• Retirement Plan for General Agencies
• RPGA Contributions for Disabled Participants
• Ernst & Young Financial Planning Services—Available Again in 2010!
• New Interfund Transfer Rule for General Board Funds

Retirement Plan for General Agencies

The transition from the Retirement Security Program for General Agencies (RSP) to the Retirement Plan for General Agencies (RPGA) occurred smoothly. Participants’ RSP defined contribution (DC) balance on December 31, 2009 became their RPGA opening balance on January 1, 2010.

RSP DB Conversion

We are now in the process of converting participants’ RSP defined benefit (DB) earned as of December 31, 2009 to its lump-sum equivalent. Lump-sum deposits will be made to RPGA accounts during the first quarter of 2010. Thank you for the assistance you provided in verifying participant data to ensure these calculations are performed accurately.

Pension Projections

The Online Account Services Information System (OASIS) has been changed to reflect the conversion from RSP to RPGA. Please inform your employees that they can generate updated pension projections through OASIS. However, they will need to remember the following:

• Neither the accrued RSP DB nor its lump-sum equivalent is included in the RPGA balance. The lump-sum equivalent will be added to the RPGA balance during the first quarter.
• If participants are not currently making contributions to the United Methodist Personal Investment Plan (UMPIP), the pension projection will assume a 0% RPGA general agency matching contribution.

Visit www.gbophb.org/retirement/RetirementPlanforGeneralAgencies.asp for more information about RPGA.

RPGA Contributions for Disabled Participants

RPGA, like RSP, provides retirement benefits for disabled participants. A participant is considered “disabled” under the plan if he or she is receiving disability benefits under a long-term disability (LTD) or short-term disability (STD) benefit plan provided by the participant’s general agency.

For participants who were full-time on the day before becoming disabled, the RPGA “nonmatching contribution” (8% of compensation) should be based on their compensation on the day before becoming disabled. The compensation used to calculate nonmatching contributions should be increased each successive January 1 by 3%, provided the participant was disabled prior to July 1 of the previous year.

If a disabled participant elects to make before-tax and/or after-tax UMPIP participant contributions, the general agency will match these contributions (up to 2% of compensation). In some cases, the disabled participant may not be receiving a salary directly from the general agency but, rather, disability benefits from a disability benefit plan administrator. Even in these cases, UMPIP participant contributions must be remitted by the general agency on behalf of the disabled participant. If you have a disabled participant who wishes to make UMPIP contributions, please contact Manuel Vargas at 847-866-4565 or mvargas@gbophb.org for more information on remitting contributions.

Ernst & Young Financial Planning Services—Available Again in 2010!

The General Board has arranged to continue offering Ernst & Young Financial Planning Services in 2010 at no charge to:

• active participants with an account balance,
• surviving spouses with an account balance, and
• terminated and retired participants with an account balance of at least $10,000.

Ernst & Young’s financial planners can provide confidential, objective guidance on:

• making investment decisions,
• saving for retirement,
• managing debt,
• understanding tax issues,
• evaluating insurance needs and options,
• buying a home, and
• more!

Please encourage your clergy and lay employees to take advantage of this valuable resource by calling Ernst & Young directly at 1-800-360-2539 between 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Click on the following links for more information:

• Ernst & Young Financial Planning Services brochure
• Ernst & Young Form ADV II (disclosure statement)
• Ernst & Young Financial Planning Center

(company code: gbophb; company program: gbophb)

New Interfund Transfer Rule for General Board Funds

The General Board will be implementing a policy effective April 1, 2010 to limit short-term trading by participants. The attached announcement, which explains this new policy, is being sent with participants’ fourth quarter 2009 account statements this week.

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