However, if you have chosen to maintain insurance eligibility, you can only access any secured assets over and above the 50% level. While it is strongly recommended that you have a counseling appointment with a SURS counselor, Voya and TIAA, have registered representatives available via a phone call to discuss options within their annuities and lifetime income options. The remaining 50% would be kept in the Lifetime Income Strategy (LIS) and can be accessed as needed. If you return to a SURS-covered employer in any capacity after taking a retirement distribution, you will not contribute to SURS. Regardless of your finalization date, on the first business day of the month, the LIS provider will process your payment and send it to State Street Bank that evening. If you first began participation on or after January 1, 2011:If you are in the Traditional Pension Plan, the survivor annuity will receive a non-compounding increase of the lesser of 3% or of the change of the Consumer Price Index-Urban (CPI-U) from the preceding year. That amount will then be withdrawn, usually from the non-secured portion of the LIS for each month the member is under the age of 60. Therefore, SURS strongly recommends taking a lifetime income option instead of a lump-sum distribution if you are retirement eligible and will need health insurance coverage in the future. When should I file my application for retirement? For the Traditional and Portable plan, this is fairly straightforward. Annuitize the entire balance of your SURS RSP. Hacking the new SURS Retirement Savings Plan (RSP) - Peak Wealth For the majority of Medicare recipients, Medicare begins the first of the month the person turns age 65. Lump-sum options, annuity or lifetime income options, insurance, the application process, taxes, Social Security and return to work options will be discussed. SURS does not counsel on Medicare. PDF Understanding Your SURS Benefits Tier I Tier II - myhcaa In this example, the monthly pension benefit is only 65% of what it might have been had the account been fully annuitized. The first increase will begin on the January 1st following the month in which you retire and will be prorated for the number of months you were retired. In order to participate in the health insurance program after retire-ment, you must be receiving lifetime income. The premiums will be deducted from the survivor annuity. Just like at age 60 and later retirement, the benefit amount may not go down. Small-Blend Funds invest in stocks of small companies. Existing account balances in TIAA Traditional contracts will remain as currently invested with TIAA. The SIMPLE IRA Certification form must be properly completed. State of Illinois Insurance:To be eligible for the State of Illinois Group Insurance Plan, you must have at least five years of service credit with a state university or an agency of the State of Illinois. Final benefit determination is pursuant to verified date and to the provisions of Chapter 40, Articles 1, 15, and 20 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes. At retirement, remaining balances in TIAA or Fidelity need to be annuitized with that company or transferred to Voya and incorporated into the SIP. Keep in mind, choosing tomove or take additional withdrawals from secured assets will reduce your guaranteed monthly retirement income. There is no automatic process linking a deceased participant and surviving spouses LIS account. The fees for the investment options on the core lineup vary by investment but are the same for all members. Leaving SURS - Retirement Savings Plan (RSP) - SURS Yes, the member may do so. This means you're covered for many basic medical services from the time you're born. Equity funds can be categorized by: Yes, the core investment lineup includes a range of both active and passive funds. There are two ways to access this form. Mutual funds are typically accompanied by a ticker symbol, so investors are able to search for more information about the securitys holdings and other characteristics. First, the employer must transmit all payrolls to SURS. Any questions regarding this should be directed to your employer. Factors such as account balance (which changes daily), interest rates, mortality factors and age, just to name a few, may change frequently. Keeping Individual Health Insurance In Retirement. Medicare Ineligible: You must submit a notice of ineligibility from Social Security confirming you are not eligible for Medicare in order to avoid an inaccurate calculation of health insurance premiums. A fee of 0.09% to 0.18%, which covers the investment management and administrative fees, applies to the money in the non-secured portfolio during your early working years. New contributions received after Sept. 1, 2020, will also be invested in the SURS LIS unless you make changes to their allocation. Purchases may only be made by members actively contributing to SURS. The length of time it takes your employer to complete a termination report and send their final payroll to SURS. A decline in your account value may result in a reduction of your monthly benefit for the remainder of your life. The 90-day restriction still applies to moving money back into the LIS. Failure to comply with RMD requirements may result in the member having to pay penalties and interest. Only insurance companies can issue annuity contracts. Human Resources provides valuable information to SIU retirees. They will also maintain control over their account balance giving them the flexibility to convert all or only a portion to income and to take ad-hoc distributions at any time. There will not be any state match contributions applied to your purchase. Retiree Home > Retirees Main Content SIU appreciates our former faculty and staff. $10,000 paid life insurance Instead those payments will be spread out over your life expectancy, thus resulting in your monthly benefit being slightly higher than the Principal annuity for those who enrolled in insurance. If an investor owns stock in a company, they own a piece of that company. A PEP is approximately 80-90 percent of what SURS projects your final amount to be and is not the same amount as the estimate you may have had calculated by a Member Service Representative. IMPORTANT! This annuity will generally be administered for SURS through Principal Insurance company, or at TIAA if you still have funds in your RSP portfolio invested at TIAA. A second fee is an expense ratio or investment management fee. Medicare Ineligible: You must submit a notice of ineligibility from Social Security confirming you are not eligible for Medicare in order to avoid an inaccurate calculation of health insurance premiums. IMPORTANT: The accuracy of retirement annuity estimates depends on the information provided to SURS. Retirement Annuity Information regarding annuity payments and estimates. Receive a lump-sum payout(s). However, the fees for the SURS Lifetime Income Strategy are different based on your years until retirement and the percentage of your account that you secure. The SURS U.S. Inflation Protected Bond Fund, SURS U.S. REIT Fund and SURS Non-U.S. Growth Equity Fund all have 30-day trading restrictions. If your return to SURS-covered employment is after the 60-day period mentioned above, you have the following choices: If you take a retirement distribution (lifetime income or vested lump-sum) and return to work, there is no waiting period or earnings limitation. Retiree Healthcare Update - SURS On the third business day of the month, the funds arrive at your bank via ACH wire. Additional information regarding open enrollment and plan changes can be found at the CMS TRAIL website at https://cms.illinois.gov/benefits/trail.html. Contents. Ready to Retire? SURS has a benefit estimator that can forecast your retirement payout. The conversion is as follows: The percentage of service will not affect your accumulation of service credit for qualification of benefits or vesting. 1 and 2 is also permitted. If you are not vested (less than five years of service credit) you will receive your contributions and the investment earnings on your employee contributions. Once your lifetime benefit in the LIS Secure Income Portfolio is activated, theres no going back. A combination of Nos. If you are retiring early from the University, it could be a valuable benefit. With the LIS, if the growth of your account balance exceeds the payout and expenses, your annual benefit may increase. The Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) determines the cost of this insurance. Quarterly fact sheets for all investments including the CITs can be obtained online by logging into your SURS Member Website account. After you talk to SURS, you will notify the University by emailing hr-benefits@wiu.edu or by calling Human Resources. After age 60, the other half - the LIS half - can . The additional fee to secure and insure this income is at most 95 basis points (.95%). This annuity will generally be administered for SURS through Principal Insurance company, or at TIAA if you still have funds in your RSP portfolio invested at TIAA. Surs.org . Members who meet the minimum coverage requirements and have less than 20 years split the cost of coverage with the state. For more information you may contact a SURS Defined Contribution Account Representative. There are several factors that may impact your claim: If you are wanting to change the financial institution where your monthly annuity is deposited, you will need to complete a change form for that specific provider. MyBenefits FAQs - System Human Resource Services Equity: Stocks represent equity or ownership in a corporation. In addition to the link to the Investment Options Guide and the table in the previous question, the primary sources of information would be the SURS Retirement Savings Plan and TIAA websites and the Registered Representatives available at Voya and TIAA. The websites provide your fund balances and net asset value (NAV) as of the close of business each day. While your retirement can be effective any day of the month, retirement payments are not prorated for the month in which you retire. If you are at least four years away from retirement, you can schedule a counseling appointment by calling 1-800-ASK-SURS or 378-8800 in the Champaign-Urbana area. In order to provide this benefit to your spouse or other dependent beneficiary, you will receive a reduced annuity. Health (5 days ago) WebRetired or disabled public safety employees are eligible to take a tax deduction of up to $3,000 on their federal income tax return for health insurance or long term care . After age 60, the other half the LIS half can be used or withdrawn as desired. SURS statutes stipulate that everyone, with one exception, will contribute 8% (full time community college employees contribute an additional % for health insurance). However, these benefits come with an expense you could potentially receive a smaller pension relative to other options. The SURS Lifetime Income Strategy generally allows you to begin purchasing income at age 50 or the date you are vested, whichever is later. Large Cap Funds are representative of the overall U.S. stock market in size, growth rates, and price. Option 1: The Traditional (defined benefit) plan offers retirement annuity, survivors' benefits, death benefits or refund of employee contributions. 1. If participation first began on or after January 1, 2011: SURS would like to receive your application 60-90 days prior to your effective date of retirement. The Target Retirement Age is the age at which the member plans to retire. The underlying fund information for each offering in the lineup is included in the Investment Options Guide at surs.org/rsp. The electronic form is posted under the Quick Links on the SURS Member Website. It is very important that there is no delay in notifying SURS when death occurs. You may also call the Defined Contribution Contact Center at 800-613-9543 for assistance. Along with the rebranding of the SMP to the SURS Retirement Savings Plan (RSP), more choices were added. You may also contact your local Social Security office for assistance. . Purchasing guaranteed income over time also helps protect your assets so that even if markets decrease, you are building guaranteed income for your retirement years that cannot be reduced. Your employer will complete their section. NOTE: Failure to select provider and fund allocations will result in your contributions being placed in the SURS Lifetime Income Strategy (LIS), which serves as the default fund. It remains invested in a target date fund while paying you a monthly benefit. Retirement Savings Plan - SURS Reciprocal claims may take longer to process. Retiree Health Insurance Under SURS Bluestem Financial 1. To be eligible for the State Employee Group Insurance Program, you must meet the minimum vesting requirement for retirement with a state university or an agency of the state of Illinois. In certain circumstances, some members may purchase income as early as age 45. Yes, since the LIS does not have a 50% joint and survivor option, this is allowed. The annual increases will be the lesser of 1/2 of the Consumer Price Index Urban (CPI-U) from the preceding year or 3%, computed on the original retirement annuity amount. If you take a lump-sum distribution of your vested account balance before you are eligible (meeting vesting and age requirements) to retire, you will resume making contributions to the RSP if you are re-employed with a SURS-covered employer in a SURS-eligible position. There is also a core array that is composed of 15 white label funds. With few exceptions, SURS members do not contribute to Social Security. If you have frozen assets with TIAA (assets that were in certain TIAA funds prior to the October 2020 conversion) you may be eligible for a TIAA annuity as well. You will automatically be on the path to enjoy guaranteed lifetime income in retirement beginning at age 65. Survivor Benefits | Annuitants Association | Illinois State It is an insured portfolio used to fund the Guaranteed Income Withdrawal Amount. Each annuity provider offers the very same options with the exception that TIAA offers a variable annuity as well. Register and follow the prompts to select RSP as your SURS retirement . Money market funds invests primarily in low-risk, short-term securities that mature in 397 days or less. Members can also run what-if scenarios to see how the income stream would grow if they added money or transferred money into the SURS LIS. May have multiple share classes. The Retirement Savings Plan has more flexibility, which makes annuitizing a bit more complex. Importance of health insurance in old age. Employees must submit a retirement application to SURS to initiate a retirement claim. Community colleges are not state agencies. The bank will apply the ACH funds to your account usually on the fourth or fifth business day of the month. Retirement Savings Plan (RSP) FAQs - SURS Yes. SURS recognized these common risks that members face when it comes to their retirement plan and created the SURS Lifetime Income Strategy. If for any year the CPI-U decreases or is zero, no annual increase will apply. SURS provides information regarding the RSP via written materials, the SURS website, the SURS Member website, quarterly webinars, individual counseling appointments and pre-retirement seminars, as well as by answering questions that come into the SURS Call Center. Yes, you can choose to move assets in and out of the SURS LIS. Because CITs are only available to certain qualified retirement plans, they do not have publicly available fund information and tickers. One might think I worked hard all these years and this is all I get? Keep in mind, you are giving up some monthly benefit in order to potentially get future rate increases, and to preserve that value for heirs. This information will be requested by SURS and Central Management Services (CMS) approximately 90 days prior to your 65th birthday. 4 Considerations When Retiring with SURS Retirement Savings Plan. The LIS is a custom target date fund with underlying portfolios. Conversely, if the share price of your selected investment rises, you will purchase a fewer number of shares. This information will be requested by SURS and CMS approximately 90 days prior to your 65th birthday. Benefits Home - Western Illinois University You can also maintain access to retiree health insurance (if you are eligible) without giving up access to your entire account balance. Annuitization of SURS is the process of converting your benefit into a stream of income payable monthly for the remainder of your life. This means if you move money out of these funds, you cannot move money back in until 30 days have passed. To have a healthy retirement income after working for a state of Illinois university, you generally need to work 20 years or more. Click here to view a list of SURS state employers. They will continue to be the recordkeepers for those assets. Keeping Individual Health Insurance After Retirement :: Drewberry The new employer offers health insurance. The PIN number can only be mailed to you for security reasons. The following information is provided to assist unit . A new PIN may be obtained by calling the Defined Contribution Contact Center at 800-613-9543. After moving all funds into the LIS and activation of at least 50% of your LIS fund total into the guaranteed SIP, any LIS funds not in the SIP may be moved back to RSP Core Funds or withdrawn. These options are reviewed in detail during preretirement counseling sessions. Since most members are paid once or twice a month you are automatically dollar cost averaging in the RSP. Purchase a lifetime monthly annuity with Principal Financial Group2 (single-life; single-life with guaranteed period of 10, 15 or 20 years; and 50% and 100% joint and survivor with guaranteed periods options available). The assets secured in the Secure Income Portfolio remain in the market and have the ability to increase your monthly income in retirement with market gains but will not decrease your income with market losses. CMS is in the process of mailing letters to affected members. Chairperson: John Atkinson | Executive Director: Suzanne Mayer 1901 Fox Drive Champaign, Illinois 61820 Dial Toll Free: 800-275-7877, Dial Direct: 217-378-8800, Fax: 217-378-9800 * Collective Investment Trust (CIT) no ticker symbols for these funds. If you have assets in the SURS Lifetime Income Strategy (LIS), convert at least 50% of your SURS LIS account balance to secure income. It is not an option in the Retirement Savings Plan. This fee is charged quarterly. MyBenefits is the third-party administrator of the state of Illinois retiree insurance programs for CMS.