Retirement Program

RETIREMENT PROGRAM

We care about your overall well-being, which is why we offer a two-part retirement program to help you save for retirement: the employee- and Children’s Mercy-funded Tax-Deferred Annuity Plan and the Children’s Mercy-funded Retirement Plan. Both are administered by TIAA.

Tax-Deferred Annuity Plan

The Tax-Deferred Annuity Plan (TDA Plan) is a 403(b) retirement savings plan for employees of nonprofit academic, medical, religious and educational organizations. Like a 401(k) plan for employees of for-profit companies, our TDA Plan offers tax advantages for participants. You are fully vested in your contributions and will become fully vested in the employer match after three years of service with CM*.

Eligibility

All Children’s Mercy employees working any schedule or number of hours may contribute to the TDA Plan.

When hired, you are automatically enrolled in the TDA Plan. Beginning with your first paycheck, 3% of your pay is contributed into your TDA account. If you don’t want to take advantage of this convenient way to save for retirement, you may opt out of automatic enrollment.

Features of the TDA Plan

• Contributions: You’re automatically enrolled in the TDA Plan at 3%. You allocate a percentage of your salary to be invested by payroll deduction in either pretax or Roth options. After you complete 90 days of service, Children’s Mercy makes a matching contribution of 50 cents for every dollar you invest, up to 6% of your salary.
• Vesting: Once you have completed three years of service, you will become 100% vested in the employer match*. You are always 100% vested in your own contributions.
• Investing your TDA Plan account: Choose from several TIAA investment funds, according to your risk tolerance, your expected retirement year and other factors relevant to your personal situation.

Retirement Plan

The Retirement Plan is a 401(a) plan, managed by TIAA but separate from the TDA Plan. It is 100% funded by CM; you cannot contribute to this plan.

Eligibility

You are eligible to participate in the Retirement Plan if you are at least 21 years old and have completed two years of service, defined as 1,000 or more paid hours over two 12-month periods.

Features of the Retirement Plan

• Contributions: Children’s Mercy’s contributions on your behalf begin the month after you meet eligibility requirements. CM contributes a percentage of your salary to your account based on a combination of your age and years of service. You may not contribute to the plan.
• Vesting: You are fully vested in the plan from the day you begin participating.
• Investing your Retirement Plan account: Contributions are initially invested in a lifecycle fund based on average risk tolerance and the length of time to your presumed retirement. They can remain invested there, or you can take an active role in choosing from a variety of investment funds offered by TIAA.

*If you were hired prior to January 1, 2021, you must complete two years of service to become fully vested in the match.