Amount of your pension benefit

Pension credits

During each year you are enrolled in the Defined Benefit Pension Plan, you accrue pension credits equal to the greater of

• 1.25 percent of your pension participation basis for that year; or
• 1.25 percent of the applicable median salary (prorated for part-time employees).

Your pension participation basis is the greater of your effective salary (up to the IRS annual compensation limit for Defined Benefit Pension Plan participation purposes) or 25 percent of the congregational ministers' median.

Experience apportionments

Experience apportionments are discretionary increases in pension credits or benefits depending on your employment status:

• If you are a retiree or eligible survivor, an experience apportionment is a permanent increase in your current pension benefit for as long as you live, expressed as a percentage of benefits received.
• If you are an active or terminated vested member, the experience apportionment is a permanent increase in your accrued pension credits, expressed as a percentage of those credits.

The Board of Pensions grants experience apportionments, when financially possible, in accordance with the apportionment guidelines and at the sole discretion of its Board of Directors.

How apportionments are determined

Each year, the Board of Directors uses the apportionment policy to determine whether to grant an apportionment and, if so, what it will be. The policy takes into account the pension plan objectives, seeking to balance short- and long-term goals:

• Ensure long-term financial stability of the plan.
• Protect members against inflation.
• Maintain generational equity.

Solvency, or plan funding status, is the primary factor that drives the determination. A funding status of 100 percent — fully funded — means that assets in the plan are able to meet current and future benefits obligations. The greater the funding status, the more opportunity to grant an apportionment to help protect current and future retiree benefits from inflation with minimal risk to the plan.

If the pension plan is funded at

• less than 110 percent, no apportionment is granted;
• 110 percent to less than 120 percent, a 1 percent apportionment may be granted;
• 120 percent to less than 125 percent, a 2 percent apportionment may be granted;
• 125 percent or more, an apportionment greater than 2 percent is considered, and actuarial analysis is used to determine the amount.

Vesting

Vesting refers to a non-forfeitable right to a benefit. Ministers automatically become vested in the pension benefit when enrolled in the plan.

If you are an employee other than a minister, your pension credits accrued in the pension plan become 100 percent vested as soon as any of the following occur:

• you complete three years of eligible service;
• you reach age 65;
• your employer withdraws from the plan; or
• the pension plan ends.

Even if you were not enrolled in the Benefits Plan, employment for at least 20 hours a week by an eligible employer counts toward vesting in the pension benefit if you were to be enrolled at a later date. Full-time attendance at seminary also counts for ministers who serve in a validated ministry of the Church following ordination.

Estimating your pension benefits

To estimate your pension benefit at retirement, use the pension estimator on Benefits Connect. You can immediately view your estimated monthly pension benefit using different scenarios by varying the information you provide.