Automatic Enrollment Guide

Transcription

1 Automatic Enrollment Guide

2 Introducing Automatic Enrollment Almost daily, new statistics are showing employers (plan sponsors) are taking a more proactive role in helping their employees save for retirement. One of the most common approaches has been to implement an automatic contribution arrangement (also known as automatic enrollment or negative election arrangement) in the employer s retirement plan along with an automatic annual increase (also known as automatic escalation ) feature. Under an automatic contribution arrangement, the employer automatically enrolls eligible employees into a 403(b) or 401(k) plan and begins to remit at the plan s default percentage with a possible annual escalation. The default percentage is generally a fixed percentage of pay. Employees may opt out of automatic enrollment or select a different deferral percentage (including zero). However, this program was designed to encourage plan enrollment for those employees who previously did not take the initiative to enroll or did not understand the consequences of delayed enrollment into the plan. Employers must assess their purpose for offering a retirement plan and consider what features are right for the plan and its participants. Is the goal for employees to be able to retire with a sufficient amount of retirement savings? If so, the employer needs to determine new ways to encourage employees who are not saving at all, not saving enough, or not properly investing to achieve the goal. Most benefit decisions are typically made when an employee is hired. Some employees may find the number of decisions overwhelming and delay some decisions until a later time. While most employees know they should save for retirement, they may not understand the significant impact delayed enrollment can have on their retirement savings. An employer may think that the current employees not enrolled have already made their decision to not participate in the plan. However, it could be they haven t taken the time to enroll or don t understand the importance of saving. Current employees may consider automatic enrollment the jump start they need to begin saving for their retirement. On the other hand, a large percentage of employees may already be participating in the plan. However, they may be saving at a low deferral rate or not contributing enough to take full advantage of the employer matching contributions. Implementing an automatic contribution arrangement can assist in these instances as well. With automatic enrollment, the employee s decision may be to: accept the employer s suggested automatic deferral rate(s) to save for retirement, opt out of the plan, or save at a different deferral rate (hopefully higher) than the plan s automatic deferral default. By properly communicating the plan features, the employee has adequate time and information to help with those decisions.

3 GuideStone has prepared this informational piece to help address questions employers may have in regard to automatically enrolling employees into the retirement plan. Questions to consider before adding automatic enrollment to an employer s retirement plan Section 1: General Information Can 403(b) and 401(k) plans contain an automatic contribution arrangement? Yes, automatic contribution arrangements are permitted in 401(k) and 403(b) plans. Can an employer legally withhold money from the employee s compensation without his or her written consent? The IRS has ruled that 403(b) and 401(k) plans can treat participants under an automatic contribution arrangement as having elected to defer the plan s set percentage of compensation until they affirmatively change the election or opt out. The plan must give the employee notice of his right to make an election and allow the employee to revoke the default election at any time. 1 A potential challenge with automatically enrolling employees is that some states have laws designed to protect employee wages from employer deductions and/or access by creditors. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) confirmed that plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) are not subject to the state s laws on withholding when using automatic contribution arrangements. However, non-electing church plans, such as 403(b)(9) retirement plans and 401(k) church plans offered by GuideStone, do not currently have the benefit of pre-emption. Thus, some of these state laws may adversely affect an employer s ability to implement an automatic contribution arrangement in certain states. On the other hand, these state laws were not aimed at involuntary payroll withholding that is for the benefit of employees, so it is possible the state laws do not prevent automatic contribution arrangement. It is recommended legal counsel be consulted for advice on state law or other issues impacting the plan. 1 See Revenue Rulings 98-30, , and and Regulations 1.401(k)-1(a) (3) (ii) & (f) (4) (ii).

4 How will the employer know what the state law is in its state (or in multiple states, if the employer sponsors a plan for entities in various states)? GuideStone has not embarked on an exhaustive analysis of state laws that might impact automatic contribution arrangements and is not seeking to analyze or monitor state law issues in this area. GuideStone does not provide tax or legal advice, so any information GuideStone provides is general in nature and does not take into account specific facts and circumstances. As a result of discussions with others in the employee benefit community, GuideStone has obtained the general information described below that was generally current as of January 1, This information relayed by GuideStone is only intended to bring awareness of the issues. Please be reminded that the organization and its legal counsel should review any applicable state law before implementing an automatic contribution arrangement in the plan as these laws may change. Some states have apparently not addressed involuntary deductions clearly; therefore, there may be no prohibition. There appear to be 15 such states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin. A plurality of states appears to allow involuntary deductions from pay when state or federal law permits or requires. If the Internal Revenue Code regulations and IRS rulings noted above are treated as federal law, then an automatic contribution arrangement is legal in these states. There appear to be 19 such states: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. Still other states appear to require employee consent to payroll withholding. In these states, it appears to be problematic because once an employer gets employee consent it might as well get an enrollment form and salary reduction agreement. There appear to be 11 such states: California, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Wyoming. There are also five other states, along with the District of Columbia, with other types of provisions: District of Columbia (court order needed), Illinois (withholding for the benefit of the employee), Kansas (House Bill 2669, adopted, signed, and effective July 1, 2006, specifically allows automatic enrollment), Washington (employer policy made known to employee, with employee acquiescence, authorizes payroll withholding), West Virginia (pension withholding authorized), and Colorado (Senate Bill 35, scheduled to take effect in January 2011, specifically allows for automatic enrollment even in plans not subject to ERISA).

5 What is an Eligible Automatic Contribution Arrangement? A plan must satisfy additional requirements to be an Eligible Automatic Contribution Arrangement (EACA). For example, there are certain notice requirements that must be met as described below (see section 5) and certain uniformity requirements. Some EACAs qualify for an extended correction period for failed non-discrimination (ADP/ACP) tests. An attractive feature of an EACA is that a plan with such an arrangement can elect to provide participants the ability to request a refund of automatically withheld amounts within 90 days (see section 6). What is a Qualified Automatic Contribution Arrangement? A Qualified Automatic Contribution Arrangement (QACA) is a type of safe-harbor plan (i.e., not subject to certain non-discrimination tests) that generally follows EACA rules but requires an employer contribution that matches at least 100% of first 1% and 50% of next 5% or a 3% non-elective contribution. If the initial deferral amount does not begin at 6%, then the plan must apply an annual, automatic increase until the deferral rate is no less than 6% and no more than 10%. In addition, employer matching contributions must be 100% vested after two years. For more information, please contact your GuideStone relationship manager. Can a plan include an automatic contribution arrangement without being an EACA or QACA? Yes, an automatic contribution arrangement allows either a partial or full-year implementation effective date, is not subject to the uniformity requirements regarding the increase and deferral amounts (if the plan is a church plan), and does not allow the 90 day refund rule. All Q&As in the following sections are related to EACAs unless otherwise stated. Section 2: Implementation Will the implementation of an automatic contribution arrangement require an amendment to the plan? Yes. If more information is needed please contact your GuideStone relationship manager. How does an employer successfully implement automatic features? Clear and concise communication for all affected employees allows the automatic features to be more successfully implemented. Communication is the most important factor in the

6 success of automatically enrolling employees. It s always important to educate employees about the provisions of the plan and saving for retirement. One strategy that can be effective is encouraging eligible employees to enroll on their own when hired. Making them aware of the default settings may encourage them to take action on their own and allow them to be a more active participant. Doing this may also result in higher contribution rates and the participants choosing their own investments. When should an automatic contribution arrangement begin? Under EACA, the feature must generally be effective as of the first day of the plan year unless it is included in a newly established plan or the EACA is appropriately limited to newly eligible employees. For example, if a plan defines covered employees as only those employees who become eligible for the plan after a certain date (e.g. June 1, 2012) and complies with the notice requirement for newly eligible employees, the EACA can be implemented on other than the first day of the plan year. However, for plans subject to retirement plan non-discrimination testing, such as plans for colleges and universities, an EACA that does not cover all employees eligible to participate in the plan is not entitled to the extended six-month, excise tax free, period for correcting retirement plan non-discrimination testing failures. What are the administrative factors that Human Resources will need to consider prior to implementing an automatic contribution arrangement? The administrative factors include: sending the initial and annual notices to eligible participants, tracking those who opted out or are deferring a different percentage, factoring the costs associated with matching contributions (if applicable), determining when the annual increases should occur (if applicable), tracking the expiration of affirmative elections annually or upon some stated event (if applicable) If my organization is interested in implementing automatic enrollment, what is my first step? If you are interested in establishing an automatic contribution arrangement for your employees, or would like more information, please contact your GuideStone relationship manager.

7 Section 3: Enrollment Who should be automatically enrolled? Under EACA, the employer must implement this feature to all eligible covered employees : generally new hires and current employees. Employers also have the option to limit covered employees to employees who become eligible after a certain date. When should enrollment begin? An employer cannot deduct any automatic enrollment contributions from an employee s wages until the employee has had a reasonable time to make an affirmative election after receiving the notice described below. An affirmative election means the employee has decided not to participate in the automatic contribution arrangement or wants to contribute an amount different from the plan s default rate. For new hires, an employer may choose to make employees aware on their first day of employment that they will be automatically enrolled, but the actual deduction date can vary. The employer should consider waiting until the first pay-period that is 30 to 60 days after hire date to allow time for employees to receive the required notice and time to choose their own deferral rate and investments. For enrolling existing eligible employees, the employer may want to choose 60 to 90 days to provide enough time for the employees to learn about the new feature before implementing the deduction. This will allow enough time for employees to choose their own deferral or opt out of the plan before the default is implemented. How do participants select their investment option? The participant will be automatically enrolled in the plan s default fund that is described in the GuideStone Funds Prospectus. They have the option at any time to make fund exchanges and/or future allocation changes simply by accessing their account online at or by calling our toll-free number GUIDE ( ). This information will be included in the annual notice. Section 4: Automatic Deferral Rates and Annual Increases Who selects the default deferral rate? The employer chooses the deferral rate for employees automatically enrolled into the plan. Industry standards range from 1% to 3% of the employee s compensation. If the plan includes a matching contribution, consider using at least the minimum percentage required to receive the match so participants can take full advantage of the matching feature.

8 What is an automatic annual increase? This feature acknowledges that the initial automatic enrollment default percentage may not be enough to adequately meet the employee s retirement needs. Implementing an annual increase to the plan slowly increases the deferral percentage up to a specific maximum amount (typically around 10%). Under EACA, the annual increase percentage must be based on the number of years the participant has been enrolled under the automatic contribution arrangement, not the participant s years of plan participation or years of service. Alternatively, the increase can also be made on a single date each plan year. For instance, to coordinate with the employer s time period for compensation increases if all salary increases happen at the same time each year, the employer may elect to increase the percentage on the day compensation increases for all participants. If salary increases are based on anniversary of hire date, the employer may still pick a single date for increases (e.g. March 1 for everyone regardless of when compensation increases.) In addition, as discussed above, some employers are choosing to implement automatic annual increases to continue in their efforts to assist employees in building adequate savings. Typically, the annual increases are one percent until they have reached a maximum of six to ten percent. Starting to save is significant; however, building upon that foundation is just as important. Section 5: Required Notices What information needs to be included in the notices, and when are they provided to the employees? The employer will have notice obligations under an automatic contribution arrangement. GuideStone has sample notices that an employer can use to develop its own notice. The sample notices can be found in the Appendix of this information piece. In addition, GuideStone can work with the employer to draft a notice that is specific to the plan and administrative needs. The notices must be provided when employees are first eligible to participate. Among other things, the notice must explain that tax-sheltered contributions (or Roth contributions, if permitted under the plan) will automatically be reduced from their compensation. This notice must also inform employees that they have the right either to opt out of the automatic compensation reduction or to change the amount of their deferrals. Also, the notice must describe the process for exercising those rights, including any timing rules. It is recommended that the default fund be described as well. If an employer adopts an automatic contribution arrangement in an existing plan, and employees, who are already eligible to participate in the plan, are considered covered employees, all employees must receive the same type of notice described above prior to the effective date of the automatic contribution arrangement.

9 All newly eligible employees (including employees who are eligible prior to the effective date of the automatic contribution provision in an existing plan) who are covered employees must be provided with the notice before tax-sheltered contributions (or Roth contributions) are first deducted from their compensation. This notice must be given sufficiently in advance so employees will have enough time to opt out of the automatic contribution arrangement or elect to contribute a different amount to the plan prior to the first reduction in their compensation. All employees eligible to make tax-sheltered contributions (or Roth contributions) who are covered employees should also be notified annually of the amount that is being taken from their compensation and about their right to change that amount or stop making any contributions. Again, the notice should include the procedure for exercising that right, the deadline for requesting a change in the amount of the contribution, and the default investment. In addition, if the employer chooses to implement automatic annual increases, the employer will need to: Monitor each employee s deferral percentage to track the amount and timing of the increases. Accommodate those employees who have opted out of the program or opted in at a different amount. Work with the payroll department or payroll provider to determine whether they can assist with automatically increasing contribution percentages. Section 6: Permissive Distributions What is a permissive distribution? If the plan contains an EACA, it may allow an employee to withdraw automatic enrollment contributions. The employee must make a withdrawal election within the time stated in the plan (no less than 30 days or more than 90 days from when the employee first had any automatic enrollment contributions deducted). An employee who elects to withdraw automatic enrollment contributions forfeits any matching employer contributions that would have been made with respect to the automatic enrollment contributions. Any pre-tax automatic enrollment contributions that an employee withdraws are taxable income to the employee in the year they are distributed. The withdrawn amount is not subject to the additional 10% tax that normally applies to early distributions from retirement plans.

10 Are permissive distributions allowed in all automatic contribution arrangements? No. The permissive distribution is a provision that only certain plans can elect to implement. As stated above, a plan that has a default deferral provision but does not qualify as an EACA, is not allowed to offer permissive distributions. What action can the employer take if an employee meant to opt out but forgot to contact Human Resources before contributions were reduced from his or her compensation? In the event an employee did not opt out of making deferrals into the retirement plan prior to the start of reducing contributions from their compensation, he or she will need to contact the Human Resources department to cease future contributions by completing a Salary Reduction Agreement form indicating he or she affirmatively elects no further reductions. Under EACA, the employer may elect to add a permissive distribution provision as described above. Is the permissive distribution adjusted for investment gain or loss? Yes, the distribution of default deferrals should be adjusted for any investment loss or gain. While care has been taken in preparation of this information, no warranty, express or implied, is given to any person or entity with respect to the accuracy of the information. The general information in this document is not intended to be, nor should it be treated as, tax, legal or accounting advice. Since GuideStone cannot provide tax or legal advice, you are always encouraged to consult with your organization s tax or legal advisers regarding the impact of automatic enrollment.

11 Appendix

12 ELIGIBLE AUTOMATIC CONTRIBUTION ARRANGEMENT 403(b)(9) RETIREMENT PLAN INITIAL NOTIFICATION OF SALARY REDUCTION AMOUNT To: Participant From: Employer Date: You are a participant in the <<Employer>> 403(b)(9) Retirement Plan ( Plan ). Effective <<Date>>. <<Employer>> will automatically reduce your Compensation << % or $ >> as a <<tax-sheltered>> <<Roth>> contribution to the Plan unless you have a prior Salary Reduction Agreement form on file for an amount greater than the deferral amount above. For the automatic deferral to be effective, you do not need to do anything. You have the right to change your salary reduction amount at any time. The automatic deferral percentage will remain in effect until you revoke or modify it. To defer more or less (including zero) than the automatic deferral percentage, you will need to complete a new Salary Reduction Agreement form and give it to your Human Resources department. Your election will not be effective with respect to any paycheck you already have received when you complete and return a Salary Reduction Agreement form. Please refer to the retirement Plan Summary for a more detailed explanation of the Plan provisions or contact your Human Resources. If you do not complete the attached Salary Reduction Agreement form, the automatic deferral percentage will apply <<Effective Date>> and will not change unless you complete and return a NEW Salary Reduction Agreement form. The automatic deferral percentage will override a prior Salary Reduction Agreement form if you previously elected a deferral percentage less than the automatic deferral percentage, unless you complete and return a NEW Salary Reduction Agreement form. The automatic deferral percentage will not override a prior Salary Reduction Agreement form if you previously elected a deferral percentage more than the automatic deferral percentage.

13 The automatic deferral amount provided under the Plan may not adequately meet your retirement needs. You can find out more information about how much you need to save for your retirement by accessing your MyGuideStone account online at or you may want to consult with your financial advisor on how to achieve your retirement saving goal. <<Optional>>In addition to the automatic deferral percentage described above,<<employer>> is implementing an annual deferral increase of << % or $ )>> per year until your deferral <<percentage or amount>> reaches <<( % or $ )>> of your pay. You may opt out of the increase by completing a new Salary Reduction Agreement form and giving it to your Human Resources department. If your automatic enrollment began 90 days before your first scheduled increase date, your automatic increases will not begin until the next scheduled increase date. <<Optional>>Limited right to withdrawal automatic deferrals. For a limited time, you may elect to have the Plan distribute to you all of your prior automatic deferrals and allocable earnings on the deferrals. You may make this election on the Eligible Automatic Contribution Arrangements Refund form the Plan Administrator will provide to you upon request. You must make this election no later than 90 days after the first automatic deferral is taken from your compensation. If you elect to withdraw all of your prior automatic deferrals, you will pay income tax on the distributed amount, but you will not be subject to the 10% premature distribution penalty tax, even if you received the distribution prior to age 59½. <<If you elect to withdraw your prior automatic deferrals, you will forfeit any matching employer contributions related to those deferrals, if applicable.>> Right to direct investment/default investment. You have the right to direct the investment of your elective and non-elective deferrals in any of the investment choices offered by the Plan. If you do not make an election as to how the Plan should invest your deferrals, then the deferrals will be invested in one of the MyDestination Funds based on your time horizon to an assumed retirement target that is on or near the age of 65. The general characteristics of MyDestination Funds (Funds) are described below: Investment Objective: To seek the highest total return over time consistent with its asset mix. Total return includes capital appreciation and income. Risk and return characteristics: The Funds strategy is to pursue the maximum amount of capital growth, consistent with a reasonable amount of risk, during a shareholder s pre-retirement and early retirement years, and to adjust the Funds asset mix to increase exposure to investments in fixedincome securities and short-term bonds during a shareholder s later retirement years and 15 years after the target retirement year.

14 Fees and expenses: For more information about the fees and expenses of the Funds offered through GuideStone, you may obtain a copy of the Prospectus by going to or calling GUIDE ( ). Right to alternative investment: Even if your deferrals are invested in the default Fund, you have the continuing right to direct your deferrals into other investment choices offered at any time. You are entitled to invest in any of the investment choices without incurring a financial penalty. Additional Information about the Plan <<Option 1>>: Definition of Compensation upon which contributions are based. <<Employer>> defines compensation as. <<Employer>> provides a generous contribution to your account.. <<Option 2>> Please consult the Contribution section of the Plan Summary for information on the definition of Compensation and Employer Contributions. Making or changing your deferral election. You may make or change your deferral election at any time by completing a new Salary Reduction Agreement form and giving it to your Human Resources department. Please note the deferral changes will affect future deferrals. Withdrawal and Vesting Provisions. You generally may not withdraw your elective deferrals except when one of the following events occurs: severance from service with the Employer, death, disability or attainment of age 59½. You are always 100% vested in your elective deferrals. You are allowed to withdraw any rollover contributions you have made to the Plan as well as after-tax contributions. Whether contributions transferred to the Plan are distributable is based on your employment status with the employer from which the funds were transferred. You may be able to take out certain money if you have a hardship. Hardship distributions are limited to the dollar amount of your contributions. Hardship distributions must be for a specified reason for qualifying medical expenses, costs of purchasing your principal residence (or preventing eviction from or foreclosure on your principal residence, or repairing qualifying damages to your principal residence), qualifying post-secondary education expenses, or qualifying burial or funeral expenses. Before you can take a hardship

15 distribution, you must have taken other permitted withdrawals and loans from other plans of the employer. If you take a hardship distribution, you may not contribute to the plan or other qualifying company plans for six months. You are eligible for a distribution of your employer contributions at severance from employment <<and at age 59½>>. <<Your employer contributions are 100% vested.>> <<Your employer contributions are fully vested after years. See schedule below: >> <<Loans are permitted in the Plan.>> For further information. Consult your Human Resources department, if you have any questions regarding your rights and obligations under the Plan or if you would like a copy of your Plan Summary at: Address: Telephone: The MyDestination Funds (Funds) attempt to achieve their objectives by investing in the GuideStone Select Funds. The Funds are managed to a retirement date (target date) by adjusting the percentage of fixed income securities and equity securities to become more conservative each year until reaching the retirement year and then approximately 15 years thereafter. The target date in the name of the Funds is the approximate date when an investor plans to start withdrawing money. By investing in the Funds you will also incur the expenses and risks of the underlying Select Funds. The principal risks of the Funds will change depending on the asset mix of the Select Funds in which they invest. You may directly invest in the Select Funds. The Funds value will go up and down in response to changes in the share prices of the investments that they own. The amount invested in the Fund is not guaranteed to increase, is not guaranteed against loss, nor is the amount of the original investment guaranteed at the target date. It is possible to lose money by investing in the Funds.

16 ELIGIBLE AUTOMATIC CONTRIBUTION ARRANGEMENT 403(b)(9) RETIREMENT PLAN NEW EMPLOYEE NOTIFICATION OF SALARY REDUCTION AMOUNT To: Participant From: Employer Date: You are a participant in the <<Employer>> 403(b)(9) Retirement Plan (Plan). As a benefit to you in preparing for your retirement, the Plan provides for an automatic deferral. <<Employer>> will reduce your Compensation by << % or $ >> as a <<taxsheltered (pre-tax)>> <<Roth (after-tax)>> and will pay the withheld amount to the Plan. For the automatic deferral to be effective, you do not need to do anything. You have the right to change your salary reduction amount at any time. The automatic deferral percentage will remain in effect until you revoke or modify it. To defer more or less (including zero) than the automatic deferral percentage, you will need to complete a new Salary Reduction Agreement form by <<Date>> and give it to your Human Resources department. Please refer to the Retirement Plan Summary for a more detailed explanation of the Plan provisions or contact your Human Resources. The automatic deferral amount provided under the Plan may not adequately meet your retirement needs. Once you are participating in the Plan, you can find out more information about how much you need to save for your retirement by accessing your MyGuideStone account online at or you may want to consult with your financial advisor on how to achieve your retirement saving goal. <<Optional>>In addition to the automatic deferral percentage described above,<<employer>> is implementing an annual deferral increase of << % or $ )>> per year until your deferral <<percentage or amount>> reaches <<( % or $ )>> of your pay. You may opt out of the increase by completing a new Salary Reduction Agreement form and giving it to your Human Resources department. If your automatic enrollment began 90 days before your first scheduled increase date, your automatic increases will not begin until the next scheduled increase date. <<Optional>>Limited right to withdrawal automatic deferrals. For a limited time, you may elect to have the Plan distribute to you all of your prior automatic deferrals and

17 allocable earnings on the deferrals. You may make this election on the Eligible Automatic Contribution Arrangements Refund form the Plan Administrator will provide to you upon request. You must make this election no later than 90 days after the first automatic deferral is taken from your compensation. If you elect to withdraw all of your prior automatic deferrals, you will pay income tax on the distributed amount, but you will not be subject to the 10% premature distribution penalty tax, even if you received the distribution prior to age 59½. <<If you elect to withdraw your prior automatic deferrals, you will forfeit any matching employer contributions related to those deferrals, if applicable.>> Right to direct investment/default investment. You have the right to direct the investment of your elective and non-elective deferrals in any of the investment choices offered by the Plan. If you do not make an election as to how the Plan should invest your deferrals, then the deferrals will be invested in one of the MyDestination Funds based on your time horizon to an assumed retirement target that is on or near the age of 65. The general characteristics of MyDestination Funds (Funds) are described below: Investment Objective: To seek the highest total return over time consistent with its asset mix. Total return includes capital appreciation and income. Risk and return characteristics: The Funds strategy is to pursue the maximum amount of capital growth, consistent with a reasonable amount of risk, during a shareholder s pre-retirement and early retirement years, and to adjust the Funds asset mix to increase exposure to investments in fixedincome securities and short-term bonds during a shareholder s later retirement years and 15 years after the target retirement year. Fees and expenses: For more information about the fees and expenses of the Funds offered through GuideStone, you may obtain a copy of the Prospectus by going to or calling GUIDE ( ). Right to alternative investment: Even if your deferrals are invested in the default Fund, you have the continuing right to direct your deferrals into other investment choices offered at any time. You are entitled to invest in any of the investment choices without incurring a financial penalty.

18 Additional Information about the Plan <<Option 1>>: Definition of Compensation upon which contributions are based. <<Employer>> defines compensation as. <<Employer>> provides a generous contribution to your account.. <<Option 2>> Please consult the Contribution section of the Plan Summary for information on the definition of Compensation and Employer Contributions. Making or changing your deferral election. You may make or change your deferral election at any time by completing a new Salary Reduction Agreement form and giving it to your Human Resources department. Please note the deferral changes will affect future deferrals. Withdrawal and Vesting Provisions. You generally may not withdraw your elective deferrals except when one of the following events occurs: severance from service with the Employer, death, disability or attainment of age 59½. You are always 100% vested in your elective deferrals. You are allowed to withdraw any rollover contributions you have made to the Plan as well as after-tax contributions. Whether contributions transferred to the Plan are distributable is based on your employment status with the employer from which the funds were transferred. You may be able to take out certain money if you have a hardship. Hardship distributions are limited to the dollar amount of your contributions. Hardship distributions must be for a specified reason for qualifying medical expenses, costs of purchasing your principal residence (or preventing eviction from or foreclosure on your principal residence, or repairing qualifying damages to your principal residence), qualifying post-secondary education expenses, or qualifying burial or funeral expenses. Before you can take a hardship distribution, you must have taken other permitted withdrawals and loans from other plans of the employer. If you take a hardship distribution, you may not contribute to the plan or other qualifying company plans for six months. You are eligible for a distribution of your employer contributions at severance from employment <<and at age 59½>>. <<Your employer contributions are 100% vested.>> <<Your employer contributions are fully vested after years. See schedule below: >>

19 <<Loans are permitted in the Plan.>> For further information. Consult your Human Resources department, if you have any questions regarding your rights and obligations under the Plan or if you would like a copy of your Plan Summary at: Address: Telephone: The MyDestination Funds (Funds) attempt to achieve their objectives by investing in the GuideStone Select Funds. The Funds are managed to a retirement date (target date) by adjusting the percentage of fixed income securities and equity securities to become more conservative each year until reaching the retirement year and then approximately 15 years thereafter. The target date in the name of the Funds is the approximate date when an investor plans to start withdrawing money. By investing in the Funds you will also incur the expenses and risks of the underlying Select Funds. The principal risks of the Funds will change depending on the asset mix of the Select Funds in which they invest. You may directly invest in the Select Funds. The Funds value will go up and down in response to changes in the share prices of the investments that they own. The amount invested in the Fund is not guaranteed to increase, is not guaranteed against loss, nor is the amount of the original investment guaranteed at the target date. It is possible to lose money by investing in the Funds.

20 ELIGIBLE AUTOMATIC CONTRIBUTION ARRANGEMENT 403(b)(9) RETIREMENT PLAN ANNUAL NOTIFICATION OF AUTOMATIC DEFERRAL To: Participant From: Employer Date: Unless you have previously completed a Salary Reduction Agreement form, under the terms of the 403(b)(9) Retirement Plan ( Plan ), <<Employer >> automatically reduces your Compensation by << % or $ >> as a <<tax-sheltered (pre-tax)>><<roth (after-tax)>> deferral. You have the right to change your salary reduction amount at any time. The automatic deferral percentage will remain in effect until you revoke or modify it by signing a Salary Reduction Agreement form to defer more or less than the automatic deferral percentage (including zero). Upon your request, <<the Employer>> will provide you a Salary Reduction Agreement form. The automatic deferral amount provided under the Plan may not adequately meet your retirement needs. You can find out more information about how much you need to save for your retirement by accessing your MyGuideStone account online at or you may want to consult with your financial advisor on how to achieve your retirement saving goal. <<Optional>>In addition to the automatic deferral percentage described above,<<employer>> is implementing an annual deferral increase of << % or $ )>> per year until your deferral <<percentage or amount>> reaches <<( % or $ )>> of your pay. You may opt out of the increase by completing a new Salary Reduction Agreement form and giving it to your Human Resources department. If your automatic enrollment began 90 days before your first scheduled increase date, your automatic increases will not begin until the next scheduled increase date. <<Optional>>Limited right to withdrawal automatic deferrals. For a limited time, you may elect to have the Plan distribute to you all of your prior automatic deferrals and allocable earnings on the deferrals. You may make this election on the refund authorization form the Plan Administrator will provide to you upon request. You must make this election no later than 90 days after the first automatic deferral is taken from your Compensation. If you elect to withdraw all of your prior automatic deferrals, you will pay income tax on the distributed amount, but you will not be subject to the 10% premature distribution penalty tax, even if you received the distribution prior to age 59½. <<If you elect to withdraw your

21 prior automatic deferrals, you will forfeit any matching employer contributions related to those deferrals, if applicable.>> Right to direct investment/default investment. You have the right to direct the investment of your elective and non-elective deferrals in any of the investment choices offered by the Plan. If you do not make an election as to how the Plan should invest your elective deferrals, then the deferrals will be invested in one of the MyDestination Funds based on your time horizon to an assumed retirement target that is on or near age 65. Details about MyDestination Funds (Funds) include: Investment Objective: To seek the highest total return over time consistent with its asset mix. Total return included capital appreciation and income. Risk and return characteristics: The Funds strategy is to pursue the maximum amount of capital growth, consistent with a reasonable amount of risk, during a shareholder s pre-retirement and early retirement years, and to adjust the Funds asset mix to increase exposure to investments in fixedincome securities and short-term bonds during a shareholder s later retirement years and fifteen years after the target retirement year. Fees and expenses: For more information about the fees and expenses of the Funds offered through GuideStone, you may obtain a copy of the Prospectus by going to or calling GUIDE ( ). Right to alternative investment: Even if your deferrals are invested in the default Fund, you have the continuing right to direct your deferrals into other investment choices offered at any time. You are entitled to invest in any of the investment choices without incurring a financial penalty. Additional Information about the Plan <<Option 1>>: Definition of Compensation upon which contributions are based. <<Employer>> defines compensation as. <<Employer>> provides a generous contribution to your account.. <<Option 2>> Please consult the Contribution section of the Plan Summary for information on the definition of Compensation and Employer Contributions.

22 Making or changing your deferral election. You may make or change your deferral election at any time by completing a new Salary Reduction Agreement form and giving it to your Human Resources department. Please note the deferral changes will affect future deferrals. Withdrawal and Vesting Provisions. You generally may not withdraw your elective deferrals except when one of the following events occurs: severance from service with the Employer, death, disability or attainment of age 59½. You are always 100% vested in your elective deferrals. You are allowed to withdraw any rollover contributions you have made to the Plan as well as after-tax contributions. Whether contributions transferred to the Plan are distributable is based on your employment status with the employer from which the funds were transferred. You may be able to take out certain money if you have a hardship. Hardship distributions are limited to the dollar amount of your contributions. Hardship distributions must be for a specified reason - for qualifying medical expenses, costs of purchasing your principal residence (or preventing eviction from or foreclosure on your principal residence, or repairing qualifying damages to your principal residence), qualifying post-secondary education expenses, or qualifying burial or funeral expenses. Before you can take a hardship distribution, you must have taken other permitted withdrawals and loans from other plans of the employer. If you take a hardship distribution, you may not contribute to the plan or other qualifying company plans for six months. You are eligible for a distribution of your employer contributions at severance from employment <<and at age 59½>>. <<Your employer contributions are 100% vested.>> <<Your employer contributions are fully vested after years. See schedule below: >> <<Loans are permitted in the Plan.>> For further information. Consult your Human Resources department, if you have any questions regarding your rights and obligations under the Plan or you would like a copy of your Plan Summary at: Address: Telephone: The MyDestination Funds (Funds) attempt to achieve their objectives by investing in the GuideStone Select Funds. The Funds are managed to a retirement date (target date) by adjusting the percentage of fixed income securities and equity securities to become more conservative each year until reaching the retirement year and

23 then approximately 15 years thereafter. The target date in the name of the Funds is the approximate date when an investor plans to start withdrawing money. By investing in the Funds you will also incur the expenses and risks of the underlying Select Funds. The principal risks of the Funds will change depending on the asset mix of the Select Funds in which they invest. You may directly invest in the Select Funds. The Funds value will go up and down in response to changes in the share prices of the investments that they own. The amount invested in the Fund is not guaranteed to increase, is not guaranteed against loss, nor is the amount of the original investment guaranteed at the target date. It is possible to lose money by investing in the Funds.