General Dynamics Retirement

It’s no surprise that the company has been around for decades. General Dynamics Retirement is known across many communities as an employer that cares about its employees and retirees, with unique perspectives on how best to help ensure smooth retirement transitions into graceful life after work. The company is now offering a valuable service to all former employees. You can take advantage of decades-long experience and benefit from assistance in finding solutions that are best for you personally, at no cost whatsoever!

Participation

➤  Eligibility and Commencement of Participation

The program is open to all General Dynamics retired or former employees and qualified family members. Employees who are eligible for Retirement for Merit but have not yet retired and those eligible for Early Retirement Benefit but have not yet reached the age of sixty are welcome to participate. Retirees who do not qualify for the R4M program will still be eligible to participate in G.D. retiree health programs.

➤  Active Participation

Participation in the program or plan is voluntary and entirely your own; you may decide to participate or not. However, you are encouraged to do so if you struggle with relocation and your transition to retirement. Your continued participation in the program will depend on the benefits you receive from them.

➤  Inactive Participation

You may terminate your participation in the program, but continuing to participate in the program after termination will be at your own cost. You will continue to be covered by the G.D. retiree health plan but will no longer receive enrollment materials.

➤  Termination of Participation

You can always quit the program at any time and your progress will not be negatively impacted. If you terminate your participation, you will not receive the final payment, and any such payment will be considered a refund of all monies you have paid us.

➤  Transfer of Employment

You may choose to provide your contact information when you initially enroll or after enrollment. They will provide you with all plan materials by U.S. mail, and they may contact you by telephone or e-mail regarding your program participation. You are responsible for contacting them by telephone or e-mail with any questions about the program.

➤  Leased Employees

Your employer is not required to enroll you in the program. You may not have an opportunity to choose whether or not to participate if you work at a location where General Dynamics has a facility (for example, in a city where General Dynamics has a military presence), you will be asked to participate. Still, your employer is not required to participate in the R4M program.

Participant Contributions

✅  401(k) Contributions

In addition to your employer’s match, you are expected to contribute the maximum amount permitted by your plan’s provisions. G.D. will supplement your contributions to ensure you meet your annual target contribution. Any amount you elect not to contribute will not result in a financial penalty.

✅  Payment of Participant Contributions

Your initial payment will be made within thirty days of the date we confirm your enrollment. Successive payments will be made no later than the 15th of each month. G.D will send you written confirmation of each payment, and the confirmation sent to you will include a paper statement or a link to a website where you can view your payment online.

✅  After-Tax Contributions

You may choose to have any amount contributed to your 401(k) reduced by any applicable taxes and contribute an additional amount to reduce your tax liability. If you elect to do so, your employer will compute the tax and withhold it from your paycheck. Your taxes will be withheld and paid to the Internal Revenue Service on your behalf. G.D. does not claim that the amount withheld will meet your tax liability or even be what the IRS determines you owe.

✅  Variation, Discontinuance, and Resumption of Participant Contributions

It is important to know and understand that you can quit at any time. If you do so, you will forfeit any payments already made and will not be refunded any future payments. Also, you will lose the right to continue making future payments. However, you may reinstate participant contributions at any time.

✅  Maximum Amount of Participant Contributions

The maximum amount of employee contributions to your 401(k) plan is $16,500. This includes employer contributions and any after-tax contributions you make yourself. The maximum total distribution without a penalty is $50,000.

✅  Rollover Contributions

Your employer may allow you to transfer any accumulated and vested balance from your 401(k) to another retirement plan, such as an IRA. A rollover contribution is not required, and you are not required to take advantage of this feature. If you do not have a 401(k) and your employer does not offer a retirement plan, your only options for retirement contributions are an IRA or an annuity.

✅  Vesting

Your employer may permit you to delay your access to your account until a specified period after you become a member or participant in the plan, or you may elect to vest immediately. Vesting is according to your length of service and a fraction of your contributions.

✅  Catch-up Contributions

Your employer may allow you to make additional employee contributions to your 401(k) to bring your annual contribution up to the maximum amount or if you were inadvertently not enrolled in the plan at all during the year. These catch-up contributions are not mandatory, and you are not required to participate in the catch-up program.

✅  Amounts Limited

Your employer may force limits on the amounts you may contribute to your 401(k) each year. These limits are not fixed and may change each year based on changes in the market value of your investments.

✅  Roth Elective Deferrals

Your contributions and earnings within your 401(k) plan are fully deductible for federal income tax. If you participate in the program, you will have the option to have your contributions and earnings within the plan subsidized (deferred) until you are at least age 59 ½.

Vesting and Forfeitures

✅  General

Your employer will cause the assets in your 401(k) to be held by a trust administered by G.D., and we will send you a “summary notice” at least 70 days before the date on which you must receive the assets in your 401(k). This “summary notice” will provide information about the trust and your options for receiving your funds.

✅  Vested Account

Your 401(k) will be a “vested account,” and you will have an “account balance” immediately upon becoming a participant in the plan. You may borrow from your vested account until you are at least age 59 ½, but you will lose the right to future distributions, and you must begin taking minimum distributions at age 70 ½.

✅  Forfeitures

You agree that you will receive for your vested account if you voluntarily withdraw funds from your vested account before the earlier age of 59 ½ or the first distribution date. You will receive a “Withdrawal Estimate” from G.D showing the present value of your vested account at the time of your retirement from employment. You must consent to any distribution that would result in a “Forfeiture.” A “Forfeiture” is a sum of money that we would subtract from the value of your vested account.

To determine the present value of your account as of the date of the distribution. You may not forfeit any portion of your vested account unless you are at least age 59 ½, and you do so only due to a Voluntary Withdrawal. If you are at least age 59 ½ when you separate from employment, you may request a distribution of the funds in your vested account. Also, you will receive at least a “Withdrawal Estimate” from us showing the present value of your vested account as of the date you separated from employment.

✅  Value Upon Distribution

The present value of your vested account at the time of distribution is not part of your “account balance” and will not be guaranteed upon your request for a distribution. The “Withdrawal Estimate” will determine the amount of any “Forfeiture.”

Distributions Upon Retirements or Termination

✅  Right to Payment 

Upon your retirement, or if you quit or are discharged without cause, G.D will send you a “Summary Notice” showing a “distribution date” and the “present value” of your account balance on that date. When you retire at age 62, you may receive your distribution no later than age 70 (up to 55 years from the distribution date). The “Present Value” of your account balance will be the amount we would pay you today for the full value of your account balance as of the distribution date. 

The “Present Value” will be based on the assumption that you will receive a guaranteed income of $100 per week starting the first week after retirement. The payment will be made according to the schedule described below:  

❃  To the extent that such a payment is allowed under the terms of your plan:

✅  Form of Payment 

You may receive your payment in various forms, including a lump-sum payment, a periodic payment (such as a check or money order) until the first Monday after the third year from the date of your distribution, or according to G.D.’s option, a fixed index annuity. 

✅  Distributions Made in Cash or Shares 

Your distribution will be made either in cash or in shares of our common stock. A “Share” is one share of our common stock, and a “cash” distribution is a payment in U.S. dollars. If they make a non-elective distribution in shares of common stock, you will have the right to require payment in cash. Yet, if you exercise that right, they will compute your account balance as if you had elected to receive your distribution in cash. 

✅  Commencement of Payment 

If you are paid in shares, you may defer the receipt of those shares until the first business day of the fourth calendar quarter following the calendar quarter in which the distribution was made. Only payment “in-kind” (e.g., shares of common stock) will be subject to this “lockup” provision, but payment may be made in cash instead. 

✅  Deferral of Payment 

Suppose you elect to defer any portion of your distribution. In that case, you may defer it until the later of (i) the fifth anniversary of the date you commenced payment or (ii) the date you would have commenced payment had your distribution not been deferred. 

✅  Designation of Beneficiary 

You may direct that any portion of your distribution be paid to a particular person, and that person will become the “beneficial owner” of that portion of the proceeds held by G.D. Unless otherwise prohibited by your plan, a “Distribution Designation” will be effective from your separation from service (or the date on which you first made a participant in the plan, if earlier). 

✅  Direct Rollovers 

A “direct” rollover is an amount transfer of funds from one plan to another without restrictions on the use of the funds. However, as a general matter, G.D will not permit direct rollovers without a “qualified joint and survivor annuity.” A “qualified joint and survivor annuity” provides that, upon the first to die, payments will continue to the designated qualified joint annuitant, and then one-half to the surviving spouse (if any) and one-half to a designated qualified alternate annuitant (if any). 

✅  Distribution to Alternate Payees 

Your right to distribution may be exercised by a designated alternate payee (such as a spouse) on your behalf. If you designate an alternate payee, then the plan will pay the amount in the account to the alternate payee by the terms of the designation. 

However, they may withhold payment to an alternate payee if they believe it is more appropriate for the alternate payee to take a loan from the plan instead. G.D may also withhold payment if a distribution would otherwise violate the Internal Revenue Code. The plan would be disqualified under the Internal Revenue Code, or the funds would be needed for your support. When they pay your designated alternate payee, they will provide that person (and you) with a copy of the “Summary Notice” that would have been sent to you but for your request for direct distribution. 

✅  Loans to Participants 

A “loan” is a temporary advance of money that must be repaid within a certain period. If you are a “series of loans,” the aggregate amount of all loans made to you will not exceed $10,000 for less than five years. They may, however, require you to submit periodic financial statements as evidence that the loan was repaid. Limitation on Liability You cannot hold them liable for any portion of your benefits that it is not your fault that you are not paid. In addition, your receipt of benefits will not be affected in any way by any error that our agents or we commit in processing your request or in paying benefits under this plan. 

✅  In-Service Withdrawals 

During the employment period, you may direct that any funds in your plan be paid over to you in the absence of a valid excuse for nonpayment. An “excuse” is a valid reason that applies to the particular circumstances that prevent payment. Examples of excuses that might preclude a distribution are that you are in bankruptcy or that you’re under court order to pay child support. 

✅  ESOP Dividend Distribution Election 

Suppose you participate in any of our stock and plan compensation arrangements. You may elect to have a portion of your eligible accrued benefits paid according to a “direct distribution” from a “Deferred Compensation Plan” under the Internal Revenue Code. Direct distribution is a one-time-only payment of the participant’s vested accrued benefits that must pay in a particular manner. 

The nature of a direct distribution under the Code is that it cannot be rolled over into another plan. The deadline to make this election is the tenth day following the beginning of the calendar year in which your accrued benefits are to be distributed. 

Generally, you may choose to allocate your benefits to an individual or joint and surviving annuitant related to you. You may choose to have the benefits paid as a lump sum or elect a particular form of payment. The lump-sum payment will generally be payable in cash (although it may be provided in employer stock or other securities). It will generally be no more than a year’s salary (the Department of Labor has further limitations on this election). 

Amendment and Termination

✅  Amendment

The plan may be amended at any time and from time to time. Any such amendment will be effective as of the “Commencement Date,” the first day of your first full calendar month of service with them (or the date on which you became a participant in this plan, if earlier). The amendment will be provided to you upon your request and receipt of the amendment agreement.

✅  Termination

This plan will terminate on the date of your death or the date on which you are separated from the service, whichever is earlier.

✅  Vesting and Distribution on Termination

All employee contributions (both employee and employer contributions) to the plan will be vested. To be eligible to receive a distribution on termination, all of the following must be satisfied: -your employment with us must be at least one year, and -your employment with us must be continuous (your separation from us must not be for a period over one year), and -your service (both as an “employee” and as a “participant” in the plan) must be terminated on any day in any 12 months.

✅  Notice of Amendment or Termination

Notice of any amendment or termination of this plan will be provided in writing to you at least twenty days ahead of the effective date of the amendment or termination. You may request a copy of any amendment by requesting a copy of the amendment from the Human Resources Department.

✅  Plan Merger, Consolidation, etc.

The provisions of this plan are designed to supplement and not to take the place of any other employer plan that you may have concerning your service with us. In addition, nothing in this plan will constitute an are-retirement plan or an employee pension benefit plan within the meaning of applicable federal, state, and local statutes.

Final Thought – General Dynamics Retirement

Your time is the most valuable thing you have, and we want to help make sure it’s secure. That’s why General Dynamics Retirement offers such great value in services for retirement security – no other financial institution comes close! With our retirement program, you are not just a number. You have the opportunity to grow with us and become part of what makes this company great!