Pension Calculators
Participants want to know when they can retire and how much money they will get. They want to understand the optional forms of the benefit which may be available to them when they retire as well as what their beneficiary will receive if they die before or after retirement. They want to know what kind of coverage is available in case of a permanent disability. And they want to know all of this based on many different retirement scenarios.
(Proposed IRS regulations issued in July, 2005 provide guidance on the use of electronic media to provide notices, elections, and consents between employee benefit plans and participants. When finalized, these rules will augment the DOL's 2002 rules with applicability to areas over which the DOL or PBGC do not have regulatory authority. Such areas include eligible rollover notices, consent for lump sums exceeding $5,000, qualified joint and survivor annuity explanations/elections/waivers [including the new relative value disclosures], and 204(h) notices addressing significant reductions in the rate of future benefit accruals.)
All of these pieces of information are difficult to communicate by means of the traditional benefit statement and traditional SPD.
An interactive calculator can be stand-alone (not requiring an interface with the plan's back-end information systems) or it can be fully integrated to pull in participant information from the administration system database.
Using an interactive, online calculator, the participant can:
- find the earliest date of retirement
- find the earliest potential date for retirement with unreduced benefits
- see all optional forms of benefit based on beneficiary's date of birth and plan options
- see the bottom-line effect of retiring earlier or later
- see the bottom-line effect of working more or fewer hours
- see the accumulation potential of his defined contribution account
- see the potential monthly withdrawal amounts from a DC plan balance, given a variety of lifespan and interest assumptions
Our calculators are designed and tested by a professionally accredited actuary on the staff. Trustees and participants will have great confidence in the results displayed on the website.