comparing hospital retirement plans

[Adrian]

We have 3 avenues:

1. 403(b) Plan  -   Employee contributes up to $18,500.

                         - Employer contributes 50% match on the first 6% of your contributions (3 years vesting).

2. 457(b) Plan   - Employee contributes up to $18,500 (unrelated to the 403 (b) contribution)

- No match from employer

3. Capital Accumulation Program

- maximum after-tax participant contribution is based on participant compensation. (<$300k - max contribution $30k, $300k to $400k - max contribution $40k and >$500k compensation can contribute $50,000)

- employer will match 50% of a participant’s after-tax contribution up to a maximum participant contribution of 10% of

total compensation.

That is A LOT of money one can contribute for retirement.

 

 

 

 

[Dreamgiver]

Where I am in academia, we get access to a 403b, 457b, and a mandatory employee contribution to a 401a that equals to 15% of income up to a maximum contribution of $38,500. No match. Interestingly, as the economy got better, physician turnover has increased greatly. The institution has been recruiting more researchers banking on more grant money coming in. Grant money has not kept up with the forecasts and the more clinical people who bring in revenue are the ones who have been leaving more frequently as their income has been falling behind national and local trends (basically the people bringing in revenue are "asked" to support research). I am out too.

[Marko-ER]

Here, medical staff gets 4% match (1:1 on the first 3% contribution, then 0.50:1 on the next 2%), and once annually 6-11% lump sum employee match, depending on the financial health of the institution -- in the past it's varied from 8-10%, sometimes 11%, rarely below 8%.  Same as OP, up to max $275k salary.  Everything goes into a 403(b), so anything over 54K contribution limits, we get disbursed as a one-time check payment (aka bonus).

So to add a question to the forum:  I do a lot of consulting and uncompensated work for the hospital system -- I am not talking committees, but more along the lines of ROI calculations, M&A due diligence review, means/value-testing of in-house vs. reference lab test orders,etc.  What's to prevent me from calling this extra work 'consulting' and putting the extra cash into my consulting LLC, as long as I document it?

 

[Wiscoblue]

Umich is 5% employee and 10% employer. And you can do an additional 5% SRA

[littlefish]

even from this small sample it seems like there is such variability in employer matches/retirement savings plans. There's got to be someone smarter than me who can run some numbers regarding StarTrekDoc's UC Pension plan vs PulmCrit87's 13% employer match. It would seem to me that the pension plan is a lot more restrictive (forces you to work later into your career, dis-incentivizes one to leave (or to join as a mid-career/late-career faculty member)). It seems like each hospital/university publishes this information on their websites - I'm surprised no one has tried to compare apples to apples here, shedding some light on which employers offer the "best" retirement packages. That would be a US News & World Report list I would like to read!

[PulmCrit87]

9% mandatory employee contribution with 13% employer match in a 401(a).

[StarTrekDoc]

UC sucks with no match at all; but the pension plan is very nice from 1% per year starting at 55yo and increase % to 2.5% by 65yo  x years of service.

eg:  10 years at 55yo $250,000 salary = 10yr x 0.01 x 250k = 25k per year pension;   20 years at 65yo $250,000 = 20yr x 0.025 x 250 = 125,000 per year pension.

[Lithium]

Defined benefit plan of about 9k a year, 4% match which maxes out at 11k, $750 HSA match, and 457b access.  Hard to beat, but the DB plan and 401k match have long vesting schedules.

[LizOB]

I'm hospital employed and get a 6% match into a 401a which is vested after 3 years. Not sure if there is a cap. 10% sounds great

[jhwkr542]

A 10% match is really good. Having access to a 403b and 457b (assuming it's good) is also good.

[littlefish]

Curious to know how "competitive" my employer match is for our retirement savings plan and to hear what other models are out there. My cursory google search didn't show any kind of "rankings" for "best hospital retirement plans", although there are articles alluding to this for corporate america.

My employer plan:

Employee contributes 5% of salary to 403b (can contribute additional to hit annual individual max)

Employer matches 10% of salary in 401a (up to max $275k salary)

Additional 457b option

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Running the numbers to compare this to other employer or independent contractor plans is totally beyond me but maybe someone can weigh in on this as well?