State Retirement Plan

[Mommy TeleRN, RN]

Does anyone know about how the MS State Retirement plan works? I live in TN but am looking at a MS hospital. They have mandatory retirement where you contribute 7% and they contribute 11% of pay which sounds pretty good. I just wonder if you get to pick your investments like in a 401k and what happens if say you get another job in 5 or 6 years...does it roll over into an IRA or does it stay with the state? I only know about 401k...

[bleppity]

I work at University of Mississippi Medical Center. We don't have any choice on what the retirement plan is invested in. However, you do have the option to open a 403B plan in addition in which you can pick your investments as you choose. A 403B works similarly to a 401K... it's tax-deferred.

As for as what happens if you quit, on the retirement plan you have the option to keep the money where it is, or you can roll it over into an IRA or whatever you prefer.

[Mommy TeleRN, RN]

But if you open the 403b you still have to put the mandatory 7% in the other retirement plan right?

Any idea what the rate of return is? I was looking at the MS state website and it's very confusing but i swear it looked like the rate was 3.5%. That concerns me having to put a chunk of my own money into such a low return plan. So confusing comparing all the bennies of a TN vs MS hospital! lol

[bleppity]

I'm not sure on the rate of return as I just started at the end of January. I wouldn't doubt that it's only 3.5%. Most likely since it's mandatory they only invest conservatively so they won't lose everyone's money if the market dips. *laughs* That's why even though I'm mandated to put 7% into their plan, I put about 9% into a 403B so I can pick my own funds and be more aggressive in my risk.

I would contact the benefits office of the hospital you're interested in and ask what the return is to make sure.

[blainer101]

http://www.pers.state.ms.us

I got their publication in the mail this week here are a couple of quotes.

"PERS investments return 10.72%" for last year.

"the rate of return has exceeded 8% for 11 of the last 15 years."

It's a good system. The only glitch is once you leave it you lose the employer contribution, you can take your share out but you loose theirs unless you leave your money in and once you reach retirement age you still get your benifits