Retirement PLANNING
A LEGACY CONTINUES THROUGH BENEFICIARIES
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Dale R. Folwell, CPA | State Treasurer of North Carolina
hank you for choosing to serve and protect our communities. As a firefighter or EMS worker, you represent and provide a vital sense of confidence through social support, education, and community leaders and role models. YOU help prepare and secure our communities for the future. At the North Carolina Retirement Systems (NCRS), a division of the Department of State Treasurer (DST), we help our members prepare for a secure future in retirement. This includes managing one of the largest pools of public
money in the world and making sure we are paying low fees for high-value and quality investments. In addition, we are dedicated to educating members about their benefits, how supplemental retirement savings can increase financial security, and what steps can be taken to ease an unnecessary burden later; because, as we know – LIFE HAPPENS! Assessing the future and financial security of yourself and your loved ones is one of the most important things you can do, and designating a beneficiary is the first step. It is a quick, easy task to complete and creates the opportunity to continue your legacy.
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NAME YOUR BENEFICIARY A beneficiary is a person who receives your benefit(s) if something happens to you. In most cases, a benefit payment is made based on beneficiary designations (the person named in your account by you), not family relationships or wills. Naming a beneficiary means you know exactly who will receive your benefit(s). It allows for efficiency and timeliness in processing and provides clarity for others, avoiding potential conflicts over assets. NCRS makes it easy to designate a beneficiary. As a member of the Firefighters’ and Rescue Squad Workers’ Pension Fund (FRSWPF) and/or a member of the Local Governmental
Employees’ Retirement System (LGERS), you have access to ORBIT, the online self-service portal for your retirement account, where you can view your service credit and contributions, maintain personal information and designate beneficiaries. Log in to your account, click Maintain Beneficiaries in the left navigation, and name or update your current designation. This is real-time action, meaning as soon as you provide information and press submit, your beneficiary is confirmed. Upon your reported death, DST will issue benefits to your designated beneficiary. DO A BENEFICIARY CHECKUP Major life events require a review of your benefits. This includes a new marriage or partnership, divorce or break-up, birth or adoption, and the death of named beneficiaries. It is an unfortunate truth, but we have seen members who have not named or updated their beneficiaries. If something happens to you tomorrow and you have not updated your beneficiary, your benefit may be paid to a former spouse or partner, delayed and paid to your estate, or your beneficiary may be determined for you by state or federal law. Naming a beneficiary for benefits is not exclusive to NCRS. I encourage you to review all your accounts, such as life insurance, savings and checking, and supplemental retirement accounts (like the NC 401(k) and NC 457 Plans) – to name a few. As an FRSWPF member, you may list one or multiple principal beneficiaries, but be aware of how your choice will affect benefits payable if you are killed in the line of duty. Effective July 1, 2018, if you are killed in the line of duty as determined by the North Carolina Industrial Commission, and you have one and only one principal beneficiary that is eligible and has not accepted a return of undistributed contributions, your living beneficiary may choose to receive a monthly lifetime benefit (known as the Survivorship Benefit), rather than a one-time payment (known as a Return of Undistributed Contributions) if the requirements of the law are met. Recent legislative updates modified the statute for the Line of Duty Death Benefit program determined by the Industrial Commission and paid by NCRS (G.S. 143-166.2) to expand the definition of “killed in the line of WWW.CAROLINAFIREJOURNAL.COM
