Enhancements to the Virginia Tech Retirement Plans
From: Human Resources
Some exciting enhancements are coming to employee retirement plans at Virginia Tech in September. These changes are the result of a review of the plans by the university’s Retirement Advisory Committee and CAPTRUST, an independent and nationally recognized financial consultant firm. These changes will expand offerings, reduce fees, and provide tiered levels of investment management with a comparable investment menu across recordkeepers and plans.
While employees do not need to take any action at this time, they may want to review the new investments options now, which will affect the following Virginia Tech retirement plans:
- Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) – for faculty only
- Cash Match Retirement Plan (Cash Match Plan) – for participating faculty and staff
- Tax Deferred Annuity (TDA) 403(b) Retirement Plan – for participating faculty, staff, and wage
- All other retirement plans administered by Virginia Tech
*Note: This does not affect the Virginia Retirement System, which is administered by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
While the basic design of the retirement plans, including contribution rates and eligibility requirements, remain the same, the following enhancements will be added for plans managed by both TIAA and Fidelity: Expanded fund offerings, more uniform investment options across plans, lower investment expenses and administrative fees, self-directed brokerage option in all plans, a tiered investment menu, and the plan for deselected funds.
Information is available on both TIAA and Fidelity’s websites (employees must log in) and employees participating in the affected retirement plans will receive an email from Virginia Tech. The week of Aug. 14, a transition guide will be mailed to employees' mailing address. Starting Sept. 11, information sessions will be offered and employees will be able to have one-on-one meetings with either TIAA or Fidelity. On Sept. 25, deselected funds will be removed and the remaining assets will be moved to the new funds.
Information regarding the changes, timeline, information on how to sign up for one-on-one appointments, and more can be found on the retirement’s webpage.
If you have questions or need assistance, call TIAA at 800-842-2252, weekdays, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET or Fidelity at 800-343-0860, weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET.