Volume 46 Number 1
Check out new features
Are you on track for a financially comfortable retirement? Financial experts suggest you may need 90 percent to 100 percent of your pre-retirement income to maintain your lifestyle and cover health care expenses in retirement.
“One way to work toward that goal is to supplement your pension with a 403(b) plan. However, many faculty members don’t take full advantage of 403(b) plans, often because it’s difficult to find answers to 403(b) or retirement planning questions,” says CCA President Ron Norton Reel.
To help address that gap, CTA launched a new Web site for its members, CTAinvest.org, in August 2009.
Tools and resources
CTAinvest.org provides tools and resources to help faculty members make better-informed investment decisions, with information and education about retirement planning and investing. The site includes articles, webinars and calculators designed to help demystify 403(b) plans and stress the importance of retirement savings and investing.
This August, CTA released an enhanced site with even more features and interactivity. And no log-in is required
“After the site was up and running for six months, we looked at site analytics and the feedback we were getting from CTA members,” says CTA President David A. Sanchez. “The response was overwhelmingly positive, but we learned that there were ways we could improve the site and make it even more useful.”
As a result of the feedback, new features were added to the site:
• Five brief videos, averaging 2-3 minutes, including Why Participate in Your 403(b)/457 Plan, Comparing 403(b) and 457 Plans, Choosing a 403(b) or 457 Product, A Look at Target-Date Funds and A Look at Fixed Annuities.
• Interactive quizzes and answers to increase your knowledge of financial topics.
• A personalized checklist designed to help you remember to complete important financial tasks. You can download and print the checklist, or sign up for email reminders.
• Ask the Advisor, where you can post general questions about financial topics. “We can’t provide investing advice or address concerns about specific vendors,” Sanchez says. “But we will answer general questions that may be of interest to a wide range of users.”
Guides available
To complement the site, CTA has also developed two retirement planning and investing guides, “Closing the Gap: Supplement Your Pension Benefits with a 403(b) or 457 Plan” and “Selecting a 403(b)/457 Plan Advisor & Understanding Plan Fees.” You can download pdfs or order print copies of these publications at CTAinvest.org. Note that a log-in is required to order the print copy online, but you can request a free copy by e-mailing business iniatives@cta.org.
“CTA works in partnership with CalSTRS on its members’ behalf to maintain and protect your pension,” Sanchez says. “However, a CalSTRS pension will not replace 80 percent to 100 percent of your pre-retirement income. That’s where voluntary savings in the form of 403(b) and 457 plans come in, and why CTA has developed these financial tools for its members.”
Be sure to visit CTAinvest.org and try out the new features.