University Of Michigan Benefits Office

HRAA

Benefits Office

Life Events

Life Events
	Life Events Home
	Retiring From UM
	Do You Plan to Retire This Year?
	Retirement Checklist
	Your UM Benefits in Retirement
	Life Insurance in Retirement
	Phased Retirement Plans

Questions
	Contact Us
	HR/Payroll Service Center

Things to Do Before Retirement

Retirement is an important phase of life. With longer lifespans, retirement can continue for 20 or 30 years—you could be retired for as long as you worked!

Studies have shown that many people spend no more time panning for retirement than they do planning for a two-week vacation. The Benefits Office encourages University of Michigan faculty and staff to put great thought and care into plans for their retirement, to make is as enjoyable and fun as possible.

To plan and prepare for retirement, you will first want to gather information - about your options, your needs, and the income that will be available to you. The checklist below was compiled by TIAA-CREF. It is used in the Financial Education Series workshops offered by TIAA-CREF to UM faculty and staff who are considering retirement or just wish to plan ahead. The Benefits Office offers it as a planning tool.

If you have Fidelity Investment accounts, call 800-642-7131 for retirement counseling or to attend a Fidelity workshop or seminar.

	1.	Become personally familiar with your investments, TIAA-CREF and Fidelity, and your retirement options. It is risky to depend on a co-worker's advice - even colleagues who seem knowledgeable- because their situation may be very different from yours. There are simply too many misunderstandings, misconceptions, and erroneous campus rumors, not to mention constant changes in tax laws and other regulations, about which your co-worker may not be familiar. To learn more, take advantage of these opportunities:
		On-campus Financial Education Services workshops are offered monthly by TIAA-CREF, Fidelity, and the University of Michigan Benefits Office. Various workshops are tailored for different age groups. To sign up, call TIAA-CREF at 734-332-3504, or Fidelity at 800-642-7131. TIAA-CREF booklets may be ordered online at http://www.tiaa-cref.org. Request TIAA-CREF personalized pre-retirement illustrations (see #6 below). Human Resource Development Classes. For more information, call UM-HRD, 764-7410. Individual Counseling with a TIAA-CREF consultant (see #14 below)
	2.	You need to know the date on which you will become eligible for medical care benefits as a retiree of the University of Michigan. The booklet Planning for Retirement includes a chart of age and years of service required. You can also review SPG 201.83 for retirement eligibility.
	3.	Organize your personal financial data. Select one or two potential target ages/dates for retirement and determine related financial goals.
	4.	Estimate the amount of money you will need to maintain your desire standard of living. Compare this with the amounts you will have (see #5, 6, 7, and 8 below).
	5.	Request an updated Earnings and Benefits Statement from the Social Security Administration via a mail-in form or through the Internet. To get the mail-in form, call your local Social Security office directly, 800-772-1213, and ask for Form 7004-SM. Or request it through the Internet at the SSA web site.
	6.	Request pre-retirement illustrations from TIAA-CREF for your different target ages. Build in any shifts from CREF to TIAA before retirement, anticipated allocation changes, and expectations about future salary increases or decreases. You may request multiple scenarios using different assumptions. Call the TIAA-CREF Telephone Counseling Center, 800-842-2776. Update these as significant earnings, performance, payout rates, or other information changes.
	7.	Gather data from all your other assets: other pension plans, investments, insurance policies, etc. Determine the level of monthly benefits from any other pensions you have.
	8.	Calculate the value of your other savings at your target retirement age, assuming a conservative rate for investment earnings. Then, assuming a 20-30 year retirement period, calculate the value of additional annual retirement income your other assets can provide for you.
	9.	Think about your personal goals, priorities, and philosophies: What are your primary retirement concerns? What are your needs for retirement income vs. your desire to leave funds for heirs? Will you retire fully or partially? Are you considering phased retirement or furlough? How will you balance your need for liquidity vs. the desire for lifetime protection? Do you have adequate funds accessible for emergencies, or for unexpected needs in the later years of your retirement? Have you adequately prepared for inflation? How? Are you leaning towards a lifetime annuity or non-annuity alternatives, or a combination of both? Have you considered your health level and longevity expectations? Can you afford to delay or avoid making any permanent decisions on your TIAA-CREF? Does a temporary or transitional option sound attractive? Does your strategy depend on having a greater or smaller proportion of your accumulations in TIAA or the CREF accounts prior to retirement? Would you benefit from greater diversification, or changing the overall level of investment risk you are taking? Have you balanced your desire for some safety with investments that may provide more of an inflation hedge? How does this fit with your overall portfolio of investments? With these questions in mind, do you need to change your allocation or make transfers between investment accounts soon? Call TIAA-CREF's Automated Telephone Service, 800-842-2252, to make changes. Remember that gradual transfers over time are less risky than large lump-sum transfers.
	10.	Once you decide when you want to retire, notify your department head or supervisor of your expected retirement date. Your department must initiate and submit proper forms to the University and to the Benefits Office. This is also true for retirement furloughs and phased retirement arrangements.
	11.	Notify TIAA-CREF at the Telephone Counseling Center, 800-842-2776, of your retirement date and your benefit start date. It is recommended that you call four to six months prior to your retirement benefit start date. A forms packet to begin lifetime income is automatically sent out. Please specify other forms, if desired, such as IPRO. Keep in mind that: You can mix and match multiple payout options. You can make partial settlements (decisions on only a portion of your accumulations). You can phase in partial decisions over time. You do not have to make a permanent unchangeable decision when you retire. You can begin with a temporary or transitional option, or options, and make more permanent decisions later.
	12.	Contact the University of Michigan Benefits Office about six-to-eight weeks prior to retirement to schedule a "pre-retirement" interview, to take care of things like retiree medical benefits, retiree life insurance, etc. The Benefits Office will also remind you that before you retire, it is recommended that you meet with a TIAA-CREF consultant.
	13.	Contact Social Security to confirm your eligibility for benefits and arrange for them to begin. Visit your local Social Security Administration office, or call for an appointment, 800-772-1213. See TIAA-CREF Library Series #8, pages 17-18, Applying for Social Security Benefits, for a list of items to take with you to the Social Security appointment.
	14.	In your final decision-making phase, if you would like a TIAA-CREF Individual Consultant to assist you, call the Detroit Regional Office in Southfield, 734-332-3504, to arrange an on-campus appointment. Schedule the appointment several months before your anticipated retirement. You may need several meetings, depending on the complexity of your situation. If you need to fill out forms at that meeting, bring your spouse or annuity partner, proof of your age and your partner's age, bank account information if you wish to direct deposit your payments, and all forms you received in #10 above. Also bring names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers of your desired beneficiary(ies).
	15.	Return all necessary retirement benefits forms to TIAA-CREF at least one month prior to the month in which you wish your benefits to begin: TIAA-CREF P.O. Box 4605 New York, NY 10163-4605
	16.	Keep in touch during retirement with TIAA-CREF's Benefit Payment Information Center, 800-842-2776, for: Updates on the status of any of your payments; Changes to your payment destination (direct deposit, check mailing address, etc.); Forms to change your income tax withholding; and/or Help if you need to report a lost retirement check.

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the benefits information in this site. However, if any provision on the benefits plans is unclear or ambiguous, the Benefits Office reserves the right to interpret the plan and resolve the problem. If any inconsistency exists between this site and the written plans or contracts, the actual provisions of each benefit plan will govern. The provisions of the plans are subject to change.