National Financial Wellness Month: Put Your Future Financial Well-Being First

January is National Financial Wellness Month, a time to reflect on your financial well-being and take steps – no matter how small — to put it on the right path. That couldn’t be truer when it comes to your future financial health.

YMCA employees, like you, have access to a unique retirement benefit — the YMCA Retirement Fund – that rewards a career of service to the Y with lifetime income in retirement. That means that when you retire from the Y, you can receive a monthly payment for the rest of your life.

Want to learn more about how you can make the most of this exceptional benefit, and put your future financial well-being on the right path? Read below!

1. Get acquainted with the Fund.
The Learning Center is a great place to start when it comes to understanding what the Fund offers and how you make the most of this benefit. For example, to learn about the differences between the Fund’s 401(a) Retirement Plan and 403(b) Savings Plan, you can take an “Introduction of the YMCA Retirement Fund Benefit” eLearning course, or participate in a live, virtual session of “Understanding Your YMCA Retirement Fund Benefit”. There are also dozens of short videos that provide expert answers to frequently asked questions, a fun game to learn about the 403(b) Savings Plan, and more. Click here to go to the Learning Center.

2. Utilize the Fund’s online portal.
The Fund’s online portal allows you to view your account balances, update your personal information and beneficiaries, access additional resources, access Quarterly and Annual Benefit Statements, and more.

If you already have an online account, be sure to log in often. If you don’t have an account yet, click here to get started.

3. Understand how your balances grow.
Whether you are enrolled in one or both Fund Plans, it is important to understand how your money grows over time, and how it will be turned into lifetime income payments in retirement.

  • First, accounts with the Fund grow from contributions made to them — either by you or your Y depending on the Plan.
  • Then, those contributions earn daily compound interest at a rate that is declared annually by the Fund. This is referred to as the Interest Credit Rate (ICR).
  • Finally, when you retire, you can convert your account balances into a protected stream of monthly payments using an Annuity Conversion Rate (ACR).

These rates are listed in the new “Interest Credit and Annuity Conversion Rates” section of the Fund’s online portal — another great reason to sign up for an account if you don’t already have one! You can also view a helpful video on this topic here in the Learning Center.

Now is as good a time as any to understand how the Fund works for you and how you can set your future financial self up for success.

January 12, 2023