Explore Your Housing Options
If youre a homeowner, your home may beyour biggest asset and greatest source of comfort, but will it be the rightplace for you in retirement? Put aside time this year tocontemplate your housing options. You may wish to sellyour home, to , to relocate toa warmer or less expensive part of the country, to explore housingalternatives such as cohousing or a niche retirementcommunity, or to age in place but pay off your mortgage in order to lower yourhousing costs.
If you plan to refinance your current home or purchase a new one, its best to do so now while your income allows you to secure a mortgage. And if youre thinking about moving, spend some time in your targeted location to make sure it suits the retirement lifestyle you want.
Meet With The Experts
Review and confirm your final retirement plans with your financial advisor. Make sure all of your beneficiary designations are up to date, and that you understand the specific tax-related issues that applyfor example, when taking distributions from your retirement plans, selling your home, or transferring assets to family members or heirs. A tax specialist also can offer invaluable assistance at this time, helping to minimize your tax liability while maximizing your income.
Two Years Before Retirement
A successful retirementplan is years in the making, but theres more to it thanmoney. It encompasses every area of life, from where youll live, to whatyoull do, to who you will be. This is your opportunity to shape your life innew and potentially more satisfying ways. The better the plan, the better thepotential outcome.
At this point, retirement isnt just a dream, it will soon be a reality. Your retirement planning preparations should be in high gear, both from a financial and lifestyle point of view.
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Long Term Disability Coverage
What is Long Term Disability?
This insurance covers beyond short term disability. The Hartford will pay the disabled individuals salary at the rate of 66.67%. While disabled, The Hartford will continue to contribute to your retirement plan.
All employees are automatically enrolled in this benefit and premiums for this benefit are paid by the University. For more information see Policy 357.
Talk To A Financial Advisor About Retirement Planning
A financial advisor who specializes in retirement planning can help you sort through your optionsand review your portfolios allocation among stocks, bonds, and cash. The closer you get to retirement, the less time your portfolio must recover from market tumbles, which is why a more conservative investing approach is generally recommended as people age. This may be the time to begin moving your investments around, depending on your unique circumstances and tolerance for risk.
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Migrate From Work To Home
- Establish a personal email and move any personal online accounts to the new address.
- Move personal files from your work computer to your personal computer. In most cases, you can easily do this using a thumb drive, a Google account, the cloud, or other file sharing apps.
- Change any online profile information to reflect your post-retirement contact information.
- Create a personal calendar and begin using it. Also, migrate important work contact information to a personal address book.
Six To 10 Months Before Retirement
Its countdown time. The months leadingup to your retirement date can pass quicklywith lots of details to attend toand plans to finalize as you make retirement a reality.
At six to 10 months, its important to ensure all the efforts of yourretirement planning and retirement arrangements are in place. Youllwant to crunch the numbers one last time so youre up to date on your finances.Talk to the experts who can confirm youre good to go. This is also the time tobegin formalizing your retirement plans with your employer.
Refresh your financial projections . Review and update the exact dollar amounts of your retirement savings, pension and Social Security benefits. Also, develop a tentative budget for the first two years of your retirement.
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Recheck Your Pension And Social Security Benefit Amounts
The future income you calculated at year five may change during your working years in accordance with pay raises you receive, adjustments for inflation, and any changes you make to your retirement date. To keep tabs, get an update on your pension and from Social Security on an annual basis. You may be pleasantly surprised to learn that your retirement income has grown since the last time you checked.
Social Security Benefits Can Be One Of The Top Retirement Concerns
Youve probably been paying into Social Security all your working life and Social Security is a form of retirement savings. At age 62, you can begin collecting on that long-term investment. Heres what you need to know:
- As you work and pay taxes, you earn Social Security credits. Most people need 40 credits to qualify for benefits, whether at retirement or due to disability.
- Social Security is designed to replace about 40% of your working wageswith a slightly higher percentage going to lower-income workers and a lesser percentage going to wealthier people.
- You can claim Social Security any time from age 62 to age 70, but youll get a bigger benefit the longer you wait. At full retirement age , youll receive full credit. Prior to that, your benefit is reduced. Later than that, your benefit will grow by about 8% each year until age 70, when youll get the maximum payout possible.
- You can continue working once youre collecting, but Social Security limits your earnings if you havent reached full retirement age. For example, in 2019, the earnings limit is $17,640. Social Security will deduct $1 from your payment for every $2 that exceeds the limit.
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All Information Presented On This Page Including Links To Plan Documents And Descriptions Is Specific To The Plan Year Of July 1 2022
Life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment insurance help provide financial protection in the event of your death or that of a spouse/domestic partner or dependent. Through The Hartford , the University provides basic term life and accidental death and dismemberment coverage at no cost to you. Optional life insurance, AD& D coverage, and dependent term life insurance may also be purchased at attractive group rates.
Please note: Effective August 1, 2020, Aetna’s name changed to The Hartford. With this name change, there are no changes to your coverage or premiums. Like Aetna, The Hartford is widely recognized for its service excellence, sustainability practices, trust, and integrity.
Need to contact The Hartford? Find the correct number based on your need:
- To initiate a claim : 1-888-755-1503
- To check a claim: 1-888-563-1124
- For coverage and beneficiary information: 1-855-396-7655
- For EOI information: 1-800-331-7234
- For general questions: 1-855-396-7655
Develop A Retirement Withdrawal Strategy
Once you retire, youll need a withdrawal strategy that stretches your retirement savings over the long haul, while minimizing the taxes you need to pay. Advisors recommend this strategy to draw from your savings in a tax-efficient way:
- Plan on withdrawing 46% during your first year of retirement, adjusting for inflation each year after that.
- Tap your taxable nonretirement accounts first, such as mutual funds, individual stocks and other investments, followed by your tax-deferred accounts s and IRAs), and then your tax-free Roth accounts. This allows your tax-deferred and tax-free assets to grow tax-sheltered for a longer period.
- Include Required Minimum Distributions in your withdrawal strategy. These are the annual withdrawals you are required to take from tax-deferred accounts such as 401s and IRAs once you reach age 70½.
- Draw from your one- to two-year cash reserve for emergencies and unexpected expenses.
Your financial advisor can help you devise the withdrawal strategy that works best for your unique financial situation. This is also a good time to review your asset allocation and adjust or rebalance your investments in preparation for your coming retirement.
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What Is A 401 Plan
A 401 is a feature of a qualified profit sharing plan that allows employees to contribute a portion of their wages to individual accounts. A Traditional 401k Plan is sponsored by an employer and it lets workers save and invest a portion of their paycheck before taxes are taken out up to IRS prescribed limits. These taxes are not paid until the money is withdrawn from the account at retirement or other distributable events.
Support Through All Stages Of Life
Discounts and Services included in The Hartford life insurance at no additional cost:
| Yes | Yes |
If your employment ends, you can convert the full amount of coverage you had on the date your employment ended.
If your coverage is reduced due to retirement, you can convert the amount of coverage you are losing.
How to Port or Convert Your Coverage
To port or convert your coverage, you must fill out the Notice of Conversion and/or Portability Rights form and submit it to The Hartford.
Completed forms should be mailed to The Hartford at: The Hartford, Portability and Conversion Unit, P.O. Box 43786, Cleveland, OH 44143-0786. Forms can also be faxed to The Hartford at: 440-646-9339. Forms will not be accepted by the OHR Benefits Department.
For questions about portability and/or conversion, please contact The Hartford by calling 1-877-320-0484.
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Put An Estate Plan In Place
Estate plans arent just for the rich and famous. They can help protect you and your assets while you are alive, and benefit your spouse and children when you pass on. Essential estate planning documents include:
- Any trusts, which allow a third party or trustee to hold assets on behalf of one or more beneficiaries
- A durable power of attorney, which allows you to designate someone to attend to your financial matters if youre no longer able to do so yourself
- A living will that states your desires about medical treatment if youre unable to communicate your wishes
Our Methodology: How We Review Life Insurance Carriers
We designed a comprehensive ranking methodology based on consumer priorities and life insurance company fundamentals to rank more than 90 insurers across five general categories: financial stability, customer satisfaction, product and feature variety, the overall buying experience, and cost.
In order to do this, we collected over 5,000 data points and scored each company based on 55 metrics. We grouped metrics by category to see how insurers performed in each we then weighted category scores to determine how companies performed overall.
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Retirement Planning Checklist: Everything You Need To Do
Are you nearing retirement? If so, youre in good company. In five years, the youngest of the Baby Boomersthe generation born from 1946 and 1964, which represents nearly 23% of the U.S. populationwill turn 60 years old. The oldest Gen X-ers, born between 1965 and 1980, will turn 59. Retirement is in the air.
The U.S. Census Bureau data shows thatthe average age for retirement is 63, while GallupPoll data shows that non-retired people expect toretire at age 66. Many people retire either sooner or later, while stillothers neverretire at all.
If youre lucky, youll get to retire onyour own terms and at the time of your choosing. No matter what your age,though, a comfortable retirement requires saving for retirement and retirement planning andreadiness from a financial, personal, and lifestyle point of view.
This retirement planning guide will help you prepare. Beginning five years prior and counting down into the first year of retirement, youll learn about retirement essentials such as a 401k retirement plan, the types of insurance you will need, and Social Security benefits, as well as how to:
- Determine the income you can count on
- Assess your retirement readiness
- Establish a tax-efficient withdrawal strategy
- Create a new sense of purpose for your life
- Plan your departure from the workplace
Additional Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance
USU provides employees with life and AD& D insurance through The Hartford. If you want to enroll in additional voluntary AD& D through Zurich, then you can fill out the application paper application.
This election can only be made as a new hire and then every year during open enrollment. Coverage can be for employee only, employee and spouse/domestic partner, or employee plus spouse/domestic partner and children.
Each person can only be covered on one Zurich policy. You cannot cover any one person on more than one policy. For more information, please read the Zurich AD& D Summary.
Please note that when you sign up for Zurich AD& D, you also have access to their travel assistance program and business travel accident coverage. To learn more, read the Zurich Travel Assist brochure.
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Three Years Before Retirement
This is the quintessential question formost pre-retirees. If you followed the steps recommended above, you haveestimated the retirementsavings youll need using the 7090% guideline. But whatyoull need is amoving target, given rising healthcare costs, inflation, taxes, your lifeexpectancy, and other unknowns. It also depends on your spending habits, whichis one of the few things you do have control over, both now and in yourretirement years.
With three years to go, take the following steps to evaluate your current spending in greater detail, update your financial projections, make sure you dont have retirement concerns and that youre ready for retirement in other important ways.
Auto And Home Insurance
Auto insurance is legally mandated in most states. If you drive, you need auto insurance. Youll also continue to need homeowners or renters insurance to cover your property and possessions. If you join AARP, a nonprofit organization for Americans age 50 or older, you can take advantage of many member benefits, including special pricing on auto, homeowners, and renters insurance.
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Short Term Disability Coverage
What is Short Term Disability?
Short-term disability is a leave benefit available to those who are out of work for sickness, injury, or maternity. This benefit covers 66.67% of your salary while disabled. In addition, your medical, dental, STD and life insurance programs remain in force, also your premiums are waived and contributions to your retirement plan will continue. Voluntary benefit premiums and voluntary retirement contributions can continue only if arrangements are made with the vendors.
New employees are automatically enrolled in this benefit. The cost is $6 per month for employees. You may opt-out of this benefit within your first 30 days of employment or during annual open enrollment, which is held once a year. If you choose to opt-out, your only future opportunity to enroll would be during the open enrollment period each year. If you decide during open enrollment to enroll, you will be required to complete a health questionnaire which will be reviewed and approved or denied by Hartfords underwriting. Understanding the implications is important prior to opting out of this benefit. If you do want to opt-out, you will need to go to The Hartfords website, login, and follow the process to opt-out.
How do I use the Short Term Disability benefit?
If you will be gone from work for more than 10 consecutive days due to sickness, injury, or maternity contact Heather Cheatham 797-0197.
For more information see Policy 357.
Choose A Plan That Suits Your Business
There are many types of retirement plans available. A 401 plan may be exactly what your business is lacking. Each retirement plan has its own benefits, features, levels of complexity and costs. Some are designed for large companies others, for smaller enterprises. TPS Group is here to help you choose a plan that is tailored to meet the needs of your business.
There are a lot of components to 401 plans that an employer must consider. TPS Group is here to help make those decisions easier by providing you with the expertise and the information you need. Whether you’re looking to establish new retirement services, such as a 401 Plan, or revise your companys current plan, TPS Group can walk you through the options. Our process is designed to be easy to understand and implement.
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Safe Harbor 401 Plans
Many company owners actively seek to maximize their 401 contributions each year. Thats a great goal, but it can be problematic if your plan fails to meet the nondiscrimination rules. Adding a Safe Harbor provision can confidently address this issue while providing important benefits to your company and employees.
In this video, youll learn how Safe Harbor contributions work and four benefits of adopting this plan provision. Give us a call if youd like to learn more about how Safe Harbor contributions can help make your plan more successful.
Five Years Before Retirement
Will your retirement savings plus Social Security and any pensions cover your expenses in retirement? This is the time to find out. These retirement planning steps will help you take stock. If youve been saving for retirement all along, you may discover that youre on target and simply need to keep doing what youre doing. If youre falling short of your savings goal, you still have a five-year window of time to adjust.
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Employee Supplemental Term Life Insurance
You may enroll with The Hartford for supplemental insurance up to a lesser of five times your annual salary or $400,000 without evidence of insurability if done at the employees initial enrollment for benefits. In addition, life insurance may be increased in units of $10,000 to a maximum of $1.5 million with evidence of insurability.
Test Out Your Retirement Budget
You have a retirement budget by now, but is it realistic? Give it a trial run for three to six months. If you can make ends meet, youre on your way to retiring for real. If not, its good to know that in advance, so you can tweak your plan and/or expectations. Your financial advisor also can provide perspective and assistance on your retirement planning, particularly for your budget.
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