Retirement Basics

Whether you’re 5 or 35 years away from retirement, it is strongly recommended that you take an active role in understanding your options. Whether your plans include travel, golf, reading, spending more time with family and friends, volunteering or maybe part-time work, you will need to plan ahead for the time when you won’t be earning a full-time employment income.

There are three basics steps to take:

• Setting goals,
• Retirement planning,
• Choosing investments.

Taking charge of your retirement planning is your responsibility. The Retirement Basics program was built to help. Our goal is to empower you to determine your retirement goals, develop an achievable retirement plan, and effectively choose the investment vehicles that will get you there.

To Help You

Your Member Handbook or Kit includes the following resources to help you through each step. This information is tailored specifically to your plan and may also be found, online, in the Access Your Accounts section of this website.

Learn more Retirement Planning   Where will my retirement income come from?   Where does my company plan fit in my retirement plan?   How do I develop a Retirement Plan? Investment Basics   What are Stocks, Bonds, T-bills?   What are the different types of investment funds?   What are compound returns?   What risks are there? Choosing Investments   What do certain investments do for me?   What type of investor am I?   What are my investment options?   How often should I review my investments?

Help With Terminology

For your ease of reference, we have provided definitions of common terms in a quick reference Glossary (available here and through the navigational bar to the left). This Glossary is also found in your Member Handbook/Kit.