Retirement planning can often feel complicated, and even intimidating. It doesn’t have to be. At its simplest, retirement planning is setting aside dollars today in order to have them at retirement. Keeping things simple, employees put aside enough money now for later!
STEP 1
Do your homework – Prepare for the meeting
Before meeting with investment providers, employees need to consider their retirement needs and anticipated retirement income. Project retirement expenses and gather information about projected benefits. The better prepared employees are, the more productive their meetings will be!
The three most common sources of retirement income are social security, a pension, and a supplemental investment plan. For CSRIC teachers and school staff, that’s a 403(b). To know the potential retirement income from each, contact the Social Security Administration (for Social Security benefits) and representatives who manage additional sources of retirement income.
STEP 2
Meet with investment providers
The meeting is for learning more about the investment company and the investment products they offer. We recommend employees meet with each provider and specifically ask each provider to explain their fee structure and the total fees associated with each product. Also ask why they recommend specific products and what is the three, five, and ten-year performance of those products. A comparison of responses helps employees determine the investment provider that will best meet their retirement goals.
To get started, decide the companies with which you would like to meet. You can learn more about them on the CSRIC Partners page.
STEP 3
Begin investing
Once employees have selected an investment company, that provider will work with them to complete all of the necessary paperwork to submit to the employer’s business office so employees can begin payroll deduction and start contributing to their 403(b) account.
Where to get more detailed information on 403(b) plans
More information is available at Internal Revenue Service – 403(b) Plans.