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Santa Monica College Faculty Association
1900 Pico Blvd.
Liberal Arts, Room 140
Santa Monica, CA  90405
Phone 310-434-4394
FAX 310-434-3601

President: Mitra Moassessi

Executive Secretary: Janet Watts

www.SMCFA.org

April 2007, Volume 21, Issue 2 - Part-time Retirement Options PDF Print E-mail
By Martin Goldstein

      As a result of the last negotiations, the options for part-time retirement plans have expanded to now include a STRS Cash Balance (CB) plan, and those who are currently in LARISA (MetLife) will be automatically placed into that plan unless they specifically choose not to be. This has raised a bit of concern among many part-timers, and after reading this article, it would be wise of those still unsure of their choice to attend the STRS CB Benefit Program workshop on Thursday, April 19, in Business 111, from 3:30 to 4:30.

      Essentially there are three retirement plans now available for part-timers here at SMC. For those who have been or expect to be employed as faculty in the community college system for a long period of time, the STRS Defined Benefit (DB) plan is the most comprehensive and beneficial plan. It is also the most costly, with the employee paying 8% of their salary, and the District contributing 8.25%. This plan has been discussed at length in previous Advocate articles, as well as STRS seminars, and if you’re in it, and want to stay in it, you simply have to do nothing—maybe.

      If you’re not in it and are considering it, you should discuss it with a financial advisor, or with a member of the FA such as Kathryn Sucher or myself to see if it makes sense. However, if you have recently been placed involuntarily in DB early last year, and wish to stay in it – you MUST submit a form to HR stating that you choose to stay in it or else you will be taken out of it and placed back into the MetLife plan you were in before!

      If you are in LARISA (MetLife), you will automatically be placed into the STRS Cash Balance plan, unless you specifically elect, through a form CB 533 (Election/Notification Form) not to be. While we cannot recommend one plan over the other, we can say that the STRS Cash Balance plan was specifically designed for part-timers, and has many advantages over the existing LARISA plan, which is essentially being phased out.  If you elect to stay in LARISA now, you can switch at any time later to either the CB plan, or the more comprehensive (and costly) DB plan, which does require vesting through five years of full time equivalent work.

      Further details on all plans and the Q&A that came with your notification will be reposted on the smcfa.org website. This is a complex and important decision for part-timers, and it will serve you well to research it and discuss it before you make any long-term decisions. It’s your retirement, and you need to choose wisely.
  		 

 

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