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Almost ready to retire?

Use this guide as a helpful checklist and timeline as you prepare to enter retirement.

Before You Retire

  • Contact the Board of Benefits Services (BOBS) at retirement@rca.org to let us know you’re planning to retire. Make this contact about one or two months before your retirement date.  
  • Have your classis declare you retired. A year before you plan to retire, talk to your classis clerk to learn how long this process usually takes in your classis. 
  • You may start claiming your Social Security benefit between ages 62-70. For information on when and how to claim social security, view this on-demand workshop. Note that you may need to log into NetBenefits to view the content. Once you’ve decided when to claim Social Security, start the process three to four months in advance. Visit ssa.gov to begin the process. 
  • You can sign up for Medicare up to three months before your 65th birthday, or up to three months after. If you work past the age of 65 and have health coverage by an employer, you may delay your enrollment without penalty. To learn more about your enrollment options, visit this page at medicare.gov.
  • Create a budget for your monthly and annual expenses in retirement. Use this simple expense worksheet as a resource to get started. Once you have your budget, you can use the planning center in NetBenefits to create a withdrawal model to see if your assets will support the budget you’ve created, and how long your money will last. After modeling this, you may make any necessary adjustments to your budget. 
  • Create an income plan with your retirement savings, such as the RCA Retirement Plan, the RCA 403(b) Program, Social Security, and other assets you may have. It is recommended that you consult with a financial planner, especially if you have money in the older nonqualified RCA Retirement Plan. (When you retire, you must immediately begin taking distributions from the RCA Retirement Plan, and after choosing your distribution amount and frequency, it cannot be changed.)

Upon Your Retirement

Other Important Resources