Unlock the Power of Digital Signature Licitness for Military Leave Policy in Mexico

How to eSign a document: digital signature licitness for Military Leave Policy in Mexico

Welcome to today's webinar titled "The Uniform Services Blended Retirement System." We are thrilled to have Col. John Williams, Major Michael Odle and Ms. Kim Myers with us today. I would turn things over to Michael Odle. Hey! Thank you very much, Stan! Col. Williams, Kim and I would like to thank Military OneSource for hosting this webinar during National Save for Retirement Week and thanks all of you for joining, a very good morning, good afternoon or good evening depending on where you might be joining us around the world. The implementation of the blended retirement system which Col. Williams, Kim and I will refer to as BRS from time-to-time is pretty much one of the most far reaching and significant changes to military pay and benefits as late 1940s, and here in the Department of Defense we're diligently working to implement these changes training the force about the new requirements and manage all the new changes to the system, but before we begin, let me pause just a moment and introduce you to Col. Williams. Col. Williams is our assistant director for Military Compensation. He is in the Office of The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. He is our senior reserved component advisor and is responsible for ensuring reserves are properly represented in all of our compensation issues including blended retirement. He also leads our reserved component blended retirement system implementation group and so he is the perfect reserve component guru for this webinar this afternoon. All right! Well, thanks Major Odle for the introduction. Let me introduce Major Odle to all of you. Major Odle is a D.C. Air National Guardsman and we brought him on board back in June to help us out as the Assistant Director for Military Compensation for Strategic Communication. He is a skilled Public Affairs Officer and brings a great respect as a guardsman. He is also responsible for today's webinar. Great! Thank you, sir! I appreciate that and last but not least my pleasure to introduce to you Kim Myers. Kim has a history of supporting service members and their families working at several military installations around the country. and she is a great fit in our financial readiness office as she conducts Outreach & Public Affairs. Her work includes delivery of communication services and support that leads to increase financial readiness and literacy of service members and their families. Kim, say hello! Good afternoon everyone! All right! With introduction I would like us to give you a quick disclaimer about your webinar today. So in the best disclaimer voice I can do. The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as the military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of the Department of Defense-sponsored webinar. All right! With that out of the wait they were going to be discussing many of the features of the Blended Retirement System as well as our ongoing efforts to implement the new system. Our goal today is to provide an overview to all of you that are joining us on this webinar highlighting the Blended Retirement System. So let's launch in and start off by comparing the two retirement systems; the current system which we'll refer to as the Legacy Retirement System and the new Blended Retirement System. So Col. Williams, I'm going to start and hand things over to you. All right! Thank you Major Odle! So the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 established to modernize retirement plan for the uniform services. As written into the law the uniform service have until January 1, 2018 to implement this new retirement system and fully educate the force. This redesign plan would be a blend of the traditional legacy defined benefit system combined with some of the elements of the current corporate retirement plan. The Resulting Blended System (BRS) will provide additional options to the service members while maintaining the enduring, defined benefit reward of the current plan. So having said that let's take a look at the two retirement systems. Under the Legacy Retirement System, which we often call the hybrid system because the retired pay is based on the average of the service members' highest three years of pay. Service members who complete at least 20 years of military service are eligible to receive monthly retired pay, which is also known as the defined annuity. The retired service member receives monthly retired pay based on years of service and a percentage of a service members' pay. How we arrive at that amount of money is represented by the formula you see at the top. The years of service are multiplied by 2.5% to determine a percentage. As it counts today, there are only 19% of active component service members to date qualify for monthly retired pay and only about 14% of Reserve and National Guard population qualify for the retired pay. So this means approximately 81% of our active service members and up to 86% of reserves leave the military service with no retirement. So now consider that to the Blended Retirement System, the new Blended Retirement System combines the legacy 20 year military retirement system again the defined annuity with a defined contribution plan known as the Thrift Savings Plan or the TSP. The defined contribution component or TSP includes an automatic 1% DoD contribution after 60 days of service and up to 4% additional matching contribution after two years of service to the member's TSP account. The new Blended Retirement System will now ensure nearly 85% of military service members leave the service with retirement benefit. The trade-off as we incorporate matching TSP contribution is that under the BRS, the annuity is lowered. So the formula for calculating retired pay, we will use a 2% multiplier for each year of service rather than a 2.5% multiplier which is used under the Legacy System. But as you see at the bottom of the slide, the Blended Retirement System would provide benefit to approximately 85% of the force rather than the 19% who receive benefits under the Legacy System. That's right Col. Williams, and I think that's important to note that, you know, as you mentioned, 14% of reserve component members actually make it to 20 years of qualifying service to earn a retirement, and under BRS, 85% of service members will get government retirement benefits. That word "government" is... is really important here. And one more thing to flag, if you look in the bottom right-hand portion of this slide, if you are in the military and you're new accession, after two years, you'll be considered vested in your TSP and so all of your contributions, all of the government's automatic and matching contributions and all of the earnings on top of that are yours to keep. And so we will talk a little bit about portability and how you can roll those over to another qualifying IRA or retirement plan. And let me foot stump one more thing. Col. Williams talked a little bit about after 60 days being able to get that automatic 1%, and after two years, being able to have up to an additional 4% matching. If you are opting into the Blended Retirement System in 2018, you will get those immediately following your election, so that's an important thing to note. So if you make your election, your next pay period, you will be able to get that 1% and up to the additional 4% matching immediately. All right, so let's talk about who is affected with this? Okay, first everyone currently serving in the Uniform Services as of 31 December 2017 will be grandfathered under the current retirement system. No one will be automatically moved to the Blended Retirement System. Let me say that again, no one will be automatically moved to the Blended Retirement System. Active component members who joined before 2006 and members of the reserve component with more that 4,320 retirement points will remain under the Legacy Retirement System. But there may be some service members who have a choice to make. Active component service members who joined after 2006, but before January 1, 2018 and reserve component service members with less than 4,320 retirement points as of January 1, 2018 will have the choice of whether to stay with the Legacy Retirement System or opt into the new Blended Retirement System. Both members who are eligible will have until the end of 2018 to make their decision. So again, members who want to stay covered under the current system, they don't have to do anything they do nothing and you stay covered under the current system. But if you fall into that category and you decide to opt... you decide the Blended Retirement System is better for you, then you can opt-in. All right, and for all of those new accessions on or after January 1 of 2018, you are going to automatically be enrolled in the new Blended Retirement System. So if we have anyone here joining our webinar from recruiting or that might be a professional military financial counselor, educator, it's important to know that again new accessions on or after January 1, 2018 will automatically be enrolled in the new Blended Retirement System. Okay, which reserve component members are eligible to opt-in? So in the reserve component the definition of anyone performing reserve component service on or after December 31, 2017 and you have fewer than 4,320 retirement points, would be eligible to opt-in. Now those... the definition performing a reserve component service that means you are a member of... you are an AGR or Full-Time Support, you are in the SELRES or Selected Reserve, you are in the IRR or on the Active Standby Reserve. IRR members are eligible to participate but they have to be a paid status before they can make their election. Those members of reserves component who are not eligible, those in the retired reserve, the inactive national guard or on the inactive standby list. So Col. Williams, you keep mentioning 4,320 retirement points for reserves and those in the reserve component... that happens to be the wrong slide. Let's see if we can find the right slide. Bear with us just a moment. Well then, all right. So that slide doesn't happen to be here but we are going to explain it to you all anyways. Absolutely! So can you explain a little bit to me what the 4,320 retirement points mean and why it is for reserves? -Sure, sure. Yeah. So eligibility opt-in is much broader for the reserve component than the active component. Unlike the active component, where eligibility to opt-in is based on having served for less than 12 years, any reserve component member with fewer than 4,320 retirement points as of 31 December, 2017 will be eligible to opt-in during calendar year 2018 regardless of how many years they have actually served. And the difference for that eligibility criteria is based on the language in the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act that mandated how to compute eligibility for reserve component members. Using U.S. Code 10 §12733, years of service is derived by dividing 360 into the total points earned during a reserve component member's career, this resulting in a credit for a certain number of equivalent years of service. So by that 12 years of service is 4,320 points. That's exciting. Yeah, because of this we are going to have a larger percentage of reserve component members that are eligible to opt into the Blended Retirement System. Fantastic! I appreciate you explaining that to me, Col. Williams. And I think it will be helpful for this next slide if everybody that is on the webinar can picture yourself as you're moving through this particular diagram to determine if, one, you are eligible to opt-in; two, if you are going to have to take the mandatory training, and three, what actions you will take. Can you walk us through this Col. Williams? Absolutely! So as you look at the slide, okay, if you are serving in a reserve component as of December 31, 2017... I am sorry if you are serving as of December 31, 2017, if you are on the active component and you have less than 12 years of service or you are on the reserve component and you have fewer than 4,320 points, then you are required to take the mandatory Blended Retirement System opt-in training during calendar year 2017. Once you complete that training in calendar year 2018, you can choose to opt into the Blended Retirement System or do nothing and stay covered under the current Legacy System. Fantastic! So hopefully everybody now knows that they are eligible to opt-in or if they're grandfathered under the Legacy Retirement Program, let's take a little more in-depth look at the Blended Retirement System's basics. Sure. Okay, so when you look at the Blended Retirement System there is four key components to it. You have got the monthly retired pay and that would also retire after at least 20 years of service, the retirement means predominantly a defined benefit in which the service member will get monthly retired pay. In the Blended Retirement System, instead of being calculated at 2.5% times the average of the service member's highest three years of base pay, the service member's monthly retired pay will be calculated with a 2.0% multiplier. All right, so let's now take a look at the defined contribution portion or the Thrift Savings Plan. For years, this is what federal government employees have been able to benefit from and now it's an opportunity under the Blended Retirement System that Uniform Service members can benefit. So all service members joining after January... on or after January 1, 2018 will automatically be enrolled into the Thrift Savings Plan and they are going to be enrolled at the 3% of their base pay. For those of you that opt in, you'll have to make that election for what you choose to contribute to the Thrift Savings Plan. Now as I mentioned earlier if you're opting in, your automatic 1% will begin the first pay period after you opt in, and the government will continue to match up to an additional 4% of anything that you contribute. It's important to note since this is a focus on the reserve component that this is your base pay or basic pay that will be automatic and matching, so that includes your IDT or your Individual Drill... your... excuse me, your Inactive Duty for Training, your IDT. Your 80 days or if you happen to get activated your Active Duty time, well, you'd be able to contribute to the Thrift Savings Plan. Both DoD Automatic 1% and the matching contributions continue through the end of the pay period during which you have 26 years of creditable service or 26 years of service, excuse me. So if you're in 20 year, you are still going to have your TSP match, 22 years, 23 years you'll continue to have your TSP match, and you will continue to have your TSP match for your contribution through 26 years of service. Okay. Well, another component of it is the continuation pay. In the National Defense Authorization Act of 2016 there was... it also included a continuation pay provision as a way to encourage service members to continue serving in the uniform services. Remember, continuation pay is a direct cash payout and it's very similar to a bonus. It's targeted as a mid carrier mark at the 12th year of service and with this we make sure that the services have flexibility in determining how to administer the payment of the continuation pay. The rate that you are paid continuation pay is equivalent to the base pay you receive on Active Duty and we'll talk about that a little bit more later. Actually Col. Williams if I can add in here to on continuation pay, for reserve members it is based on your years of service not your creditable years or your point balance. So it's important to note that it's your 12 years of military service that you'll be based off of for your continuation pay, correct? Great! That's a great point of clarification. Thank you Major! Yes. So, the other component of the Blended Retirement System is the lump sum. Now the lump sum option will give service member choices at retirement. It'll allow service members to choose to elect 25% or 50% lump sum payment at retirement and exchange for reduce monthly retired pay only until that service member reaches full social security retirement age which for most is age 67. Now I find that a little complicated when I listen to the lump sum, and even though I work in this office, I'm a very visual person, and so, one thing that I really like is this next slide that's going to come up here, and Col. Williams, it's a good visual representation of how the lump sum works. Could you walk us through this slide? Sure! So the lump sum option gives the member the opportunity of taking earlier distribution of the earned annuity. The value of the lump sum payment is a discounted sum of the future retired pay and this pay covers the period from the initial receipt of retired pay until full retirement age. Again we see that's about age 67. So for a reserve component member or for a non-regular retirement that pay is going to cover from age 60 to age 67. The member has the option again to elect 25% or 50% of this discounted value to take in a lump sum? Now during the same period the member will still receive the retired pay, but it'll be a reduce annuity going forward. Yeah. Okay. So... and you'll see on the slide after age 67 the defined annuity reverts back to the full pension. That's very helpful. Thank you for walking us through that. So, now let's take a look at the timeline and some of the important dates that service members should be aware of. Okay. So, if you look at the slide the following timeline projects major milestones along the way towards implementation of this Blended Retirement System. Some of the key milestones we want to highlight. A November of 2016 eligible opt-in members will be notified, services will begin notifying eligible opt-in service members again starting of November 2016. January 2017 is when the opt-in training begins. So again, members with fewer than 12 years of service, or 4,320 points for a Reserve Component member will be grandfathered under the current retirement system, but eligible to opt-in. So this opt-in training is a required course and you will have to take this before you are eligible to opt-in. Another important date, January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, that is the opt-in window. So members will have that entire year to make their decision if they decide to opt-in to the Blended Retirement System or not. Great! Thank you for highlighting some of those key important dates! And let's talk about some other RC-Specific issues here. And I will jump right into the first one, is the timing of non-regular retirement or what I am going to refer to as Guard or Reserve retirement here. The official term is non-regular retirement. That annuity does not change under the Blended Retirement System, and for those of you that are in the Reserve Component, your eligibility to begin receiving your monthly retired pay a/k/a annuity is at age 60, or earlier if you have creditable service. So there is no change under the Blended Retirement System on when you can begin receiving your annuity. Additionally, Reserve Component members on the lump sum, you can only receive your 25% or 50% lump sum when you're eligible to retire and receive you're eligible to receive your retired pay, which again is at age 60 or earlier if you have creditable service. So if you happen to leave the service at let's say age 43 with 20 creditable years, as a reservist you're not eligible to get your non-regular retirement until you are age 60 or earlier with creditable service, and that is when you would get your 25 elect your 25% or 50% lump sum. That's right! Great! Great point! One point I want to make clear is when we talk about opting in and continuation pay, now we said you're eligible to opt-in if you have less than 4,320 retirement points; however, you could have less than 4,320 retirement points, and have more than 12 years of service. If you have more than 12 years of service as determined by your pay longevity or your Pay Entry Base Date, you are not eligible for continuation pay. So, there will be circumstances or situations where members are eligible to opt-in to go into retirement, but they are not eligible for continuation pay. The next thing to talk about would be the Thrift Savings Plan. The Thrift Savings Plan election that Reserve Component members make does carry over when the member is activated or deactivated. But even with that the member still would have opportunities to demand a TSP election. And finally, the Joint Knowledge Online courses would be available on Military OneSource, and this will make access much easier for those Reserve Component members that don't have tax bars. And I really like this point Colonel Williams, specifically for those of you out there that like to do your financial decisions with your significant other, your spouse, maybe you want to have a financial planner as as you're looking through this. The... having the course on Military OneSource allows you to sit at home and take the courses take the course together so that you can learn together since there is no CAC access and it doesn't require you to be on a military installation, it's great for all Reserve Component members. Absolutely! That's a great point Major Odle! So, how do you learn all about this? Well, DoD has initiated an 18-month long multistage financial education training curriculum, and here to tell us a little more about it is Kim Myers. So Kim, I am going to turn it over to you to talk about the DoD education plan. Fantastic! Thank you so much Mike! So, some of you may already have taken the Leader Course that was available through JKO, and also have the non-CAC-enabled link through Military OneSource. If you haven't taken that course, I really do encourage you to go out to the website and and take that course. It may say Leader Course, but it's really designed so that anyone can take that course, and that's kind of that 50,000 view of what Blended Retirement is about, what's going to happen and kind of start thinking about how it's going to impact you and your future. So I definitely encourage people to start taking a look at that. Now, this past week on Friday, we did launch our Personal Financial Counselor and Educator Course. This is really designed to help our personal financial managers in the field and our personal financial counselors that are available to be able to focus on various counseling scenarios and equip individuals with information, tools and resources that they're going to need as they're looking at making this opt-in decision. So while the Personal Financial Counselor course again is designed for our service providers, it's going to equip them so that once you take your Opt-In Course, then you can sit down and speak with someone one-on-one, or perhaps even meet with them ahead of time and just kind of start talking out and feeling out what... what you need to be considering as you're making this opt-in decision. So again, definitely take advantage of the resources that you have available to you, either on your installation, during your drill weekends, or maybe even through Military OneSource that has those personal financial counselors available that you can talk to on the phone or sometimes even in your local communities. So I would definitely take a look at that course as well and... and utilize those resources. Now, if we do happen to have any of our personal financial counselors on this call, or on the webinar, that... that website will be available, but then we also are providing that through the JKO App that should be released within the next couple of weeks. Hey Kim, I often get a question from both active duty and Reserve members about the calculator, whereabouts is that calculator going to be launched or release? So portions of the calculator are going to be released whenever the Opt-In Course comes out. So you will be able to have some screenshots and see what's going to happen with the calculator and walk you through how that's going to work. But then the actual calculator itself will be available separately and launched at the same time so that service members can go back in, play with those numbers, look at different scenarios; they may want to change what their contribution rate is, or when they're planning on retiring and really see how that would affect them under the Legacy Retirement System or under the new Blended Retirement System, again, to help them make the best decision in what they want to do for their financial readiness and retirement goals. Fantastic! That will be very helpful. Thanks for going over the education strategy with with us! So I am going to turn it over to Colonel Williams for a few closing remarks about BRS. All right! Great! Thanks! So if you take a look, we've got the slide up here that talks about some of the Blended Retirement System benefits, and as you look at that I have got a couple of comments I will go through. So remember, the Blended Retirement System does not change when a member is eligible to retire. Members covered by the Blended Retirement System still can participate in the Survivor Benefit Plan. The Blended Retirement System does not change the law and division of retired pay under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act and reservists covered by the Blended Retirement System will still be eligible for reduced age retirement if they have performed qualifying service. And lastly, a couple of closing thoughts. There is no single right answer to which retirement system is better. Both the Legacy Retirement System and the Blended Retirement System have advantages and disadvantages, but that would be based on the service member's particular focus. Those members who will have the option to opt-in to the Blended Retirement System should base their decision entirely upon their own circumstances, after completing the training and taking advantage of all the information and resources available. That's right Colonel Williams! And for some staying under the Legacy Retirement System will make the most sense for them, and for others the Blended Retirement System will probably will be a preferable option. But I think the bumper sticker here at the top of this slide here is the decision to opt-in is the members only. The Department of Defense, we have no preference, there is no quota, there's no numbers that we're shooting for. Our goal is to provide the information and resources so that those eligible to opt-in can make the choice to either remain under the Legacy Retirement Program if that meets their needs, or to make the decision and have the resources to make that decision to opt-in to the Blended Retirement System. So that brings us to the end of our webinar presentation, but it does give us plenty of time for questions and answers, but just before I turn it back over to Stan, I am going to advance it one more slide. And we mentioned that you can get the training courses without a CAC Card on Military OneSource and their website is on the screen now. And the Department of Defense, we have a Blended Retirement System Resource page where you can download all kinds of infographics, copy of today's presentation as well. You can also look at our 13 pages of Frequently Asked Questions and find out what the next events coming up are. And so that website is on the screen now. So Stan, I will turn it over to you and happy to take questions. Great! We do have a lot of questions that have come in, and we're going to try to get to as many as we can within the time that we have remaining. The first question reads, if I have less than 4,320 retirement points and opt-in to Blended Retirement, can I receive continuation pay if I have 13 years of service? Well, Stan, that's a great question! That's a point we really want to make clear that while you may be eligible to opt-in with less than the 4,320 retirement points, again, if you have completed more than 12 years of service, although you can opt-in to the Blended Retirement System, you will not be eligible for continuation pay. Okay, thank you. Next question reads, can a Gray Area Guardsman opt-in for BRS? If yes, can the Guardsman make contributions into TSP and receive matching government funds? Okay. And the answer to that is no, Gray Area retirees are not considered to be performing Reserve Reserve Component service. So they are not eligible to opt-in, even if they have less than the 4,320 points, Gray Area retirees are not eligible to opt-in. That's a great question Stan! Thanks for asking it! Yeah. Next question, does the government matching contribution continue until I leave the service? Well, that's a good question! And it depends when you leave service. Your contribution to the TSP continues to get the automatic and the additional up to 4% government matching through your 26 year of service. So if you happen to separate service at 20 years or 22 years, you will have matching up until you separate, but if you stay over that 26 years, you will not continue to receive the automatic or matching contributions. Okay. Next question reads, when will I take the Opt-In Course in 2017, or can I take it whenever I want? That's a good question! So the answer to that, the Opt-In Course will be available in January 2017, at which time service members can begin taking that course. Now, we're not saying that you have to have it completed by a certain date, services may arrange for those trainings to be done in a group setting or during drill weekends, or they may just direct you to the website to go and complete that course. However, again, the course is available beginning in January 2017. You can take it as many times as you like, up until you decide whether the BRS is the right choice for you. Okay, thank you. Once I opt-in to the Blended Retirement, is there a period that I can change my mind and revert to the old system? Great question Stan! I want to make this clear. So members, again, will have all of calendar year 2018 to decide to opt-in to the Blended Retirement System, but we need to be clear that once the member goes through the formal process of opting into the Blended Retirement System in calendar year 2018, that decision is irrevocable. So once they have opted in, they cannot return to the Legacy System. Okay. Next question reads, if I take the lump sum, is it taxed? Absolutely, it is taxed, and that's got to go into the member's calculator and their decision if they want to opt for the lump sum payment. The calculators are built such that they will show the tax with the lump sum; however, members will also have options to take it in installments and those installments may lower the tax burden. And let me add here, I think it's important to note that with the lump sum it's treated as earned income. So when you're looking at your... your tax liability, you may want to determine if you take it all at once or if you take it over those installments, as Colonel Williams said, this is where it would be a good opportunity to visit your local friendly military financial counselor or educator to maybe bounce some strategies off of them and look for some counseling and education. So when will the lump sum payment be issued? So the lump sum payment will be issued no later than 60 days after the date on which the member first becomes eligible to receive retired pay. But for Reserve Component members, again, that's typically at age 60, unless they have a reduced age due to qualifying further, but immediately within 60 days after becoming eligible for receipt of retired pay, the lump sum will be issued. Okay. Next question, how much is continuation pay? Another great question! So for Reserve Component members, it ranges from a minimum to a half to a maximum of six times the member's monthly base pay. And you've got to remember now, this base pay is calculated as if the member were on active duty. But in return for this continuation pay, the member agrees to serve an additional four years in the Selected Reserves or the SELRES. I would also like to clarify that a Reserve Component member who is performing Active Guard or Reserve duty or is an FTS member, at the discretion of the Secretary Concerned could be paid continuation pay at the rate of an active Component member and that rate is 2.5 to 13 times the monthly base pay. Of course, this will be subject to an agreement to continue to serve an additional four years on Active duty. Okay. Next question reads, I am a federal employee and a traditional reservist, can I contribute to both TSP accounts and get matching on both my TSP accounts? That's a great question! And if no one minds I will go ahead and take it, because I actually am a federal employee when I am not doing my drill status or my Guard's duty. So the answer is yes, you can. For those folks that have a federal position as well as a civilian... as well as a Reserve Component, you can contribute to both of them. You can receive matching from both of them. But the important thing here is up to the IRS yearly cap; right now that's 18,000. The IRS does periodically evaluate that and it does slowly increase. So you want to make sure that you don't go over the amount to not lose any matching contributions you can get from either side. Now, I am going to expand that question just a little further and apply to those that might have a 401(k) type similar plan in which you contribute and you most certainly can contribute to your private employer's contribution plan and get the match, as well at the TSP and get the match, but again, all are limited at the IRS cap. Okay. Next question reads, at what rate is the continuation pay based, is it based on active duty pay or on Reserve pay? Yeah, so that's similar to the previous question, but it is based on the monthly base pay the member would receive on active duty at their same pay grade. So for the Reserve Component member, again, it's either... the minimum is one half, the max is 6 times. AGR/FTS members may be paid at the active component rate of 2.5 to 13 times that monthly base pay as if the member were on active duty. That's a good point! Let me interject one more thing here too, the... the scales at which those continuation pay rates will be paid is still being looked at. Each individual service will determine who gets what and how it shakes out, looking at factors such as critically manning career fields, retention and recruiting, and so we don't have those numbers specifically of what you would get. We get that question often as, well, what will I get, those are still forthcoming, but to give you an idea of how those might be formulated. Great point! Great point Major Odle! Okay. Next question, if AGR/FTS members take the continuation pay, would they be obligated to additional service on active duty or just in the SELRES? So the initial obligation for the AGR/FTS member would be on active duty, but again, remember the services will have the discretion to determine if that service is performed satisfactory. So just like with other retention bonus or reenlistment bonuses, the services will manage these based on their own needs, but the initial obligation for an AGR/FTS member will be with additional four year on active duty. Okay. I currently contribute to my civilian employer's 401(k) plan, can I have my military contributions go to my civilian account? No. So by law the TSP matching contribution can only go to the account established by the service, or in this case the service, but this does make a good point that members, especially in the Reserve Components, who have civilian jobs that offer a 401(k) type plan will have to pay attention to their civilian and military retirement plans to make sure that they're able to maximize the matching contributions from the military or from their civilian employer. But you cannot have your military contributions go directly to your civilian plan. Okay. What Reserve Component specific resources are available? All right! So perfect screen to have up on the webinar right now. So you actually have the Military OneSource that has a plethora of resources that you can utilize and review on Blended Retirement, but also as I mentioned earlier, the DoD Blended Retirement System Resource page, on there is a infographics specifically for the Reserve Component. I would highly encourage you to download that, print them off and hand them out to your Reserve Component members. In fact, I had a drill just last weekend and I did that exact same thing with the folks that were within my office. Also on there you will find presentations and Frequently Asked Questions, several which have sections dedicated to the Reserve Component and I would encourage you to continue to look back at this website as events such as this Reserve Component specific webinar will be posted online and you can see when other Reserve specific events are being held. Okay. I have a friend that couldn't register for this webinar, will you hold more webinars or how can we watch this one? Fantastic! Well, we've held several webinars since June of 2016 and we will continue to hold periodically webinars as new information becomes available, but the great news is Military OneSource in a couple of weeks will have this webinar up on their website, so you can go back and watch it and send the link to your friend or buddy. Additionally, as we have new webinars held by the various components, for example, the National Guard Bureau held a webinar on Tuesday and Wednesday, we will post those types of events on the Resource page that I previously made mention of. Okay. Next question, I am in the Air Guard, how do I find out my point balance? All right! I am going to jump in actually on that one since I am in the Air Guard, I can help you with that. So, for those of you that are in the Air National Guard, I believe this is also for the Air Force Reserve, you can go to the Air Force portal. You can go to the virtual MPF or vMPF. On your left hand side you will have a whole bunch of various options, go to Additional Actions, and you will be able to access your current points balance. So if you don't know where you fall in your points, that will give you a good idea of where you are at. Now, by law all services recalculate or calculate your points yearly. So anyone on the call you can contact your servicing office, your human resources office and ask them where you can locate your points or if they can give you your points so that you have the most recent updated number. Let me add to that, that later in the winter, closer to January, the individual services and components shall be informing you electronically of your eligibility or your potential eligibility to opt-in to the Blended Retirement System, so you should be getting a notification here in the winter. And then again, the Department of Defense will be doing another notification somewhere in 2017 to make sure that you are aware that you may be eligible and that you need to take the opt-in training course. Okay. Next question, can the service member change the allocation of the government 1% and any additional matching out of the traditional TSP L Fund into another investment option? Great! Great question! So all of the government contributions will go into the traditional TSP, so whatever your government contributions are; however, your contributions, you're able to move them around into traditional or Roth. Now, within the TSP there are several different funds that you can choose from. From some that are low risk to those that are a little more aggressive and you will be able to go to the self-service website to be able to make your allocations to move those around as you see fit based on what your investment strategy in the TSP may be. Next question, so the BRS is annuity plus TSP? That's correct. So on the Blended Retirement System if you achieve 20 years of service, you will qualify for the defined benefit or the annuity, and also along your career you will be able to make contributions to the TSP and receive matching DoD contributions. And let me jump in here and add one more thing, if you don't mind Colonel Williams. Absolutely! The thing about the Blended Retirement System is that you now have government matching for your TSP, so you get government retirement benefits. So if you don't now make it to 20 years, which we mentioned for the Reserve, that's only 14%. So let's say for myself, I've been in 12 years, if I decided to leave today and I had been under the Blended Retirement System, I would leave with my TSP, plus the automatic government contributions, plus any matching that I have and any interest. And let's say, since I am in the Air National Guard I decide to go with an aerospace company and they have a 401(k) plan, I could then roll that over to my civilian retirement plan, so I have portability now if I don't stay 20 years. Great! Okay. Next question reads, can you address the matching gap that will exist for members with several years of service, specifically members that have already contributed several thousand dollars to their TSP, will we receive any match for what we have already contributed? All right! We do get that question often. So let me... let me take this in... in pieces. If you have already contributed to the TSP under the Legacy Retirement System first off, congratulation for... for saving for your retirement, it's an important aspect of it. Unfortunately, there is no retroactive matching to your TSP contributions. If you elect to move into to go into the Blended Retirement System, it's important to look at all of the factors based on, are you going to be eligible to get continuation pay, how many years do you have left, do you plan to make it to 20 years, all of these questions are important to ask yourself to make the determination if the Blended Retirement System is right for you. If not, then you can remain in the Legacy Retirement System. But it's a personal and individualized decision between you and those that you include, such as a spouse or significant other. Okay. Next question, is there a vesting period for opting into BRS, and is there any DoD catch up contributions for those opting into BRS? So the vesting period, now, if you are opting into the BRS, once you opt-in, you are... yeah. Yeah, once you opt-in to the BRS, your contributions are automatically vested. You do have to wait the two years for the 1% automatic government to then be considered vested. But for... for your your contributions are considered vested. Now, if you are a new accession after... on or after January 1, 2018, you don't start having that additional up to 4% matching with DoD until two years, so as you put that money in, you're automatically vested, because it's based on your service, your two years of service. Okay. Next question, many reservists have civilian careers that permit contributions to a traditional 401(k). Many of these are civilian service and contribute to TSP in this manner. Currently there is a cap for such contributions. If reservists max out contribution as a civilian, what is being done to enable them to contribute to the TSP in BRS? That's a great question! And for a reservist like myself, I currently contribute to the TSP as a reservist and I contribute to the TSP as a federal government employee. And so if I decide to elect to opt-in to the Blended Retirement System, for me personally, I am going to maximize my matching contributions on my civilian side of the house and take that 5% match. I am then going to maximize my 5% with the Uniformed Services and then wherever I land at, I will then work to maximize the amount up to the cap. That way you're taking advantage of both the government matching or your private civilian employer matching to your contributions and then you're contributing additional dollars to hit that cap, which as I mentioned earlier is currently at 18,000. Okay. Next question reads, for those currently contributing to TSP as a federal employee and getting the TSP matching getting the TSP matching there, how will getting the 5% also from the military side impact the amount received from both systems, military and civilian, i.e., will there be an increase in the IRS limit to the amount received by the employee in the form of government contributions? Great! Thank you! Well, you know, one thing and I hate doing public math, but I believe you would have to be making around $360,000 or $380,000 at a 5% match on your civilian side to hit that $18,000 cap right away. Most of our service members are not going to be in there. And as IRS law is currently written there is a cap. So again, as I just mentioned earlier, I would look to maximize to get that 5% on the civilian side. Maximize your 5% on the reserve side and then let's... let's just makeup a number, let's say that gets you to $10,000, so you are getting maximum on both sides. I would then up whichever account you choose that additional $8,000 to hit your yearly cap of $18,000 so you are maxing everything out. It will require a little bit of juggling and monitoring on your behalf, but you are now in control of your funds and your dollars as you are looking at this. As it stands now, it is an 1800 or there is an 18,000 cap by IRS Regulation. Okay, thank you. Are you considered an RC member if you are a full-time ANG technician? Yes, so if you are a drilling member and if you are a technician who is also in a unit, then you are an RC member. Okay, thank you. What if a solider receives other than honorable discharge, does the solider retain the retirement benefits on the Blended Retirement System? So that will depend again on where they have separated and the points are vesting or not, but again, those benefits that the phase has vested in them and they separate from the service, they will keep those benefits. Okay, how will the lump sum affect RC, SVP and SBP? That's a great question, that's one we have to further define, but just know that the SVP will still be available, the final policy on that has not been determined yet. But members who reach the 20 years under Blended Retirement System will still be able to take advantage of the SVP program. And Col. Williams, for those folks that aren't familiar with SBP, what does that stand for? Survivor Benefit Plan or Program. Great, thank you. Okay, next question reads, you made the statement that AGRs are based on retirement points; however, AGRs are either Title 32 or Title 10 AD, would it not come under active service then? So it really will depend at the AGR member, if they have enough qualifying further to qualify for regular retirement or if they do not qualify for regular retirement and retire under a non-regular retirement. So having the ability to opt-in would still be based on retirement points. But, again, remember, if an AGR member has been on Active Duty for more than 12 years, they will have more than the 4,320 points, and if you have more than the 4,320 points you will not be eligible to opt-in. Okay, next question reads, what will the default fund and TSP for the automatic contribution? That's a great question. So if you are opting in 2018 you will actually determine your fund distribution, which fund you would like. If you were a new accession on or after January 1st, 2018, you will be default to the L Fund or what they call the Lifecycle Fund closest to where your retirement age would be. So retirement -- the L funds go in 2040-2050 based on when you anticipate retirement. -Okay. -Let me actually add to that. Next to default, at any time you can get into the self-service system and a member can move their allocations around, that's just by default going in to the L Fund. Okay, just to clarify slide 5, an Active Guard reserve member will determine their opt-in eligibility based on points not on years of service, is that accurate? So, again, yes, it is on point, but remember, if you are an Active Guard member and you have served more than 12 years on Active Duty you will have more than 4,320 point, so you would not be eligible to opt-in. Now if you are an Active Guard member and you have less number of years of service of those points, you will be eligible to opt-in. Okay, next question reads, is there an equivalent for their REDUX that will end with BRS for those of us that will miss the opportunity for a mid-career bonus? No, so the mid-career bonus under the Blended Retirement System is really the continuation fee, that's the mid-career incentive to encourage retention. But REDUX will sunset and will not be available once the Blended Retirement System takes effect. On January 1, 2018. Okay, next question. For continuation pay, how is monthly basic pay determined for traditional reserve is ITD only? Well, for continuation pay, remember, that will be based on the monthly pay, the member would earn if they were on Active Duty. So for example, if they are in E7 with 10 years of service, you would go to the Active Duty Pay Chart for an E7 with 10 years of service, and figure out what the pay will be at that point. And now the way it's written now, continuation pay is paid at the completion of the 12th year. So you know, again, you would go back in the same scenario; the E7 at 12 years of service, you go to Active Duty Chart, figure out what that monthly base pay is and then that continuation pay would be based on a multiplier against that Active Duty monthly base pay. Which is either 0.5 times up to 6 times that amount. And Stan, it's about 1:57, I think we have time for about two more questions here. Okay, sounds good. Question reads, if you reach 12 years of service in 2018 but you opt-in prior to your 12 year anniversary, are you eligible for continuation pay? Hey Stan! Can you repeat that question for us? Sure. If you reach 12 years of service in 2018, but you opt-in prior to your 12 year anniversary, are you eligible for the continuation pay? So, you opt-in in 2018 and you have not completed 12 years of service, yes, you are eligible for continuation pay. Okay. And I guess the last question. Can you still opt-in to the Survivor Benefit Plan if we earn the annuity retirement? Yes, so, again if you qualify for the annuity retirement with defined benefit after 20 years of service, the Survivor Benefit Plan is still an option, yes. Okay, at this time - Stan, if I could just jump in quickly here. I did throw one extra slide in, so I apologize if we did not get to your question today. I know that we had some great questions here and I refer you to the Blended Retirement Resource page. That has about 13 pages of frequently asked questions or if you'd like to join us tomorrow there is a Facebook Q&A, Friday on Finance Friday with the Assistant Secretary of Manpower and Reserve Affairs. You can find it at ASDMRA or the link that's on your screen right now, we'd love you to join us if you did not get the opportunity to ask your question today. And again, we really want to thank Military OneSource for hosting this webinar and for all of you joining; and Stan, I will turn it back to you. Okay, thank you. Well, since we are thanking, I would like to thank our panel, Col. John Williams, Major Michael Odle and Ms. Kimberly Myers for sharing their invaluable expertise. I would also like to thank our attendees for participating in today's webinar. And if you find yourself having questions after the webinar, like Major Odle said that you can join in on his Q&A, that's currently showing on the slide. And this... today, this concludes our webinar on Blended Retirement Systems. Thank you all for joining and have a great day.