If you neither:
- Read the Fund’s January Summary of Material Modification, (a copy of which has been posted to the Funds website) nor,
- Read the Funds January newsletter, (also found within the Funds website) nor,
- Attended any of the last four membership meetings, nor,
- Read thoroughly Business Manager Phil Hernandez Spring 2024 report in the front of the quarterly newsletter.
You will be at a complete loss as to what we are talking about in this edition of the Funds monthly newsletter. Therefore, you need to “level up” so as to become current and knowledgeable about these matters and how they can affect you and your family. At a minimum, go back and read Phil’s report at the beginning of this newsletter. Then access and review in their entirety the documents mentioned within the first and second bullet points directly above. The total time needed to do all of this is about twenty-five minutes.
For the rest of you, thank you. Your attention to these matters is greatly appreciated. For you I offer the following reminders:
APRIL 1ST, 2024 – Is the date that the expense for early-retiree and/or retiree disability coverage under the Health and Benefit Plan will increase by $100.00. This increase will occur automatically and will be deducted in the exact same manner as how your retiree self-payment is currently.
For those affected, be sure to lookout for a bright “Coast Guard” orange envelope in your mail as that will contain a letter as to how this increase affects you personally.
MAY 1st, 2024 – Included Health is in and Teladoc is out.
If you don’t know who Included Health is, you can quickly rectify that by clicking on the Included Health name within the table of contents page of the Health and Benefit Plans Summary Plan Description Book. The latter of which can be found on the left-hand side of the Healthcare landing page of the Funds website.
More importantly, if you have not joined the ranks of the participants that have already set themselves up for success by downloading the Included Health app and enrolling themselves and their loved ones, do so now! Instructions as to how to do that are listed on a subsequent page within this newsletter.
Finally, if you are thinking about doing this later. Please don’t. You and your family are worth taking the time now to complete this. Plus, you don’t want to be that guy or gal that at time they or their loved ones needs to access this benefit, is wasting valuable time putzing with your phone trying to download the app!
JUNE 3, 2024 – Is the day that Empower is scheduled to replace Vanguard as the Defined Contribution Plans institutional record keeper.
The key word in the prior sentence is recordkeeper. Both the investments and your investment elections will be as they are today upon the completion of this transition.
Worried about this? Don’t be.
Think of this transition just as you would think of a transition away from your current internet provider to a new internet provider. Typically, the reason such a move is made is because the new provider offers improvements in the form of service, price, and consistency over that of what the incumbent provides.
Further, in the larger scheme of things, the change of internet providers is a minor event. In the end, and after the transition is made, what really changed? Do you not have access to the everything you had prior to the switch and perhaps access to more? Unless you are doing it wrong, the answer is yes and yes.
The aforementioned and upcoming institutional recordkeeper switch is no different.
And just like switching internet providers, all the real heavy lifting is done without any real involvement on your part. In this case that is all happening behind the scenes and is being taken care of by the Fund Office.
So, what do you have to do as it relates to the upcoming transition? Very little. Just diligently open up any and all Fund and Empower correspondence upon receipt and periodically check the Funds website so that you remain informed.