The LIS is designed to help you meet your basic income needs in retirement. The default settings have been carefully considered and if you do nothing after you enroll, you will be on target to re-ceive 100% of your account as guaranteed secured income beginning at age 65.
Here’s how. When you enroll in the LIS, you will be placed in a target date portfolio that automati-cally adjusts as you age to become more conservative. Approximately 15 years prior to the default retirement age of 65, you will automatically start securing guaranteed income for life that you are able to receive when you retire. When you retire, 100% of your account will be secured and will pro-vide you with guaranteed monthly income for life. Your guaranteed income amount can increase with market gains but will not decrease if the market declines. You will maintain control of your ac-count balance and can take ad-hoc distributions at any time. If you pass away, the balance of your account is paid to your beneficiaries.
If you prefer to retire before or after age 65, or if you wish to secure less than 100% of your account, you may change your preferences at any time by logging into your account at surs.org.
The SURS LIS can be a very simple, hands-off approach to meeting your retirement income needs. Like other target date funds, there is a lot of action behind the scenes.