New website for managing retirement accounts coming soon

Effective Oct. 1, a new website will be available for enrolling in and changing contributions to Rice University Supplemental 403(b) Plan and Defined Contribution Retirement Plan accounts.

The Fidelity Investments website will support the enrollment process and management of deferral and service provider selections regardless of your chosen service provider (Fidelity and/or TIAA). Account holders will no longer need to complete a Retirement Plan Change Form to enroll, change payroll deductions or change service provider selections.

Employees will be able to view Fidelity and TIAA account balances, make changes to contribution amounts and access links to manage investment allocations or initiate transactions via the new website.

Employees with Fidelity retirement accounts will continue to use their current Fidelity NetBenefits username and password to log into the new website. Those with TIAA accounts will receive an email or postcard with instructions on creating a Fidelity NetBenefits username and password to use the new website; they will continue to use the TIAA website to manage investments, with the Fidelity NetBenefits site providing links to the appropriate TIAA tools.

Your current retirement account or accounts will continue without interruption during the transition.

Beginning Oct. 1, contributions to the Supplemental 403(b) plan can only be made in percentage form, rather than a flat dollar amount. If you are already contributing a percentage, no action is necessary. If you are currently contributing a flat dollar amount, you must complete and return a Retirement Plan Change Form by Sept. 1. Any flat dollar contributions not changed to a percentage by the deadline will be converted by rounding up to the nearest tenth of a percent.

Changes will be effective with the first pay period in October for semimonthly employees, and Oct. 18 for biweekly employees.

Interactive tools to help manage your accounts can be accessed by visiting the new site, www.netbenefits.com/rice, and clicking the Tools & Resources tab. For more information, contact Fidelity at 1-800-343-0860 or the Rice benefits team at benefits@rice.edu.