• Participant Communications
• Upcoming Deadlines: Adoption Agreements for 2024
• DAC and CACs Now Available for 2025
• Wespath Holiday Closing—Juneteenth

Participant Communications

On June 15 we sent clergy intending to retire in 2023 an email about the July 4 banking holiday. This email noted the holiday would cause their first month of retirement income to be delayed by at least two business days.

Upcoming Deadlines: Adoption Agreements for 2024

If your annual conference meeting will occur before the end of June, please adhere to the normal schedule below for submitting 2024 adoption agreements to ensure fall actuarial reports reflect the final 2024 Past Service Rates (PSRs).

If the rates are not final because the annual conference meeting was delayed, please send an email to your Client Relationship Manager by June 30 indicating the estimated PSR that Wespath should use for the actuarial valuation. Once the PSR is confirmed at annual conference, you can submit the adoption agreement.

Please complete and submit the following documents according to the deadlines noted:

• By June 30, 2023: Adoption Agreement Supplement One—CRSP (Pre-82 Plan), indicating the PSR and Contingent Annuitant Percentage for 2024 that were approved at annual conference, even if they have not changed from 2023.
  

  Please use the link above to complete and sign the Pre-82 Plan Adoption Agreement electronically through Adobe Sign. (Refer to the instructions for completion). Once your conference's funding plan is approved and your adoption agreement is signed by Wespath representatives, you will receive an email with the fully executed adoption agreement attached for your records.

• By July 31, 2023: Your Comprehensive Benefit Funding Plan, which you can access in Benefits Access.

If you are making changes to CRSP or UMPIP for 2024, complete and submit the appropriate form by June 30, 2023:

• Adoption Agreement for the Clergy Retirement Security Program (CRSP), indicating annual conference elections for part-time and full-time clergy effective January 1, 2024.
• Adoption Agreement for Conference Sponsorship of Clergy in the United Methodist Personal Investment Plan (UMPIP), indicating annual conference elections for UMPIP sponsorship (participant and/or plan sponsor contributions) for clergy effective January 1, 2024*.

If you are not making changes to CRSP or UMPIP, you do not need to submit adoption agreements for those plans for 2024; your current elections will continue to apply.

If you need assistance, please contact your Client Services Manager.

*If your annual conference is interested in adopting UMPIP Automatic Features for the first time effective January 1, 2024, please contact Sue Peterson at 1-847-866-4229 or speterson@wespath.org.

DAC and CACs Now Available for 2025

The Denominational Average Compensation (DAC) and Conference Average Compensations (CACs) for jurisdictional (U.S.) conferences are now available for 2025. The attached document provides a complete listing, by conference name, of the 2024 and 2025 figures.

The 2025 DAC provided is preliminary because there are currently General Conference petitions pending that would remove moving expense reimbursements from the DAC for 2025.

The 2025 DAC, including moving expense reimbursements, is $80,297. The 2025 DAC, excluding moving expense reimbursements, would be $80,003.

In addition, the attached graph may be of interest. It shows that while the total amount of compensation in the U.S. for full-time clergy has been decreasing the past few years, the total number of U.S. full-time clergy has been decreasing faster. The 2025 DAC increased by 2.6% over the 2024 DAC, which is similar to the 2.7% increase from the prior year.

To use the DAC and CAC figures properly, please remember:

• Wespath calculates the DAC and CACs solely for use by the UMC's U.S. pension and welfare plans for clergy. Any other use is strongly discouraged.
• In general, the DAC and CAC are averages of the compensation (as defined by the benefit plans) of full-time U.S. clergy who participate in the Clergy Retirement Security Program (CRSP) and/or the Comprehensive Protection Plan (CPP).
• The DAC includes the compensation of clergy serving local churches in the U.S., jurisdictional bishops and district superintendents, and clergy serving general agencies and other appointments in the U.S. extending the ministry of The United Methodist Church. Clergy in those extension ministries are included only if they participate in CRSP and/or CPP.
• The CACs include the compensation of district superintendents; they do not include the compensation of bishops and clergy serving general agencies.
• Plan compensation includes housing allowances, housing exclusions and certain tax deferrals, such as United Methodist Personal Investment Plan (UMPIP) before-tax contributions and Code section 125 medical spending account deferrals. For clergy living in a parsonage, plan compensation also includes an amount equal to 25% of compensation.
• Plan compensation excludes amounts paid in lieu of a conference providing a group health plan.
• Plan compensation currently includes moving expense payments due to changes in tax laws effective for the 2021 DAC. Wespath uses a "lookback year" approach by including in the current year's DAC calculation the moving expense payments provided in the prior calendar year. As noted, this may change based on current pending General Conference petitions.

To accommodate the Church's advance budget planning needs, Wespath sustains a long tradition of calculating the DAC with a two-year lag. In other words, the 2025 DAC is calculated based on 2023 compensation data. There are no adjustments or projections to account for the 2-year difference.

Wespath Holiday Closing—Juneteenth

Wespath will be closed on Monday, June 19, in observance of Juneteenth. Customer Service assistance will be unavailable that day.

Benefits Access for participants can be used to access account information and complete transactions 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Benefit Access Portal for Plan Sponsors and Wespath Institutional Investor Portal will be available to plan sponsors, conferences and institutions.

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