Give Your 457 a Checkup

This is a great time of year to give your 457 plan an annual checkup. The following steps can help you make the most of your opportunities to save, review investments, and assess whether you’re on track to reach your retirement goals.

Increase your contributions. The 457 plan contribution limits increased by $500 in 2019, meaning you can now save up to $19,000, or up to $25,000 if you’re 50 or older. Even if you can’t afford to save the maximum, our Savings Boost calculator will show you how much saving even a little extra every year can add up over the long term. And making the most of catch-up contributions as retirement gets closer can help you reach your savings goals in the home stretch. You can log in to your MissionSquare Retirement account and change your contribution amount anytime.

Assess your investments. Do they match your investing time frame and risk tolerance? Review your investments to see if you need to rebalance your portfolio to keep your desired allocation — especially if some investments performed better than others over the past year. As you get closer to retirement, consider shifting some of your retirement savings to more-conservative investments so you don’t have to worry about the risk of a market downturn right before you need to start taking withdrawals. See www.icmarc.org/invest for more information.

Review your beneficiary designations. Make sure they match any life changes such as getting married, getting divorced, or having children. Your beneficiary designation supersedes the information in your will. Log in to your MissionSquare Retirement account to easily make these updates.

Update your personal contact information. Make sure MissionSquare Retirement can get in touch with you with updates about your account and investments and information to help you save. You can also sign up for TextAccess and our enhanced mobile app. Log in to your account and select My Profile to verify your current contact information and click Edit in order to update your information. We recommend providing a mobile number in order to receive transaction and security alerts, which can notify you of any online and financial activity as an added way of protecting your accounts.

Take advantage of extra help. MissionSquare Retirement participants always have access to several levels of investing advice, including our Retirement Plans Specialists and helpful products, services, and educational resources. See Choose Your Approach to Investing for more information.

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