Supplemental Retirement Accounts      --  Summary Plan Description

All faculty members, professional librarians, administrative staff members, Public Safety, Secretarial/Clerical, and Physical Plant members are eligible to contribute to supplemental retirement accounts.

Pre-tax Contributions
IRS regulations allow participants to make tax-deferred contributions from salary to a supplemental retirement account. Wesleyan calls such accounts pre-tax SRAs (supplemental retirement accounts). Another common name for this type of account is TDA (tax-deferred annuity). Federal and Connecticut income taxes on SRA contributions are deferred until retirement income is paid out.

Roth Contributions
IRS regulations allow participants to make after-tax contributions from salary to a supplemental retirement account. Wesleyan calls these accounts after-tax SRAs (supplemental retirement accounts) or Roth 403(b) accounts. Since contributions are made with after-tax dollars, you can withdraw all your Roth funds, including earnings, tax-free.*

Vesting
Supplemental retirement contributions (pre-tax and after-tax) vest immediately.

Maximum SRA Contribution (pre-tax and after-tax combined)
The maximum amount of contributions that can be made to an SRA is re-calculated each year according to an IRS formula. Human Resources notifies participants of these maximums each year. The minimum contribution to an SRA is 1% of annual salary.

Investment Options
Pre-tax supplemental retirement contributions may be invested in the TIAA/CREF and Fidelity investment options available under the retirement plan and:
• The Dreyfus Third Century Fund, Inc. (http://www.dreyfus.com)
• All Vanguard funds (http://www.vanguard.com)
• All Scudder (DWS) funds (http://www.scudder.com)

After-tax supplemental retirement contributions may be invested in the TIAA-CREF and Fidelity investment options available under the retirement plan.

Starting or Changing SRA Contributions
SRA contributions may be started, canceled, or changed as follows:
• Changes to an SRA during fall open enrollment are effective the following January 1.
• Changes made during other times of the year are effective on the next available pay period of the following month.

Enrollment forms and more information about investment options and about SRA’s are available from Human Resources.

 

 

*In the event of retirement, termination or disability, your earnings can be withdrawn tax-free as long as it has been 5 years since your first Roth 403(b) contribution and you are at least 59 1/2 years old. In the event of death, beneficiaries may be able to receive distributions tax-free if the deceased started making contributions more than 5 years prior to the distribution.