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DA Memo – March 6, 2008
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2007 Member Annual Statements

  1. If You Are a New Designated Agent
  2. The Reporting and Annual Statement Process
  3. Distribution
  4. Excel Spreadsheet of Statement Information
  5. Layout and Content
  6. Questions?

 

If You Are a New Designated Agent
Each spring, KPERS provides members with an annual statement of their account. Statements are sent to employers because we do not have home addresses for members.

The statement highlights current member benefits and shows a member’s contributions, earned interest and beneficiary information. Vested members will also have retirement benefit estimates.

The Reporting and Annual Statement Process
Step 1: Most employers submitted annual contribution reports through KPERS’ employer web portal. This is the first step in the annual statement process. Once KPERS receives your contribution report, we can generate member annual statements.

Step 2: AON Benefacts in Owings Mills, Maryland, is printing and shipping the statements to employers. Some employers will begin receiving statements the week of March 11. We will continue to print and ship statements as they are generated.

Step 3: When your shipment arrives, please distribute the statements. Keep in mind that statement information is personal and confidential. If you receive statements for people no longer working at your employer, please return them to the Retirement System, Attn: Returned annual statements.

Step 4: After you receive statements by FedEx, you can access them on the employer web portal. Please use this feature for any reprints. Each person’s annual statement is saved as a PDF document and it is an exact representation of his or her original statement. PDFs can be opened with Adobe Reader software.

Distribution
Missing Statements: Sometimes an employee’s statement is not ready to print with the others. In that case, you will receive a list directly from KPERS that includes anyone who is missing in your shipment. In addition, we will also send an individual letter for each employee explaining the circumstances. These statements will print at the end of the annual statement process, probably in May.

unique tracking number on envelopeMembers with Duplicate Names: We added the middle initial on the statement’s mail panel. This should help with most duplicate names. If you have employees with duplicate names including the middle initial, you can download a spreadsheet on the employer web portal that has everyone’s name, social security number and document tracking number for their annual statement (instructions in next section). This tracking number appears in the window in each annual statement envelope.

Excel Spreadsheet of Statement Information
You will be able to download a spreadsheet of annual statement information for all employees using the employer web portal. In addition to the fields on the annual statement, we have also included members’ social security numbers, birth dates and whether they are eligible for retirement.

  1. Login to the employer web portal.
  2. Click on “Employees” in the site menu.
  3. Click the button “Export MAS Data for All.”

annual statement sample imageLayout and Content
Different Look This Year: Based on member feedback, we made more changes to the layout. We moved account information to the front and it now looks more like a bank statement or a credit card bill. Explanations are on the inside pages.

Estimates: Vested members have estimates on their annual statements. Please remind members that these are just ballpark estimates. If someone is nearing retirement, encourage them to contact us for something more specific.

The first estimate is what a member’s benefit was worth as of December 31, 2007, if he or she doesn’t earn any more service credit and retires when eligible. If a member is eligible for retirement now, this is the only estimate on his or her statement.

The second estimate shows what the benefit is worth if he or she keeps working until eligible for full retirement. The age used is as of the first birthday the member is eligible for full retirement. The system jumps from birthday to birthday to find the first one when the member is eligible by both age and service. He or she may actually earn enough service credit between birthdays to be eligible, but the system doesn’t know that.

For example, John’s membership date is June 1980. His birthday is in September.

  • June 2007, John is age 56 and has 27 years of service. (83 points, not eligible to retire)
  • September 2007, he turns age 57 and has still 27 years of service. (84 points, not eligible to retire)
  • June 2008, he is still age 57, but now has 28 years of service. (85 points, eligible to retire)
  • September 2008, he turns age 58 and has 28 years of service.

His current annual statement estimate will show age 58 and 28 years of service. September 2008 is the first birthday when he has enough service to retire, even though he will actually become eligible with enough service between birthdays.

With so many variables in retirement eligibility and the complexity of our information system, this estimate criteria seems to provide the most accurate information for the largest number of members. Please continue to remind employees that these statements merely provide ballpark estimates to help plan for the future. Encourage them to contact you or the Retirement System for help in picking a retirement date that benefits them most. They can also use the benefit calculator at www.kpers.org to try different retirement scenarios.

Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact the KPERS InfoLine.