FRS Employer Electronic Newsletter
As part of our communication effort for the retirement plan choice opportunity, we're committed to keeping participating FRS employers up-to-date on what's happening in the FRS Pension Plan and FRS Investment Plan. This newsletter is the ninth in an ongoing series to keep you posted. It includes the following sections:
IMPORTANT CHANGES AND REMINDERSNew Hire Packages Are Coming!We know you've been anxiously waiting for new hire brochures to be printed, and we thank you for your patience. To ensure we provided you and your newly hired employees with the information you need, we took some additional time to review drafts with a group of Retirement Coordinators and some new employees to get their input. We're happy to announce that the new employee brochure should be printed and available for your requests by late January. There will also be a short new employee video available, which we hope that you will show to all of your newly hired employees. New Forms AvailableTwo new FRS Investment Plan forms are available online. Go to http://www.rol.frs.state.fl.us/myfrs/fm/SelectForm.asp for access to the following forms:
Keep checking the forms site on MyFRS.com for other forms that will soon become available. You can always find these forms at MyFRS.com, under the "Forms" tab near the top of the home page or under "PDF documents" under the "Site Map" tab. SPOTLIGHT ON...Reminder to Supply Employee Termination DatesIn recent months, we've noticed that some FRS employers have forgotten to include termination dates on their monthly payroll reports. It's important to emphasize that failure to submit this information on a timely basis may prevent terminated employees from taking a distribution of any portion of their Investment Plan account balance. As an employer, you are the sole means of providing employee termination dates to the Division of Retirement for updating the data used by the FRS Investment Plan Administrator, CitiStreet. A distribution cannot occur for any terminated employee for whom this termination date isn't received. Since employees are required to be off all FRS covered payrolls for the whole calendar month following the month in which they terminated, it's especially critical to submit this termination date information on time. The Division of Retirement, CitiStreet and Ernst & Young are unable to certify termination dates. If termination date information has not been submitted on your monthly retirement report for any Investment Plan participant requesting a distribution, the participant will be directed to contact his/her employer and request termination date submission. Investment Plan Distribution Status Now AvailableEmployers can now call the MyFRS Employer Assistance Line at 1-866-377-2121 and ask CitiStreet whether former employees have taken a distribution from their Investment Plan accounts. You may need this information to determine eligibility for other benefits offered to terminated employees (e.g., health insurance). Upon request, CitiStreet can give you the distribution status for any former employee who participated in the Investment Plan. We Have a BIG-SCREEN TV Winner!Congratulations to Marta Escobar, who has won the 43" Hitachi big-screen TV for Group 2! Marta works for the Miami-Dade School System as a Community Involvement Specialist at Kinloch Park Elementary School. Marta was automatically entered in the big-screen TV promotion after she made an active retirement plan election. We're encouraging employees to use the CHOICE SERVICE and make an active retirement choice even if they choose to remain in the Pension Plan, because we feel that it's in their best interest to go through the planning steps and get a better understanding of their finances. We'll be awarding another big-screen TV at the end of the Group 3/4 Choice Period, so if your employees are in that group, keep encouraging them to get involved in their future and make an active retirement plan choice! We Have a LAPTOP Winner!Congratulations to Ray Taggart, the second winner of a state-of-the art Dell Latitude C400 laptop computer! Ray, who works for the Hillsborough County School Board, was one of over 13,000 Group 2 employees who attended a MyFRS Financial Guidance Program Retirement Choice Workshop. The MyFRS Financial Guidance Program plans to award another laptop computer to a lucky employee who attended a Group 3 workshop. To date, these workshops have received excellent ratings and have proven to be a great way for your employees to learn not only about the new Investment Plan but also more about how the Pension Plan works. We Have More Prize Winners!The following Group 2 employees won prizes for logging on to the retirement plan CHOICE SERVICE on MyFRS.com during their Choice Period: $500 Visa Gift Card Winners
MyFRS Financial Guidance Program Polo Shirt Winners
Once again, we'll hold the same promotion for employees in Group 3, so keep up the good work promoting the CHOICE SERVICE! Some Awards for Employers...We continue to hear back from the field about those of you who have been working especially hard promoting the MyFRS Financial Guidance Program and helping arrange the Retirement Choice Workshops. We'll be announcing the Group 2 winners of Sharper Image E-Awards in the January newsletter. If you're a winner, you'll be notified via email in late December/early January. Ongoing Financial Workshops Led By Ernst & YoungSeveral ongoing financial workshops are being sponsored on request by the MyFRS Financial Guidance Program and will be conducted by experienced financial planners from Ernst & Young. Current workshops include:
These workshops are designed to help participants in both the Pension Plan and Investment Plan, and, best of all, there is no charge to employees or employers! If you're interested in hosting any of these workshops at your location, please contact Ernst & Young representatives Maura Fagan at 1-502-244-8441 or Holly Waggoner at 1-561-838-4140. ARTICLES AND IDEAS TO SHAREYou don't get much for free these days - especially when it comes to valuable investment guidance. But that's just what your employees will receive when they use the ADVISOR SERVICE on MyFRS.com. This online tool will help your employees manage their retirement planning — regardless of which retirement plan they've chosen. Help your employees find out what services are available to them. The ADVISOR SERVICE is available now for employees in Groups 1 and 2, unless they chose the Hybrid Option. We expect that participants who chose the Hybrid Option will have access before the end of January. Employees in Groups 3 and 4 will have access a few days after their plan election confirmation is generated, if electing the Pension Plan, and at the end of their effective date month if electing the Investment Plan. Attached is an article that you may wish to use in your employee publications. We would also like to thank those of you who have forwarded the email addresses of your employees to us. We will begin using them to distribute retirement planning information in the next few months. Also, to those of you who have been forwarding the articles and other materials we have been sending, your assistance is greatly appreciated! Your help has been very valuable to us in preparing employees for their retirement plan choice. MORE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONSQ. What should I do if an Investment Plan member wants to retire? A. If they want to receive a lump sum or periodic payments, they should call the MyFRS Financial Guidance Line and be connected to CitiStreet. If they would prefer to receive an annuity, the MyFRS Financial Guidance Line will provide an annuity quote. Keep in mind that retiring members must be off all FRS payrolls for at least one calendar month before they can receive a distribution. EMPLOYER RESOURCESRemember, you're not alone! When you need help or have questions about the plans or the choice options, we have several resources available to assist you.
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