Allstate Retirement

There are many Allstate Retirement plans to choose from. Allstate Retirement offers a variety of retirement plan options for your needs. Allstate provides Retirement Plans that meet the requirements under ERISA law which will provide you with protection if you should die or become disabled while employed by an employer whose plan is provided through Allstate Insurance Company.

The following blog post talks about some of the benefits of Allstate so you can make a decision when choosing an Allstate Plan for yourself or your employees!

Allstate Retirement Plan

The point of this Plan is to give you money when you stop working. It will be based on how much you make and how long you have been working. The Plan is a retirement plan for Regular Full-Time Employees, Regular Part-Time Employees, and certain Employee Agents of Participating Employers. It provides money to help them when they retire.

This benefit can replace other sources of retirement income. It can be used to supplement the Allstate 401(k) Plan, Social Security, personal savings, and other assets. You should plan ahead for our retirement. Planning will help you understand and appreciate the value of your retirement account. That is why they give you this SPD to read carefully. You can plan for your retirement by figuring out how much money you will need. It is easier to set goals and know that you will achieve them if you do this.

Eligibility and Participation

Who is Eligible

The Plan is for employees that work for an employer who has agreed to the plan. The employees of these employers are:

• People who work full-time and are scheduled to work a full workweek.
• Regular Part-Time Employees who are scheduled to work less than full time and have completed 1,000 hours of work in their first year or later years.
• Beginning January 1, 2014, people who are restricted as an Employee Agent by a Participating Employer (Life Specialists, R830/R1500 Employee Agents) excluding R3000 Employee Agents and those classified as agent trainees (e.g., R2762 Agent Trainees). Note: Allstate’s Human Resources system has a code for certain employees. These employees are Employee Subgroup Code 8 Regular Employee Agent Exempt and Employee Subgroup Code 18 New York Financial Specialist Agent Exempt (formerly known as Employee Type 30 Agent Full Time).

A Participating Employer is a company that is part of The Allstate Corporation. It becomes a party to the Plan. An Employer can also be called “Allstate” or simply an “Employer.” Allstate Insurance Company and Allstate New Jersey Insurance Company are the participating employers.

When You Become a Participant

You can start contributing to a retirement account on the date you complete one year of work, with 1,000 hours of employment if you are a part-time employee. You must be at least 21 years old and employed by a business that participates in your retirement account.

If you are under 21 and work for Allstate, you will become a Plan Participant when you turn 21 and complete the requirement. For motives of meeting the participation requirements and for converting service to Vesting Service, your years of service that you worked on before you were 21 will count. After you become a participant in the Agents Pension Plan, pay credits and interest credits will begin.

You can do this if you become a Participant on or after January 1, 2014. You will earn credits for the money you make. You will earn credits if you work for 12 months before you become a participant and every month after.

Retirement and Investments Products and Services

529 College Savings Plan

You can explore state-sponsored and private plans to find the right way for you.

Annuities

If you want to save for the future, then invest in an annuity. You can get benefits like tax deferral or a death benefit. They work with Equitable, Protective, and Prudential to find the right annuity for you. It will be good for you.

Mutual Funds

We work with different companies that prepare financial plans for you. Choose from more than 20 companies for big and small goals, including American Funds, Fidelity Investments, and Franklin Templeton Investments.

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA)

You can grow your retirement savings with these three types of IRAs: Traditional, Roth, and Rollover. These are all different ways to save money for retirement.

Retirement Benefits

Allstate Pension Plan

Allstate provides a pension to employees. For this benefit, you need to work for three years at Allstate. You get it after you work for three years.

Allstate 401(k) Savings Plan

You can contribute from 1% to 50% of your annual income to a Roth 401(k) and/or before-tax contribution, whichever is more. The maximum amount changes each year. Allstate will match your contributions of 80 cents for every dollar you put into your 401(k) account.

Eligibility for the Cash Balance Benefit

Persons Covered Under the Cash Balance Benefit

People who work at a company and have certain benefits under the plan are eligible to receive money from that plan.

• You can be employed by a company that is participating in this program. If you are, then you will get benefits. You need to start work on August 1, 2002, or after that date.
• This is about people who were employed on or before August 1, 2002, and also on January 1, 2003. They need to not be classified as an Employee Agent by a Participating Employer. (a) Someone made a choice to get the cash balance benefits. The person had to do this from August 1, 2002, to September 30, 2002, or (b) Some people didn’t choose their choice for Pension Benefits. The default would be the Cash Balance Benefit if they did not make a valid election during the Choice Period.
• Beginning January 1, 2014, all employees of participating employers who, before Jan. 1, 2014, earned preserved December 31, 2013, Final Average Pay benefits (described in Appendix A) are eligible for this program.
• Beginning January 1, 2014, you are classified as an Employee Agent by a Participating Employer (Life Specialists, R830/R1500 Employee Agents) except R3000 Employee Agents and those classified as agent trainees (e.g., R2672 Agent Trainees).

When Your Cash Balance Benefit is Payable

Payment Start Date for Cash Balance Benefit

If you are vested in Allstate when your job ends, then you will get payments. You need to choose the date that you want to start getting your payments. This is called the Payment Start Date. It is used to determine how much your benefit will be. It takes certain factors like your age and the type of payment you choose into account.

When you start your account, the amount of money in your account will be determined. For example, if it is now and you just started this account, then the amount in your account will be what it was on this day. The interest rate is also used to determine the payments for the optional payments you might want under the plan.

A Payment Start Date is the first day of the month you choose. If you can choose a Payment Start Date for your preserved December 31, 2013, Final Average Pay Benefit, then you may also be able to do that too.

Portability

If you are not working anymore, your money will be waiting for you in your cash balance account. You can have the company pay it to you now or wait until later. If you decide to wait, then they might give it to your family if something happens instead of just having the company keep it all.

Deferred Vested Cash Balance Benefit

If you work for the company and stay until you are 65, then you will get your money when you retire. You have to choose when to get it. If you do not, then the company will decide for you. You can choose when you want your deferred vested benefit to start. You can start it at any time before the first day of the month you turn 65, but not after that.

Your account will keep growing with interest until you decide to take your money out. If you are eligible for a preserved December 31, 2013, Final Average Pay Benefit, you may also be eligible to choose a Payment Start Date for that benefit. In Appendix A, see “If You Leave Before Retirement – Preserved December 31, 2013, Final Average Pay Benefit” on page

Death Benefit

If you die, some money might be given to your spouse or other designated person. If you had a Final Average Pay benefit on or before December 31, 2002, and the Final Average Pay was changed to an Opening Account Balance. If you are fired, the benefit amount that you get will be the value of your Cash Balance Account or the value of your protected December 31, 2002, Final Average Pay accrued benefit.

If you have a Straight Life Annuity, you will be able to get a benefit that is worth at least as much as what you got when the plan was created in 2002. This may also result in wear-away. This means that your Cash Balance Account might not keep up with the value of your protected accrued benefit.

Normal Retirement

You can depart on your Normal Retirement Date. This is the end day of the month on which you turn 65. Your Payment Start Date is the first day of the next month after you turn 65.

Working After Age 65

You can continue to work, earn Service Credits, and get Pay Credits even after you are 65. Under the terms of the Plan, you will get a benefit if you stop working, Or if you are 70 1/2 years old. If you want to labor past age 65, the plan will send you a notice telling you how that will affect your retirement.

Working After Age 70 1/2

The Plan requires that you start your Cash Balance Benefit (and any Preserved Final Average Pay Benefit) payments on April 1 of the year in which you are over age 701/2. Even if you are still working at this point, these payments will start. You will decide what to do with your money when you get it. You can decide if you want to keep the money in a bank account or put it in a different account.

Every year, when you get more money from work and interest, you will get another payment for the same thing that you chose before. Your Cash Balance Account starts at $0 after each distribution. If you die while working for Allstate, and you have already reached the age of 701/2, your death benefit will be reduced by any payments that were made to you when you were 71 or older.

Immediate Payment of Small Benefits

If you quit your job and your vested lump sum Cash Balance Benefit is $1,000 or less, the company will give you your money within three to four months. If the lump sum cash balance benefit payable to your surviving spouse is less than $1,000, he or she will get it within three to four months following the payment start date.

How to Access Your Benefit Information

If you are a member and want to know about your benefits, you can find out online at the Your Benefits Resources website (YBR). You can find out when you will get your pension and how much it will be. You could use numbers to help you plan how much money you will have when you retire. You can figure out how much your salary increases, what the interest rate is, and what your last day of work will be.

There are two methods you can get a personalized pension benefit estimate. You can go to the company’s website, and on the page, you will see two boxes on the left where you can take what your assumptions are.

• On the website, http://resources.hewitt.com/allstate, click on the tab for “Savings and Retirement.” Click on “Project Retirement Income” in the drop-down menu to see different scenarios and see how much money you can get when you retire. You can request as many estimates as you want without paying anything. You can look at 12 estimates online and download them to your computer. You can also print out a copy of the estimate.
• If you want to talk with someone about your Allstate retirement funds, call the Allstate benefits center at (888) 255-7772. You will be connected with an Allstate Benefits Center representative who can help you.

When you make your request, you will be asked to provide the following information:

• Assumed last day of employment.
• The assumed date you begin receiving benefits (i.e., your “Payment Start Date for Cash Balance Benefit.”
• Your pension beneficiary relationship.
• Your pension beneficiary’s birth date. (Note, if you are married, enter your spouse’s birth date.)
• Current annual pay (i.e., pension eligible Annual Compensation) and future annual pay increase percentage assumption (0% – 15%), if applicable.
• The interest rate could change. You can choose a different interest rate. This affects how much you will get when you withdraw money from your account and how it is converted to an annuity.

  If you don’t enter an interest rate, the current year’s interest rate will be used in your estimate, even though that rate may not apply at the time of payment. Currently, the interest rates are low when compared to how they were before. They are not sure if this will continue in the future, but it’s worth noting. Interest rates change.

  When they do, the value of your annuity changes. It’s hard to know what will happen to them in the future, so you should think about different interest rates when you are planning for your retirement.

• If you have preserved the Final Average Pay Benefit, you can also change your interest rate for the current rate. If you want, you can change it to -1% or 3%. You do this when converting your Straight Life Annuity into a Lump Sum.

  If you do not enter an interest rate, the current year’s interest rate will be used in your estimate. This may not apply to the date that you are making payments for. Currently, they are in a low-interest-rate environment.

  This may or may not carry on into the future. When interest rates fluctuate, the value of your lump sum benefit will change. People can’t predict when the interest rate will change. There are many different scenarios when it might happen. you should plan for all of them with different numbers in the future.

Conclusion

The Allstate Retirement Plan can help provide you with an income based on your level of compensation and length of employee service when your employment ends or upon retirement. Contact their team to learn more about the benefits available to eligible employees, including how it works, eligibility requirements, what costs are covered by this plan, as well as any other pertinent information that may be important for you.