Saving for Retirement: RSP Update

The BACSAVE Retirement Savings Plan (RSP) is helping members save for a financially secure future. Since it was established in 1990, the RSP has produced an excellent rate of return and provided an added source of income for retirees. In fact, despite recent upheavals in world financial markets, RSP participants have enjoyed an average annual yield of 5.9%, and RSP plan assets now total more than $81 million. Today, nearly 15,000 participants in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Montana, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Maine, Ohio, New York, Missouri, Michigan, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas, as well as members working under the ICE agreement, participate in the Plan. The average participant account balance is more than $5,000, but many accounts are in excess of $50,000, and there are even some with balances greater than $100,000. The average Local Union’s negotiated RSP contribution rate is $1.85 per hour.

How does it work? Since the RSP was established to provide benefits that supplement (not replace) a member’s pension, a participant must first participate in the Bricklayers & Trowel Trades International Pension Fund (IPF) or a Local pension plan, and their Local must have negotiated the RSP into their collective bargaining agreement. Once an agreement stipulating participation in the RSP is reached, every member receives the same hourly contribution to his or her individual RSP account.

The RSP’s investment portfolio consists of 60% fixed income, 10% real estate fund investments, and 30% in equities invested in the Trowel Trades S&P 500 Index Fund – which invests in ways that work for BAC members, not against them. Although the purpose of the RSP is to supplement a member’s retirement income, there is a provision in the Plan to allow participants to access their funds in cases of financial hardship, inactivity, and disability, as well as a survivor provision. At retirement, a participant may receive their remaining balance in a lump sum, monthly payments, or as a roll over into another investment vehicle.

To learn more, contact the International Pension Fund toll free at 1-888-880-8BAC or online at www.ipfweb.org.