LifeStage Investment Management Service
Making the Most of Your Retirement Accounts
If you have one or more retirement plans administered by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of The United Methodist Church (General Board), you can decide to self-manage your defined contribution account(s) by selecting from the General Board’s seven investment funds or you can elect to have your account(s) managed for you with the LifeStage Investment Management Service (LifeStage).
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The General Board uses LifeStage to determine an appropriate investment mix for Ministerial Pension Plan (MPP) account balances. Participants can choose to use LifeStage for their other retirement accounts in General Board-administered plans, including the defined contribution component of the Clergy Retirement Security Program (CRSP-DC), Horizon 401(k) Plan, United Methodist Personal Investment Plan (UMPIP), and Retirement Plan for General Agencies (RPGA).
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For information on the 2011 enhancements to LifeStage, click here.
Choosing Your Investment Approach
Before you choose which approach to take, you should think about your personal style and preferences. Your investment portfolio should reflect your age, risk tolerance, time horizon and overall retirement savings goals. You should also think about your readiness to make investment decisions, and how much time and effort you want to spend on managing your account.
What LifeStage Offers
LifeStage is a convenient, one-step investment approach for managing your retirement accounts. LifeStage develops a customized investment mix based on your age and information in your Personal Investment Profile, such as your risk tolerance and whether or not you will qualify to receive Social Security. To attain your target mix, LifeStage allocates your account balances among five of the General Board’s investment funds.
Throughout your career and retirement, LifeStage will continue to work for you. It will adjust your investment mix as you age or make changes to your Personal Investment Profile. In addition, LifeStage will periodically rebalance your investment portfolio as necessary to maintain your target investment mix. These adjustments to your customized investment mix will help maintain an appropriate balance between equity and fixed income investments.
When LifeStage May Not Be Appropriate
You may want to determine your own investment mix when your personal situation includes other factors that are not taken into consideration by LifeStage. For example, if you have:
- significant assets outside of the General Board,
- a pension from a prior employer, or
- factors that could affect your life expectancy.
Balancing Investment Risk and Growth Potential
When investing, you should consider how to balance your tolerance for risk with your expectations for growth (returns).
An investment mix (also called “asset allocation”) is how your investments are divided between two main asset classes: equity investments and fixed income investments.
Equity investments are often thought of as higher risk because, in the short term, your account balance may decrease when the value of equities (for example, stocks) falls. However, equity investments also offer the best chance for growth because, although your account balance may fluctuate widely in the short term, equity investments have historically delivered higher average returns over the long term.
Fixed-income investments are often thought of as lower risk because they can protect the value of your investment by avoiding significant short-term reductions in value. On the other hand, if you are invested primarily in fixed income (for example, bonds) over the long term, you may run the risk of not accumulating enough value to keep pace with inflation because fixed income investments have historically delivered lower average returns over the long term.
How LifeStage Allocates Your Investment Mix
LifeStage allocates your account balances among five of the General Board’s investment funds to create your customized target investment mix—or the mix between equity and fixed income investments.
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The General Board’s other two investment funds are diversified multiple asset class funds, or “pre-mixed” funds. The Balanced Social Values Plus Fund invests 60% in equity and 40% in fixed income investments. The Multiple Asset Fund invests 65% in equity and 35% in fixed income investments.
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LifeStage invests your equity allocation in two of the General Board’s equity funds:
- U.S. Equity Fund
- International Equity Fund
LifeStage invests your fixed income allocation in three of the General Board’s fixed income funds:
- Stable Value Fund
- Inflation Protection Fund
- Fixed Income Fund
To Help You Choose
As a participant in a General Board-administered retirement plan, you may be eligible to receive financial planning assistance at no cost to you from Ernst & Young, a leading global financial services firm. You can call Ernst & Young as often as you like and spend as much time on the phone as necessary. You can expect to receive objective advice—without a sales pitch. Ernst & Young planners will not try to sell you investment products or services. To begin using this service, just call Ernst & Young directly at 1-800-360-2539 between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Central time, Monday through Friday.
To elect LifeStage, log on to Benefits Access. You also may submit a paper election form. To obtain a paper form, call the General Board at 1-800-851-2201. Representatives are available from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Central time, Monday through Friday.
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