of January 1, 2003 under IRS rules, you can generally contribute 100% of your Northwestern University salary up to $12,000, whichever is lower. Employees who have attained 15 years or more years of qualifying University service may make additional contributions above the limits specified in the table above if they failed to maximize their 403(b) contributions earlier in their employment.

The University contributes two dollars for every one dollar an individual contributes to the retirement plan. Matching Contributions are based on an individual's age and job classification.

All State employees have to contribute to a retirement fund. Because UNM is an educational institution all employees are required by law to contribute to the Educational Retirement Board.

Once you join the plan, the percentage you choose will be deducted from your pay. The percentage may be as high as 10% of your salary or $8,000, whichever is less.

For the 2007 plan year, if you are working under the Production Contract you may choose to defer up to 85% of your weekly salary up to a maximum of $4,675.00 per week. This is based on the maximum weekly salary of $5,500.00 times the maximum deferral of 85%. You may change these contributions at any time or you may choose not to defer any part of your salary. This contribution is called a Deferred Salary Contribution.

You may change your contributions to your retirement plan at any time by filling out a Salary Reduction/Deduction Agreement and submitting it to Human Resources. Unless you specify a future date, changes generally take effect either the current or next pay period. To request a loan from your UA retirement account, you must first contact your fund sponsor (TIAA-CREF and/or Fidelity) and request a loan application.

Some staff members contribute under a prior arrangement (6% minus Canada Pension Plan contributions) and should contact a consultant to discuss changing to the 2.5% level. Faculty members can choose to contribute either 1.5% or 5.5% of regular annual earnings and can change their level of contribution on July 1st each year. For more information, please contact a consultant.

Your total contributions (include required contributions, UWO contributions and voluntary contributions) can not exceed the lesser of: 18% of your UWO pensionable earnings up to the annual Income Tax Limit (2002: $13,500; 2003: $14,500). To start voluntary contributions you must complete the Voluntary Contribution Change Form and the Pension Investment Change Form indicating your investment direction under column 4 (click here to download the form).

Anyone who has earned income may contribute to an IRA and also contribute to an IRA for a spouse who does not have earned income. However, not everyone can deduct his or her IRA contribution for his or her taxes each year. Since all Roth IRA contributions are made with after tax dollars, there is no deductibility opportunity for any person.

Can I make corrective distributions of excess plan contributions? A: To correct over funding, the plan administrator may distribute the excess plan contributions (along with any income earned on the excess). The corrective distributions are reported on Form 1099-R and are still taxable. They cannot be rolled over into another plan, but are not subject to the additional tax on early distributions as follows. If it is less than $100 and is distributed with income within 2.

Annual contributions are limited to the lesser of the amounts shown below or 100% of includible compensation. During the three consecutive years prior to attaining Normal Retirement Age under a special catch-up provision.

Plans generally allow changes to your contribution amount monthly or quarterly. You can submit the RPA Participant Change Form to your Human Resources Department with the top portion completed. You may stop contributing at any time.

Employer contributions are not required; however, if the highly compensated employees ("HCE") owners, management, and key executives maybe limited as to what they can contribute if the others do not participate.

The amount that can be contributed annually is based on factors such as a client's age, income, length of time before retirement and rate of return of the investment portfolio. In 2006, the annual benefit payable at retirement can be as high as $175,000 per year. As a result, annual contributions into a defined benefit plan can be even larger than $175,000 in some cases in order to meet that level of retirement income target.

Yes. You can contribute to a Roth IRA or Traditional IRA regardless of whether or not you have an employer-sponsored plan. In fact, IRAs are a great way to enhance your savings. While participation in a retirement plan does not change how much you can contribute to an IRA, it can affect whether or not you're eligible to deduct your contributions to a Traditional IRA on your tax return.

There is a low minimum contribution of $25 per check or electronic funds transfer. You can also contribute through an Automatic Contribution Plan. You can contribute as little as $15 per investment option per pay period using payroll deduction through participating employers. Each account can have only one account owner and one beneficiary. However, each beneficiary may have more than one account and, you may open separate accounts for as many different beneficiaries as you wish.

Eventually the DynaFAQ will support user-level editing. In the meantime, the best place to send general questions and/or answers is directly to the Triumph mailing list since all messages are archived and will eventually be merged into the FAQ. Much of this information in this FAQ has been compiled by the following people.