As a UW employee, you are eligible to participate in the VIP at any time regardless of whether you are enrolled in one of the basic UW retirement plans.

Your enrollment becomes effective once you indicate how much you'd like to contribute, also known as the deferral. You will generally begin to see your contributions deducted from your paycheck in the next pay period, or as soon as administratively possible.

When you enroll in the Plan in NetBenefits, you can choose where you want your contributions directed and your retirement provider(s). Review your Investment Options and then select Enroll Now to complete the account opening steps. You have online access virtually 24/7 to make changes to your retirement savings account.

When you enroll, you will be asked to identify your beneficiary or beneficiaries who will inherit your account in the event of your death. You can update this information anytime by logging into NetBenefits.

Enrolling is fast and easy: simply click the Enroll Now button on the homepage and follow the prompts.

Each pay period, you can contribute as little as $15 and as much as 75% of your eligible pay, up to the annual IRS dollar limits.

Annual additions to the plan (which is the combined total of employee and employer contributions to defined contribution plans like the UWRP and VIP) may not exceed 100% of your pay or $70,000 for 2025 (whichever is less). Important: Contributions to the UWRP do not count against your elective deferral limit, with one exception. For employees age 50+ who decide to contribute the additional optional 2.5% to the UWRP, the additional 2.5% DOES count toward your annual deferral limit. Please call a Workplace Financial Consultant at 800-642-7131 with additional questions.

A Roth contribution to your retirement savings plan allows you to make after-tax contributions and take any associated earnings completely tax free at retirement - as long as the distribution is a qualified one. A qualified distribution, in this case, is one that is taken at least five tax years after your first Roth 403(b) contribution and after you have attained age 59½, or become disabled or die. Through automatic payroll deduction, you can contribute between $15 - 75% of your eligible pay as designated Roth contributions, up to the annual IRS dollar limits. Find more information online within the “Learn” section of NetBenefits^®.

As long as you have reached or will reach age 50 by year end and are making the maximum plan or IRS contribution, you may make an additional catch-up contribution each pay period. Going forward, catch-up contribution limits will be subject to cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) in $500 increments.

If you have 15 years or more of work experience and have contributed less than $5,000 a year, on average, to your retirement savings plan, you may be able to make additional lifetime catch-up contributions to your plan, allowing you to contribute up to a maximum of $3,000 per year, up to a maximum lifetime benefit of $15,000. Please note, in order to receive the maximum benefit from the age 50 and lifetime catch-up contributions, the lifetime catch-up limit for a calendar year ($3,000) must be used before the Age 50+ Catch-up is applied. Please consult your tax advisor for additional information.

The maximum amount you can contribute to your VIP, based upon the retirement plan in which you are participating as a UW employee, is as follows:

PERS/TRS/LEOFF participants, or those with no retirement plan:

$23,500 - If you are under age 50
$31,000* - If you are age 50 or over

UW Retirement Plan participants:

$23,500 - If you are under age 50
$31,000* minus your optional 2.5% UWRP contribution amount:

If you are age 50 or older, and contribute 10% of your gross income to the UWRP.

The compensation limit of $350,000 applies to the July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025 plan year.

*The VIP maximum contribution amount shown above includes the Age 50 "Catch-Up Contribution" of $7,500 as described in the "What catch-up contribution can I make?" section below.

Contributions under other employer plans also count towards the limits as do certain individual plans. If you have contributed to a plan with another employer in the same tax year, please notify the UW Benefits Office immediately so that your limit can be evaluated.

You are always 100% vested in your own contributions to the VIP.

To help you meet your investment goals, the Plan offers you a range of options. You can select a mix of investment options that best suits your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. The many investment options available through the Plan include conservative, moderately conservative, and aggressive funds. A complete description of the Plan’s investment options and their performance, as well as planning tools to help you choose an appropriate mix, are available online.

We encourage you to take an active role in the VIP and choose investment options that best suit your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. If you do not select specific investment options in the Plan, your contributions will be invested in the Vanguard Target Retirement Fund with the target retirement date closest to the year you might retire, based on your current age and assuming a retirement age of 65, at the direction of the UW.

If no date of birth or an invalid date of birth is on file at Fidelity, your contributions may be invested in the Vanguard Target Retirement Income Fund. More information about the Vanguard Target Retirement Fund options can be found online.

Target Date Funds are an asset mix of stocks, bonds and other investments that automatically becomes more conservative as the fund approaches its target retirement date and beyond. Principal invested is not guaranteed.

For those desiring the most investment flexibility and choice, the Plan offers Fidelity BrokerageLink^®, a self-directed brokerage account, which provides you with the opportunity to select from thousands of investment options beyond those offered in the standard plan lineup. More information about BrokerageLink^®, including an overview, the commission schedule, and a fact sheet that outlines the Plan-level restrictions and other settings, is available online at NetBenefits. Click on "Quick Links," then select "BrokerageLink."

Although your plan account is intended for the future, you may borrow from your account for any reason.

Generally, plan rules allow you to borrow up to 50% of your vested account balance.

The minimum loan amount is $1,000, and a loan must not exceed $50,000.

Please contact your investment service provider directly for more information on taking a loan from your plan.

Fidelity: Call 800-343-0860 or log in to your NetBenefits account.

TIAA: Call 800-842-2252 or log in to your TIAA account at www.tiaa.org/washington.

Withdrawals from the Plan are generally permitted when you terminate your employment, retire, become permanently disabled, or have severe financial hardship, as defined by your plan.

Learn more about and/or request a withdrawal online, or by calling the Fidelity Retirement Benefits Line at 800-343-0860.

You are permitted to roll over eligible pretax and/or Roth contributions from another 401(k) plan, 401(a) plan, 403(b) plan or a governmental 457(b) retirement plan account or eligible pretax contributions from conduit individual retirement accounts (IRAs). A conduit IRA is one that contains only money rolled over from an employer-sponsored retirement plan that has not been mixed with regular IRA contributions.

Contact your Fidelity Representative for details.

Be sure to consider all your available options and the applicable fees and features of each before moving your retirement assets.

If you have not already selected your beneficiaries, or if you have experienced a life-changing event such as a marriage, divorce, birth of a child, or a death in the family, it’s time to consider your beneficiary designations. Fidelity’s Online Beneficiaries Service, offers a straightforward, convenient process that takes just minutes. To make your elections, click on the “Profile & Settings” icon in the upper right-hand corner, then select “Beneficiaries” and follow the online instructions.

You can access your account online through Fidelity NetBenefits^® at www.netbenefits.com/UW or call the Fidelity Retirement Benefits Line at 800-343-0860 to speak with a representative or use the automated voice response system, virtually 24 hours, 7 days a week.