Overview of Retirement Savings (Basic Retirement) Enrollment

Benefits-eligible USC employees on the regular USC Benefits can enroll in and modify your USC Retirement Savings Program (Basic Retirement) with the eTrac Basic Retirement Online Enrollment process. Use this process to set your Basic Retirement Savings contribution and select the investment options(s) to which the contributions are made. Note that if you want to change how your contributions are allocated with a specific investment company to which you already contribute, contact that investment company to manage your account.

The USC (Basic) Retirement Savings Program is an employer-matching program and USC contributes 5% of the gross regular earnings on your paycheck without requiring you to contribute anything. For each 1%, up to 5%, that you contribute from your Gross Earnings, USC contributes an additional 1% as well. The following table shows how much USC contributes to your Basic Retirement Savings based on what you elect to contribute.

You Contribute:USC Contributes:
5%10%
4%9%
3%8%
2%7%
1%6%
0%5%

You can contribute as much as 5% of your pay up to the maximum allowed Employee Basic Retirement contribution limit which is calculated based on the limits established by the IRS. There is also an overall annual maximum contribution limit, which includes both your annual Basic Retirement contributions and your annual Supplemental Retirement contributions. If you want to contribute more than 5%, you can enroll in the Supplemental Retirement plan; however, you must contribute the maximum 5% to the Basic Retirement before you can make any Supplemental Retirement contributions. To enroll in the USC Supplemental Retirement plan, return to the Benefits Enrollment Type page to select Supplemental Retirement plan Benefit Type.

Beginning in 2010, you can make after-tax retirement contributions to Designated Roth Accounts. (Note that a Designated Roth Account is not the same thing as a Roth IRA. Designated Roth Account contributions count towards your annual Basic and Maximum Limits.) You can elect to place your employee contributions to any of the Pre-Tax and/or Roth accounts, but the total Basic contribution you can make is 5% maximum. USC will match your contribution percentage regardless which vendor or account type you have; however, all USC matching contributions will go into a pre-tax account for that vendor.

Steps to enroll in the Basic Retirement Savings Program:

  1. First, select the percentage of your Gross Pay that you want to contribute to your Basic Retirement Savings.
  2. Next, select the investment vendor and account type where you want to make those contributions. Depending on the percentage of contribution you select, you may be allowed to divide your total contributions among multiple vendors and/or account types.
  3. If you are contributing to multiple vendors or account types, you will then need to indicate what percentaget you want to go to each selected vendor/account type.
  4. If you are contributing to an investment vendor for the first time, you will also need to fill out and submit that vendor's enrollment forms before this retirement enrollment request can be processed. Refer to the Office of Benefits Administration for further details.

After making all your selections, you will get a chance to review everything before submitting the enrollment transaction to the system. You must click on the "Submit" button on the Review Page to complete the enrollment transaction.

Upon submitting an enrollment transaction, it will remain on hold pending approval of your request. You may not submit another request until your first request has been processed. If you need to cancel your enrollment submission before it has been processed, contact the Benefits Office.

Once your new plan starts, it will remain in effect continuously until you submit a new Basic Retirement plan, and temporarily stopping only if you've reached your maximum contribution limit for the year.

For more information on the USC Retirement Savings Program, see the Benefits Administration Office.

Instructions

Notes

Instructions

You start the USC Basic Retirement Enrollment by selecting it from the Benefits Type Selection Page.

  1. On the Online Benefits Enrollment & Transaction Page, select an Enrollment Type:
    "Regular Enrollment"
    Select "Regular Enrollment" if you want this enrollment plan to become effective at the new Pay Period.
    "Open Enrollment"
    Select "Open Enrollment" if it is during the Benefits Open Enrollment period and you want this enrollment plan to become effective in January of the following year.
  2. New & Rehired Employees:
    If you are a new employee or a recently rehired employee and have not set up your Basic Retirement yet, select "Start" for the Transaction Type.
    Current Employees:
    If you are enrolled in the USC Basic Retirement and want to change the plan, select "Change" for the Transaction Type.
  3. Click on the "Continue" button and the Contribution Selection Page will load.
  4. Review the IRS 402(g) Limits section to see how much you are allowed to contribute to your retirement plans. While you may contribute only a maximum of 5% of your earnings to your Basic Retirement, you may choose to contribute more to a Supplemental Retirement plan so long as your total contributions do not exceed the "Maximum Limit" for the year.

    If you are enrolled in the USC Basic Retirement already, the Current Contributions section displays your current plan and the amount you have already contributed for the year.
    If you have previously changed your USC Basic Retirement during the year, the Prior Contributions section shows your previous plan details.
  5. In the Contribution section, select the percentage (from 0% to 5%) of your gross earnings that you want to contribute from each pay period.
  6. Select an investment vendor and account type where your contributions will go. USC matching contributions will go to the selected vendor. If you are contributing 0% to 4%, you may make only one selection. If you are making the maximum 5% Employee contribution, you may make more than one selection. Also, you must maximize your Basic Retirement if you want to enroll in the Supplemental Retirement plan.
    (If you are setting up a retirement account with a vendor for the first time, you will also need to complete the enrollment application form(s) for each new vendor. You will receive further instructions after submitting your request.)
  7. Click on the "Continue" button.

    When you continue on with the enrollment, the next page that appears depends on whether or not you have selected more than one vendor.
    If you have selected only one vendor, the Review Page appears. (Skip the next step.)
  8. If you have selected more than one vendor and/or account, the Contribution Distribution Page appears.
    Indicate how you want to distribute your 5% contributions among your selections. The total for all selections must equal 5%.
    Then click on the "Continue" button.
  9. The Review Page allows you to review your enrollment transaction before your submit it. Review your new plan and read the authorization statements. When you are ready, click on the "Submit" button. Note that by clicking on the "Submit" button, you are acknowledging that you have read and agree with the authorization statements.
  10. You will see the final confirmation message page. Print out this page for your records. The system will also send you a confirmation email.

    There are links near the top of the page for each new vendor form you need to complete and submit to the Benefits Office. If you are changing your Basic Retirement and already have an active account set up with a particular vendor, you do not need to complete new enrollment forms. Note the deadline date in the instructions. A delay in turning in the vendor forms may delay your Basic Retirement plan request.

Enrollment & Transaction Selection Page

Upon selecting Basic Retirement Enrollment on eTrac, you need to select the type of enrollment and transaction you want to make. The options available to you depend on the time of year and whether or not you are currently enrolled in a plan.

Instructions

  1. Select an Enrollment Type:
    • "Regular Enrollment"
    Select "Regular Enrollment" if you want this enrollment plan to become effective at the new Pay Period.
    • "Open Enrollment"
    Select "Open Enrollment" if it is during the Benefits Open Enrollment period and you want this enrollment plan to become effective in January of the following year.
  2. Select a Transaction Type:
    "Start"
    If you are a new employee or a recently rehired employee and have not set up your Basic Retirement yet, select "Start".
    "Change"
    If you are enrolled in the USC Basic Retirement and want to change the plan, select "Change".
  3. Click on the "Continue" button to continue.
    You will go to the Contribution Selection Page.
    If you are stopping your Basic Retirement, you will go to the Summary Review Page.
     

Employee Information Section

The top section of this page displays your basic Employee information and it is repeated on every page. If any of this information is incorrect, contact your Home Department Coordinator to update your data.

Employee ID  This is your 7-digit USC Employee ID # and you use it to access all your employee/payroll records.
Employee Name  This is the name as how it appears on your record in the system. If it needs to be corrected, contact your Home Department Coordinator.
Employee SSN  This is your Social Security #. For your protection, only the last 4 digits of your SSN are displayed.
USC ID  This is your 10-digit USC ID number.
Employee Street Address, City, State, Zip  This is your home mailing address. You can update this from the Personal Information Update Page on eTrac.
Home Department  This is the name of your home department.
Home Department Coordinator  This is the name of the person to contact regarding your personnel file.
Employee Status  This is your current employee status at USC.
Employee e-mail  This is the e-mail address where eTrac will send system notifications. You can change this from the Work Information Update Page on eTrac.

Enrollment & Transaction Selection

Enrollment Type  Select an Enrollment type:
Open Enrollment
If you want to submit an enrollment plan to take effect at the beginning of the next year, select "Open Enrollment". This option is available only during the Benefits Open Enrollment period.
Regular Enrollment
If you want to make an enrollment transaction to take effect on the next scheduled effective date, select "Regular Enrollment"
Transaction Type  Select a Transaction Type:
Start
Select "Start" if you are enrolling in the USC Basic Retirement for the first time.
Change
Select "Change" if you want to change your current USC Basic Retirement plan.

Action Buttons

The following buttons appear near the bottom of the page:

Continue  After selecting the enrollment and transaction types, click on this button to continue to the Contribution Selection Page.
Back to Benefits Page  To cancel any changes, click this button to return to the Benefits Type Selection Page.
Exit Process  Click on this button to return to the main menu.

Contribution Selection Page

The Contribution Selection Page is where you select the percentage of your Gross Pay that you want deducted from your pay each pay period to be contributed to the retirement vendor(s) of your choosing.

There is a lot of information here about your contributions limits, any past and current contributions you've already made, remaining amounts from the total limits you are allowed to contribute this year, and projected contribution amounts for your Basic Retirement. Review all this information carefully when deciding on your retirement contributions. If you are contributing to a Supplemental Retirement plan, you may need to adjust those contributions to maximize your Basic Retirement benefits.

Instructions

  1. Review all the information on this page. It contains your:
    • IRS Retirement Limits
    • prior and current contributions
    • Estimated Contribution Projections
  2. After carefully reviewing all your information, go to the bottom of the page to the Contribution Selection Section.
  3. In the Employee Contribution select box, select the percentage of your Gross Pay that you want to contribute from each pay period to your Basic Retirement, anywhere from 0% to 5%.
  4. Below the Employee Contribution select box, you will see the available investment vendors and account types. Select "Yes" for the vendor and account type where you want to make your contributions. If you contribute 5%, you may select more than one vendor and account type.
  5. Click on the "Continue" button.
  6. When you continue through the Basic Retirement process, the next page you will see depends on your contribution selections.
    If you selected only one vendor, the Basic Retirement Summary Review Page will load.
    If you selected more than one vendor, the Contribution Selection Page will load.

IRS Limits

USC employee retirement contribution limits are defined by the Internal Revenue Code, Section 402(g). This section displays your retirement contribution limits for the indicated Calendar year. If you are starting a plan during Open Enrollment for next year, next year's limits are shown. If you are working on a retirement plan for the current year, this year's limits are shown.

Calendar Year  This column displays the year of the plan.
General Limit  The general limit shown is the base amount you are allowed to contribute to your voluntary retirement plans for the year shown.
15-Year Special Election  This column shows the additional allowable amount you may contribute if you have worked at USC for 15 years.
Age 50 and Over Addition  This column displays the additional allowable amount you may contribute if you are at least 50 years of age.
Maximum Limit  The maximum limit shown is the maximum amount you are allowed to contribute to your voluntary retirement plans (General + 15-Year + Age 50 Limits). All contributions you make to both your Basic and Supplemental Retiremenet plans are counted towards this Maximum Limit.
Suppl Retirement Maximum Limit   This column shows the estimated amount you can contribute to your Supplemental Retirement for the year. This limit is calculated from your maximum limit minus your projected 5% deduction amount and may may change depending on your actual Gross Pay.
Suppl Retirement Agreement   If you have a Supplemental Retirement plan with USC, this column displays the total amount for the year you have elected to contribute to your Supplemental Retirement for the year.
Employee Basic Retirement Limit   This column displays the maximum amount that you can contribute to your USC Basic Retirement.

Prior Contributions

The plans listed under "Prior Retirement Plans" show the contributions you've made in the year but you are no longer contributing to them. This section appears only if you made any contributions in the year to a retirement plan that has ended.

Retirement Plan  This column lists the retirement plan name.
Plan End Date  This column displays the date when the plan ended.
Amount  This column shows the amount you've elected to contribute to the plan. Depending on the type of plan, this could be a dollar amount or a percentage of your Gross Pay.
Year-to-Date Contribution  This column shows the total contributions you've made to each plan. At the bottom of each section, the total amounts are summed up.

Current Contributions

The plans listed under "Current Retirement Plan Contributions" are the plans you're currently contributing to in the year. This section appears only if you have a current plan.

Retirement Plan  This column lists the retirement plan name.
Plan Start Date  This column displays the date when the plan started.
Amount  This column shows the amount you've elected to contribute to the plan. Depending on the type of plan, this could be a dollar amount or a percentage of your Gross Pay.
Year-to-Date Contribution  This column shows the total contributions you've made to each plan. At the bottom of each section, the total amounts are summed up.

Estimated Contribution Projections

To help you plan your Basic Retirement contributions, the Estimated Contribution Projection table gives you an idea of how you might be contributing from each pay period depending on the percentage you elect to contribute. These projections are only estimations based on the Gross amount of your last pay period. Because Basic Retirement contributions are based on a percentage of your Gross Pay, if your Gross Pay varies with each pay period, your actual contribution amounts will vary accordingly.

If you were recently hired/rehired and do not have a prior pay history on file yet, no projections will be available.

Employee Contribution  Each percentage of your Pay that you can contribute is listed. For each percentage, the table shows the projected estimated results if you were to choose that percentage contribution.
USC Match (Pre-Tax)   This column shows the percentage of your Gross Pay that USC will contribute towards your Basic Retirement based on the percentage you contribute out of your pay. Whether you put your employee contributions into a Pre-Tax or Roth account, the USC Employer matching contributions will to go to a Pre-Tax account for your selected vendor.
Pay Period Deduction  This column gives an estimated amount that might be deducted from your pay if you choose to contribute a certain percentage. The deductions will take place either Biweekly or Monthly depending on your pay frequency. The estimated amounts are calculated from your last pay. If you have a varying pay amount each pay period, the actual amounts you will contribute may be more or less than the estimation. If you do not have a pay history on file, no projections are available.

Contribution Selection

Select the percentage of your Gross Pay that you want deducted for each pay period, and where you want to send the contributions.

Employee Contribution  Select the percentage, 0% to 5% of your Gross Pay that you want to contribute from each pay period.
 

Retirement Vendors:
  • Fidelity Pre-Tax
  • Prudential Pre-Tax
  • TIAA-CREF Pre-Tax
  • Vanguard Pre-Tax

  • Fidelity ROTH
  • Prudential ROTH
  • TIAA-CREF ROTH
  • Vanguard ROTH

  All available retirement vendors and account types where you can make your Retirement contributions are listed. Select "Yes" for the vendor and account type that you want. If you are allowed to contribute to multiple vendors/accounts, you may select more than one.

Action Buttons

The following buttons may appear near the bottom of the page:

Continue  Click on this button to continue.

If you selected more than one vendor, the Contribution Selection Page will load.
If you selected only one vendor, the Basic Retirement Summary Review Page will load.
Back to Benefits Page  Click on this button to cancel changes and return to the Benefits Selection page.
Exit Process  Click on this button to cancel changes and return to the eTrac menu.

Contribution Distribution Page

This page appears only if you have selected more than one retirement vendor. This page allows you to distribute your retirement contributions among the multiple vendors you have selected.

Instructions

  1. Your information from the previous page is repeated for your reference. See the descriptions listed under the Contribution Selection Page for details on your:
    • IRS Retirement Limits
    • prior and current contributions
    • Estimated Contribution Projections
  2. After reviewing all your information, go to the bottom of the page to the Contribution Distribution Section. Your selected total employee contribution is displayed as well as the investment vendors and accounts you have selected.
  3. Distribute the total employee contribution percentage among your chosen vendors/accounts.
    You can distribute the percent of contributions by whole numbers only and the sum of the contributions to all the vendors/accounts must equal to your Total Employee Contribution.

    You must allocate at least 1% to all your selected vendors. If you decide not to allocate any deduction to a chosen vendor/account, click on the "Back to Selection Page" button to return to the Contribution Selection on the Contribution Selection page and unselect that vendor/account.
  4. When you are done, click on the "Continue" button. You are not done yet.
  5. The Summary Review Page will load.

Transaction Information

This area gives some basic information regarding this enrollment transaction that you are making.

Type of Transaction  This field indicates what you want to do with the Basic Enrollment: Starting a new enrollment or changing an existing one.
Effective Date  All information displayed on the Basic Retirement Enrollment is accurate as of today. However, very likely, the enrollment transaction you are about to submit will not be processed in time to take effect for the next pay period. This field shows you the effective date when this enrollment transaction will take effect if you were to submit it today.

Contribution Distribution

The Total Employee Contribution percentage that you elected to have deducted from your Gross Pay each pay period is shown. Out of that total percentage, select how you want to distribute the contribution percentages among the retirement vendors you have chosen. The total of the distributed vendor/account percentages must equal to the Total Employee Contribution percentage. You can allocate only whole percent numbers to each vendor.

For example, if you elected to contribute a total of 5% of your Gross Pay, you can allocate 3% to one vendor/account and 2% to a second vendor/account for a total of 5%.

The percent distributions for the USC matching contributions will follow the same ratio you selected for your employee deductions. For example, with a 3%/2% division of your 5% deductions to two vendors/accounts, USC's matching 10% will be divided 6% and 4% between the two vendors/accounts.

You must allocate at least 1% to all your selected vendors/accounts. If you decide to not allocate any deduction to a chosen vendor/account, click on the "Back to Selection Page" button to return to the Contribution Selection on the Contribution Selection page and unselect that vendor/account.

Action Buttons

The following buttons appear near the bottom of the page:

Continue  Click on this button to continue to the Summary Review Page. You are not done yet.
Back to Selection Page  Click on this button to return to the Contribution Selection page where you can change your contribution percentage and your selected vendors and account types.
Back to Benefits Page  Click on this button to cancel the transaction and return to the Benefits Selection page.
Exit Process  Click on this button to cancel changes and return to the eTrac menu.

Summary Review Page

The Review Page displays a summary of your changes and plan details. Please review the information and read the Authorization statements. If everything looks in order, then click on the "Submit to Update" button located near the bottom of the web to submit your plan request. You must click on the Submit button on the Review Page to complete the enrollment transaction . Your request will be forwarded to the Office of Benefits Administration for review. You should also receive an email confirmation regarding your submission, and Benefits Administration will contact you in the near future on the status of your request.

Instructions

  1. Review all the information, including the authorization message near the bottom of the page. When you click on the final "Submit" button, you are acknowledging that you have read over everything and you have authorized the deduction from your pay. This Basic Retirement plan will remain in effect until you submit a new one, with deduction contributions stopping at the end of year only when limits have been reached.
  2. Click on the "Submit to Update" button. You will see a final confirmation message page.

    If you do not want to submit the request, click on the "Back to Contribution Selection Page" button or the "Benefits Selection Page" to make further changes, or click on the "Exit Process" button to return to the eTrac menu.

Current Retirement Plan Contributions

This section displays all your current retirement plans, both Basic and Supplemental, if applicable.

Current Retirement Plan  This column lists any current retirement plans you may already have.
Plan Start Date  This column lists the date when the retirement plan started.
Amount  This column lists the percentage of your current contribution rate or amount of each plan, if applicable.
Calendar Year to Date  This column lists the total amount for each plan and combined plans that you have already contributed for the year.

New Retirement Plan

This section display the new Basic (Matched) Retirement plan that you are submitting.

Vendor  This column lists the retirement plan name.
Employee Contribution (%)  This column lists the percentage of your Gross amount that will be contributed to each plan.
USC Matching (%) (Pre-Tax)  This column lists the percentage of USC's matching amount that will be contributed to each plan.

Authorization Message

Read the message near the bottom of the page carefully. When you click on the final "Submit" button, you are acknowledging that you have read over everything and you have authorized the deduction from your pay. This Basic Retirement plan will remain in effect until you submit a new one, with deduction contributions stopping at the end of year only when limits have been reached.

Action Buttons

The following buttons appear near the bottom of the page:

Submit to Update  Click on this button to generate a summary of your plan for confirmation. You have not submitted your enrollment transaction until after you click on this button. You will see the Confirmation page.
Back to Contribution Selection Page  Click on this button to cancel changes and return to the Contribution Selection page.
Back to Benefits Page  Click on this button to cancel changes and return to the Benefits Selection page.
Exit Process  Click on this button to cancel changes and return to the eTrac menu.

Confirmation Message Page

The message page confirms that you have successfully submitted your request. It may include additional messages regarding your enrollment. If you are enrolling with a new retirement vendor, a link to the vendor's paper form is provided which you must complete and submit to the Benefits Office before your enrollment can be processed. All the information regarding your Basic Retirement is shown on this page and the Benefits Office contact information is shown at the bottom. You are advised to print out this page for your records.

Upon submitting your enrollment, the system also sent you a confirmation e-mail. When Benefits processes your request, you should receive another email informing you of the approval status.

Instructions

If you are contributing to Basic Retirement vendor(s) with whom you already have an account(s):

  1. Print out the message page for your records.
  2. • If you want to make another enrollment such as your Supplement Retirement, click on Back to Benefits Page button.
    • If you want to return to the eTrac menu page, click on the "Exist Process" button.
     

If you are contributing to a new Basic Retirement vendor:

  1. Print out the message page for your records.
  2. The message page will list links to the enrollment forms for each of the new vendors
    Click on each of the provided links to download the form(s).
  3. Return to the eTrac menu and exit eTrac.
  4. Print out all the forms.
  5. Fill out the forms and sign them.
  6. Turn in the forms to either the Office of Benefits Administration or HSC Personnel Office.

Action Buttons

The following buttons appear near the bottom of the page:

Back to Benefits Page  Click on this button to go to the Benefits Selection page.
Exit Process  Click on this button to go to the eTrac menu.