Welcome to your Onboarding Journey.
Investing in a 401(k) account will make it easy for you to save money for retirement. Rather than creating the account yourself, your company is creating it for you.
Everyone's onboarding journey is different and as you begin yours we would like you to know what to expect and what steps you need to take.
Why Should You Enroll in a 401(k) Plan?
- It's Easy: Enrollment only takes a couple of minutes and, once it's set up retirement accounts are generally low maintenance.
- Employer Contributions: Your employer may offer a matching contribution which can be deposited straight into your account.
- Tax Breaks: You can pay taxes now on contributions or later when you withdraw the funds, depending on which is most advantageous to you.
- Save Money: A 401(k) lets you save more tax-deferred dollars than a traditional IRA.
- Your Future is Important: Saving now helps you achieve financial security for the future.
- Compound Interest: As your money grows, you're likely earning interest on interest - and that adds up fast.
Learn more about the Benefits of Enrolling and Saving in My Retirement Plan.
New Plans
Depending on your company's specific 401(k) plan, there are certain qualifications that an employee needs to meet in order to be eligible to participate in the plan. Before you start your enrollment it's important to learn about the different ways to contribute to your 401(k) and how much to contribute. Learning about 401(k) has never been easier, so make sure to check out the articles and videos in our Retirement 101 section to learn about plan specifics like vesting and automatic enrollment.
So lets talk about whats next for you.
How Do I Setup My 401(k) Account?
- Register your account: You will receive an email from Vestwell inviting you to register for your retirement plan, but you can always register at https://connect.vestwell.com/register.
- Navigate through your Vestwell Portal: Learn how to navigate thru your Vestwell Saver portal.
- Set up 2-Factor Authentication: Enabling 2-Factor Authentication will add a security measure at log in to help protect your account.
- Set your deferral rate: Choose how much you want to contribute Pre-tax and/or Roth.
- Choose your investment strategy: Your plan may provide you with different ways to select your investments: For example Age-Based strategies, Risk-Based strategies and Custom Allocations.
- Designate a beneficiary: Set up your beneficiary through your portal.
You are all set! From here login to your account regularly to watch your investments grow.
Conversion Plans
If your 401(k) account is currently under a different provider and your employer has transitioned to Vestwell, your plan will go through a conversion process.
During the transfer of assets, you will receive a notification from Vestwell 30+ days before the effective date of the change. Enrollment instructions for your new Vestwell account will be provided.
There is also a short period of time when certain activities and transactions that will be paused until the transfer of assets is completed, this period is called a blackout period.
During the conversion process, Vestwell will notify you every step of the way and will provide timelines regarding when assets will be liquidated.
Blackout Period
To ensure an orderly transition, the following activities in your plan account will be temporarily restricted or "frozen":
- Changing which fund you invest your money in
- Updating/changing your deferral amount; how much of each paycheck you are contributing towards retirement
- Changing the address on your account
- Making unscheduled loan payments beyond your payment amount
- Requesting in-service and out-of-service withdrawals or distributions (if applicable)
- Requesting rollovers from other accounts
- Requesting loans of hardships (if applicable)
What Steps Do I Need To Take?
As a saver, all you would need to do is review your notifications so you can be aware of the timeframe for the conversion to be complete. Once your plan has fully converted to the Vestwell platform, enrollment information will be sent your way with the steps to set up your Vestwell saver account.
We hope this information is helpful, if you have any questions, please contact us at help@vestwell.com