterly statements from
VALIC/AIG Retirement allow for more detail, so you now
will be able to see the pension operating expenses that
are being paid.
We believe that our move to
our new account administrator has allowed us to reduce
our operating expenses, due to improved technology and
consolidation of services.
You may see two types of operating
expenses on your pension statement:
- VALIC/AIG Retirement Administration Fees:
These cover VALIC/AIG Retirement's costs of administering
our accounts, and include their pension professionals,
technology, legal and tax specialists, investment advisors,
Client Care Center, quarterly statements, etc. These
fees are labelled "Administration Fees"
on your AIG quarterly statements.
- CTC Operating Expenses: These cover
the costs of our Pension Plan Administration Office
on the CTC campus. This includes the daily coordination
of all pension matters, advocacy for all our plan members,
monitoring our service providers, support of our Trustees,
and our independent auditors and attorney. These fees
are labelled "Quarterly Fees" on
your VALIC/AIG quarterly statements.
Section 9: Beneficiary Forms
If you have not completed a pension
plan beneficiary form, or if you want to update your beneficiary
designation, please send us a message at Pension.Plan@ctcd.edu,
or call us at 254-526-1416, and we will send you a beneficiary
designation form to complete. The beneficiary form
will be kept in your permanent HR personnel file. (Your
personal will does not cover your qualified pension plan
--- you must have a pension beneficiary designation form
on record in order to make sure that your wishes are followed.)
Section 10:
Miscellaneous
For
“QPP” participants:
1. Question:
Are QPP and SPP funds available for loans or hardship withdrawals?
Answer: QPP and SPP do not contain any provisions
for loans or hardship withdrawals.
2. Question:
Can an employee opt out of QPP or SPP participation?
Answer: Because of federal laws and ERISA
requirements, all QPP-eligible employees MUST participate
in QPP, and
all SPP-eligible employees MUST participate in SPP, as a condition
of their
employment.
Note: QPP and SPP are completely separate
from TRS (Teachers’ Retirement System of Texas) and ORP (Optional
Retirement Plan). For TRS and ORP information, please check
the Human Resources
web pages.