Please note – I am not employed by Empower, Voya or Lockheed Martin.
Checked your mailbox lately? Lockheed has decided to move from Voya Financial to Empower Retirement to service the company’s 401k plan. The change will take place starting in January. Below are some questions that are answered in the material mailed to LM employees, but I thought I’d try to break it down for you.
What’s Changing?
New Provider. Your Voya account will now be serviced by Empower Retirement.
CAP to SSP. If you are participating in the Capital Accumulation Plan (CAP), Lockheed will transfer that balance to the Salaried Savings Plan (SSP) on October 5th, 2018.
New features for participants. Budgeting tools, more trades allowed per year and access to Certified Financial Planners will be available for plan participants.
What’s not changing?
Investment choices. The same investment choices will still be offered to you.
Self-directed brokerage accounts (SDBA). If you manage a separate investment account outside your 401k plan, those funds will still be managed at TD Ameritrade.
Same company contribution to the SSP. You’ll still get the same amount, but in October the 4% that the company is putting in the CAP will go to the SSP as well. I know you engineers love acronyms!
Other benefits. Any other benefits you receive will not change.
Who is Empower?
Empower was created in 2014 after merging three financial companies – JP Morgan Retirement Plan Services, Putnam Investments and Great West Financial.
According to Empower marketing material announcing the change, they are the 2nd largest retirement plan provider (Fidelity is No. 1) with over 8.5 million participants.
You can check out more about Empower on their website.
When is this happening?
Aug 15 – You can now contact Empower with questions about the change. You can reach them at 833-LMC-401K. If you need to talk about your Voya account, you’ll need to contact them at 800-444-4015.
Around Oct. 29 – you’ll be sent info that talks about a “blackout period,” which basically is a time when you can’t make any changes to your 401k plan while it transitions to the new company.
Dec. 26 – Blackout period begins. No changes can be made to your 401k until around January 9th.
Jan. 1 – Empower becomes new savings plan administrator.
Jan. 9 – Blackout period ends. You can now make changes to your Empower retirement plan and use the tools available.
What do I need to do?
You don’t need to do anything. You might want to check out your SSP contribution instruction as the CAP contributions will be invested according to those instructions in October.
You’ll definitely receive more info this fall before the blackout period and transition becomes official in January.
Do you have other questions about this change? Feel free to reach out to me at Brian@TheAeroAdvisor.com or click the link below to schedule a free, 100% no-obligation phone call with me.
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only. They are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual, nor intended as tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific situation with a qualified tax or legal advisor.
