February 28, 2011

Town hall meetings on new retirement plan start this week

The university will roll out its new Johns Hopkins University 403(b) Retirement Plan package this week with a series of town hall meetings that will feature presentations on the plan and the upcoming choice period by Office of Benefits Services staff.

In total, there will be 23 town hall meetings held from Feb. 28 to March 18 across the Johns Hopkins enterprise, including the Homewood campus, Peabody, SAIS, Johns Hopkins at Mount Washington, Green Spring Station and other campuses and satellite locations.

The new plan’s “education phase” will also include two Retirement Choice Fairs, to be held on March 22 in Homewood’s Glass Pavilion and on March 25 in The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Turner Concourse. Throughout the next month, employees will be able to meet one-on-one with representatives from the investment companies included in the new plan.

Earlier this year, the university announced the creation of the Johns Hopkins University 403(b), a defined contribution plan that encourages shared responsibility in saving for retirement.

Current support staff can stay in the existing support staff pension plan and continue to participate in the staff voluntary 403(b) plan, or opt to enroll in the new defined contribution 403(b). Eligible employees will be offered a one-time opportunity to choose how they wish to accrue future retirement benefits during a “Retirement Choice” period that runs from March 18 to April 15.

The new plan will go into effect July 1.

A full list of retirement plan events can be found at http://benefits.jhu.edu/mychoices/retirement.