• Systems Unavailable—Saturday, October 29
• Investment Insights Webinar—Now Live
• Widening Wespath's Circle of Service—AME Church
• Participant Communications—Phasing Out Printed, Mailed Quarterly Statements in 2023

Systems Unavailable—Saturday, October 29

Wespath Portal, Benefits Access for Plan Sponsors, Contribution Management, Wespath Institutional Investor Portal and the Comprehensive Benefit Funding Plan will be unavailable Saturday, October 29 from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Central time, to allow for system maintenance and updates.

We apologize for any inconvenience this brief outage may cause.

Investment Insights Webinar—Now Live

Our third quarter webinar is now available to stream on-demand! Watch as Joe Halwax and Dave Zellner discuss the impact of decades-high inflation and the possibility of a looming recession, Jake Barnett gives a sustainable investment update and Karen Manczko details the market drivers of fund performance.

Widening Wespath's Circle of Service—AME Church

Wespath is committed to providing benefit plan services to broader expressions of Methodism in a changing Methodist ecosystem, as permitted by the UMC Book of Discipline and in alignment with our shared Wesleyan heritage.

Last week, Wespath executed an administrative services agreement with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME Church) to manage retirement benefits for their clergy and lay employees through a new defined contribution plan called the New Life Personal Investment Plan. This is a new plan for a new era of the AME Church's retirement benefits. Wespath's work remains separate from historical AME Church retirement plan assets relating to their prior retirement plan.

We also have recently formed relationships with other Methodist groups to administer benefits for their clergy and lay employees, including the Global Methodist Church and multiple newly independent Methodist churches. In some cases, these new relationships offer participants continuity with the familiarity of Wespath. In other cases—such as with the AME Church—we are welcoming participants who are completely new to Wespath.

As always, Wespath strives to be a bridge-builder across an evolving Methodist ecosystem. We have been serving the Methodist community since 1908—60 years before the Uniting Conference that launched The United Methodist Church. We've been serving the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico—another denomination with shared Methodist roots—for several decades.

While Wespath is providing services to brothers and sisters in a wider Wesleyan circle, we remain steadfastly focused on serving our core constituents of The United Methodist Church.

We understand some in your conference may ask why Wespath is offering services to participants outside the UMC. Wespath's mission is to care for those who serve; we believe serving a broader community of Methodist organizations helps to strengthen that mission.

Participant Communications—Phasing Out Printed, Mailed Quarterly Statements in 2023

Over the next few weeks, Wespath will be mailing letters to participants who currently receive printed quarterly retirement statements by U.S. Mail, as we transition all eligible participants to electronic delivery of quarterly statements. Currently, nearly 40,000 of our 100,000 participants receive printed statements via U.S. Mail.

As of the first quarter 2023 statements (available early April 2023), most participants will no longer receive paper quarterly statements from Wespath in the U.S. Mail. The participant's statement is available through our secure website: www.benefitsaccess.org.

Participants with an email address on file will receive an email each quarter alerting them when their quarterly statement is ready to view. These emails will arrive four times a year: in early April (Q1 statement), early July (Q2 statement), early October (Q3 statement) and early January (Q4/yearend statement).

There are two versions of this participant communication:

• For participants registered in Benefits Access but currently receiving printed statements in the mail
• For participants who are not yet registered in Benefits Access

This transition supports Wespath's commitment to environmental and financial stewardship, saving thousands of sheets of paper every quarter and eliminating mailing expenses. Electronic delivery of participant statements through Benefits Access is fast, easy and secure.

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