Dear MERS Employer,

 
I have a few important reminders and updates to share with you.

Register Today – Annual Conference Early Bird Registration Ends Soon

Over 330 attendees are registered so far, you should too!

The MERS 73rd Annual Conference agenda is full of educational and engaging sessions focused on hot topics in the retirement industry, and you won't want to miss out.

Important Dates to be Aware of

• Early bird registration ends Friday, August 16. This is your last chance to register at the reduced rate of $175. After this date the price increases to $250.
• Online registration to attend the conference ends on Friday, September 20. After this date, you must register onsite at an additional cost. Save time and money by registering today - click here
• Reserve your hotel room at the Grand Traverse Resort by Monday, September 2 to receive the discounted rate of $164/night. To make your reservation, call (800) 968-7352and mention that you are with the MERS Annual Conference, or click here to reserve online.
  MGFOA Note: If you are attending both the MGFOA Fall Institute and MERS Retirement Conference, please let the hotel reservation specialist know when you book your room. The resort will make every effort to keep you in the same room for the duration of your stay.

Visit the Annual Conference website for a complete list of breakout session topics and other event details.

We Need Your Help! – Participant Beneficiary Designations

We are actively reaching out to participants that do not have a beneficiary designation on file to update this information with MERS. To view all communications we send to participants, visit the Communications Corner on our website. We need your help with this effort! For customers with a Defined Contribution Plan, 457 or Health Care Savings Program, you have the ability to run a report through the Employer Portal telling you which participants are missing beneficiary designations.

To pull either report, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Employer Portal
2. Click into the specific division for which you'd like to pull a report
3. Select Plan Reports
4. Select "Participant With A Beneficiary On File" or "Participant No Beneficiary on File"
5. Click on "Request Report"

The reports are generated every 5 minutes and can be retrieved by going to "Retrieve Files" and selecting "Requested Reports" from the File Type drop down.

If you have the Defined Benefit Plan, we are working to provide the same type of on-demand reports and will let you know when they are available. In the meantime, you can request this report via email.

We have also created a poster you can hang up in your workplace to help encourage employees to update their beneficiaries.

The good news is that designating beneficiaries has never been easier! Participants can simply provide us with this information securely through their online myMERS account!

Resource Reminders – PA 202 & PA 530

Public Act 202 (PA 202) requires information on unfunded pension and retiree health care liabilities (OPEB) of local governments in Michigan to be reported annually. The Michigan Department of Treasury has streamlined reporting for fiscal year 2019 by merging Form 5572 with the summary pension report, which was required under Public Act 530 of 2016 (PA 530). This eliminates the PA 530 report that was previously required. Uniform actuarial assumption information as well as data for summary retiree health care reporting is now also included in Form 5572 as required by PA 202 of 2017.

Important to note: Information for reporting for fiscal year 2019 can be found in the State Reporting section of your 2018 Annual Actuarial Valuation recently delivered to you.

We have updated the resources on our website, including a PA 530 Compliance Guide for fiscal year 2018. We will continue to keep you informed as new information becomes available. Please contact me if you need assistance or have any questions.

Coming Soon –Retirement Readiness Snapshot Reports

In the next few weeks, Snapshot retirement readiness reports will be mailed out to all active employees enrolled in a retirement plan (Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution or Hybrid) who have wages on file with MERS.

With these reports, it is our goal to provide participants with a "snapshot" of their level of retirement readiness based on the information that MERS has. From there, every participant has access to the Full Picture report builder through their myMERS account. This tool can be used to fill in the gaps of information that MERS does not have access to such as outside retirement accounts, spouse information and personal retirement goals. This provides a holistic look at their financial outlook in retirement and customized suggestions to ensure that personal goals are met.

Check out our website for more information and resources, including a Facebook Live video that walks your employees through their Snapshot Report and Full Picture report builder available here.

Defined Benefit Plan – Assumption Changes

All December 31, 2018 Annual Valuations have been delivered, which included estimated impacts from the recent changes to the investment rate of return and wage inflation assumptions, which are effective with FY 2021. To view communications from MERS on these changes, click here. In addition, watch for more information next year on potential changes to the demographic assumptions, which will be effective with FY 2022. If you would like to discuss this further, please contact me and I would be glad to discuss at a time that is convenient.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me.

Terra Langham
517-703-1402