Manage Participant Contributions Online

The General Board recently introduced a service to help you manage your participant contributions online—Contribution Management. This service is available at no charge, and it enables you to:

• Pay contributions online with a linked bank account
• Receive account notifications by e-mail, eliminating paper
• Update and monitor your account in real-time
• View a rolling 12-month account history
• Choose automatic or manual upload options
• Edit contribution amounts within the remittance

In addition, forfeitures for participants who didn't meet vesting requirements will automatically be credited to your total monthly amount due.

Accessing Contribution Management

To use Contribution Management, you must be registered for Benefits Access Portal, the administrative tool for plan sponsors. (Note: Benefits Access Portal is seperate from the Benefits Access for participants’ website at www.benefitsaccess.org.)

• If you are already registered for Benefits Access Portal, submit a Security Administration Form to the General Board for each individual who should receive access to Contribution Management. Once the necessary information has been accepted by the General Board, you will be able to access Contribution Management using your Benefits Access Portal login—no additional username and password needed. Just select “Contribution Management” in the toolbar on the left side of the page.

• If you are not registered for Benefits Access Portal, submit a Security Administration Form for each individual who should receive plan sponsor inquiry access to Benefits Access Portal. After your security forms are processed, you will receive an e-mail with further instructions.

Please be aware that any individual who is granted access to Benefits Access Portal will be able to view information for all participants in your organization.

Additional information about the advantages of using Contribution Management is available in our e-learning presentation Introducing Contribution Management and the Contribution Management FAQs. We hope the new Contribution Management option simplifies your contribution process.

Help New Employees Save More

At the beginning of a new year, many people resolve to improve their financial habits and behaviors—eliminating debt and saving more. This is an ideal time to encourage your employees to begin or increase their contributions to the United Methodist Personal Investment Plan (UMPIP), and to make them aware of increased contribution limits and tax credits for 2013.

UMPIP vs. Traditional Savings Accounts

One way to promote UMPIP to your employees is to compare it to traditional savings accounts. UMPIP offers:

• Tax benefits—UMPIP allows participants to invest pre-tax dollars, meaning contributions are deducted from income before taxes are withheld. Contributions reduce taxable earnings on every paycheck— participants pay lower overall income taxes every pay period. And earnings are tax-deferred, so participants don’t need to pay taxes on contributions or earnings until they make withdrawals in retirement when they may be in a lower tax bracket.
• Automatic deductions—Participant contributions to UMPIP are deducted directly from their paychecks, so they don’t have a chance to spend that money.
• Diversification—Participants can choose among seven General Board investment funds to invest their UMPIP contributions (participant and plan sponsor). These funds have no commissions and lower fees than most funds holding comparable investments.
• Personalized portfolio management—Participants can elect the LifeStage Investment Management Service to handle their investments at no charge. Available only from the General Board, the LifeStage Investment Management Service automatically invests participant accounts in General Board funds based on factors, such as age, risk tolerance and account balance.
• Objective financial counseling—Participants can receive professional financial counseling at no charge from Ernst & Young Financial Planning Services. This benefit provides unlimited phone consultations with a financial counselor who can help develop personalized savings and retirement plans.
• 24/7 account access—Participants can manage their accounts anytime online at www.benefitsaccess.org or over the phone with the Interactive Voice Response system at 1-800-851-2201.

Make sure you give your employees a copy of the General Board’s new Saving For Your Future brochure. This publication busts the myths that prevent some participants from saving and illustrates the advantages of saving in UMPIP. If you offer matching contributions to your employees, saving in UMPIP is an even greater opportunity. Encourage them to save by pointing out the value of the “free money” you’re offering toward their retirement.

New IRS Limits for UMPIP Savings

The IRS places limits on the amount of money that can be set aside annually in retirement savings accounts. For 2013, the contribution limits for retirement savings accounts increased to:

• $17,500 in before-tax contributions (from $17,000 in 2012), or
• $23,000 for participants age 50 or older.

Total annual before-tax and after-tax participant and plan sponsor contributions combined may not exceed the participant’s compensation or $51,000 (whichever is less) for 2013.

Some employees may be eligible for an additional tax feature that could increase the value of retirement savings accounts—the Savers Credit (formerly the “Retirement Savings Contribution Credit”). Eligible participants can take a tax credit of up to $1,000 ($2,000 if filing jointly) for making eligible contributions to UMPIP. To qualify, participants must have adjusted gross income of less than $29,500 (filing as single), $44,250 (head of household), or $59,000 (married, filing jointly). Additional details are available at www.irs.gov.

Participant Enrollments and Changes

Offer your participants a Before-Tax and After-Tax Contributions Agreement each year, and encourage them to enroll or increase their contributions to UMPIP. Enrollment kits can be ordered by contacting your plan sponsor manager at 1-800-269-2244, ext. 7003. The form can also be downloaded from the General Board website at www.gbophb.org under “General Board Participant Forms” in the lower left corner of the page.

The Benefits of Benefits Access

Benefits Access for Participants (www.benefitsaccess.org) is an account management website that enables participants to access their retirement account history, to make transactions, to learn about their benefits and discover ways to prepare for retirement. The site offers retirement benefits projection tools, educational resources, electronic delivery options, online updating for beneficiary designations and contact information, and online applications for benefits from defined contribution accounts. An overview of Benefits Access is available on the General Board website.

Emphasizing Participant Education

The General Board supports retirement planning in a number of ways—Ernst & Young participant calls, our website, participant communications (e.g., the Hark newsletter) and promotional mailings. Please help us make your participants aware of Benefits Access and its features.

A February mailing will focus on the two retirement benefits projection tools: the Retirement Readiness Tool and the Retirement Benefits Projection. These were also highlighted in the January issue of Hark.

The Retirement Readiness Tool is designed to help participants easily estimate:

• How much retirement income they will have, by combining expected General Board-administered retirement plan benefits and account balances, and estimated Social Security income (also allows participant to enter other retirement assets)
• How much they may need, by showing the impact of expected costs for housing, health care and discretionary spending by factoring in retirement age, risk tolerance and the amount or percentage of contributions
• Any gap in expected retirement income

The Retirement Benefits Projection offers a more detailed look at estimated benefits from a participant’s General Board-administered accounts. It walks participants through options for benefits commencement and distribution, creates a report that shows projected benefits and offers tips to help participants improve their financial health in retirement.

The Retirement Readiness Tool and the Retirement Benefits Projection are available at www.benefitsaccess.org under “My Benefits.” Participants can select the tool they’d like to use from the Project Future Values drop-down menu.

Help Us Promote Benefits Access

Partner with us to encourage participants to leverage the available tools and information on the site. You might consider offering your employees the Benefits Access tips sheet, which includes a step-by-step registration checklist and navigation guide to help them learn about features available on the site. If you have any questions about Benefits Access, contact the General Board at 1-800-851-2201.

Partnering with You

Our goal is to strengthen our partnership with you through this newsletter. Is there something you would like to read about? What questions do you have? Let us know what you think about this publication. Your suggestions will help us provide content that is tailored to your needs. If you have feedback you’d like to share, click this feedback link.

Are you moving on to a new role and interested in sharing this newsletter with your replacement? Are there other individuals at your organization who you would like to receive this newsletter? Visit www.gbophb.org/psn to sign up others who should receive this publication. If you missed our first issue, released in October 2012, access it here.

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