About us

The Plan is a voluntary retirement savings plan offered by New York State and your employer, to allow public employees like you to put aside money from each paycheck toward retirement. The Plan can help bridge the gap between what you have in your pension and Social Security, and how much you’ll need in retirement. The Plan offers both traditional pre-tax and Roth 457(b) accounts to provide you with retirement savings choices.

Here are some frequently asked questions about the Plan:

What sets this Plan apart from other retirement plans? It’s a supplemental retirement savings plan. New York State retirement plans will generally provide your primary retirement income. The Plan differs from other defined contribution retirement plans (like a 401(k) or 403(b)), because it is designed and managed with public employees in mind. The New York State Deferred Compensation Board establishes and administers the Plan policies
What does tax-deferred mean? Basically, you don’t pay income taxes on your Plan account contributions or earnings until you begin to take payments from your account. This may lower your taxable income now and in retirement
Can I combine retirement accounts? Your Account Executive will work with you to combine or consolidate your eligible retirement accounts into your Plan account. This may make managing your retirement investments a little easier. Qualified retirement plans, deferred compensation plans and individual retirement accounts are all different, including fees and when you can access funds. Assets rolled over from your account(s) may be subject to surrender charges, other fees and/or a 10% tax penalty if withdrawn before age 59½

Plan administration

Overseen by the New York State Deferred Compensation Board, the Plan is managed by a professional staff located in Albany, NY.

The primary function of the Board office is to provide centralized oversight of all the Plan’s operations and manage the Plan to a Board-approved annual administration budget. Additionally, participants can visit the Board office by appointment to meet with staff or an Account Executive. To schedule an appointment, call 1-518-473-6619.

Plan Service Providers

The Plan has contracts with several service providers for specific services. Each of the Plan's service providers are selected by the Board through a structured competitive request for proposals process in accordance with rules of the Plan, and the contracts are generally limited to a term of 10 years.

Administrative Service Agency (currently Nationwide^® Retirement Solutions)
- Performs all record-keeping functions
- Produces participant statements
- Employs local Account Executives
- Maintains the Plan's HELPLINE and Web site
- Produces communications materials, including the Plan newsletter
Trustee/Custodian (currently Bank of New York Mellon)
- Holds the assets of the Plan in trust for the exclusive benefit of participants
- Processes transactions, benefit payments and related tax reporting
- Accounts for the assets of the Plan
Auditor (currently Citrin Cooperman)
- Performs annual audits of the Plan including the annual financial audit
- Completes an audit of the Administrative Service Agency's internal controls
- Executes an audit of the administrative service agency's adherence to performance standards
Independent Investment Consultant (currently Callan LLC)
- Advises the Board regarding investment policy
- Monitors the performance of the Plan's investment providers
- Advises the Board on the selection of financial services providers
- Conducts searches for service providers through request for proposals processes
Legal Counsel (Shearman & Sterling)
- Prepares amendments to the Plan
- Advises on regulatory matters and the negotiation
- Prepares contracts with professional services firms
Stable Income Fund Investment Managers
- Overall manager is Goldman Sachs Asset Management who manage the investments that are held by the fund
Mutual funds and collective investment trusts:
- Retirement date funds
- Fixed-income funds
- Balanced funds
- Large-capitalization U.S. equity funds
- Mid-capitalization U.S. equity funds
- Small-capitalization U.S. equity funds
- Emerging markets equity fund
- International active and passive funds

Administrative expenses

The Plan's administrative expenses are funded by two primary sources of revenue:

1. the semi-annual participant fee
2. interest income earned on revenue received by the Plan

Mutual fund reimbursements are negotiated with individual mutual funds and currently range from .05% to .35% of assets annually and are paid to participant accounts that hold the fund(s) paying the reimbursements.

The administrative fee is a combination of a $20 annual fee, paid in two $10 semi-annual installments and an asset-based fee calculated as a percentage of a participant's account balance.

The annual asset-based fee is estimated to be 2.75 basis points, paid in two 1.375 basis point semi-annual installments. The asset-based fee will be charged only on accounts with balances in excess of $20,000. Account assets subject to the asset-based fee are capped at $200,000.

Look at the Fee Disclosure Form for detailed information about the Plan fees and expenses.

For employers

The purpose of the Plan is to encourage public employees to make and continue careers by providing eligible employees with a convenient way to save on a regular and long-term basis and provide for their retirement.

The Plan is a voluntary retirement savings plan that provides quality investment options, investment educational programs and related services to help State and local public employees achieve their retirement savings goals.

The Plan can be easily adopted. You can:

Call the HELPLINE at 1-800-422-8463 and an Account Executive will help you
Or you may meet with an Account Executive to set up the Plan

Already in the plan?

There are several support items and publications that help employers administer the Plan to their employees including:

Administrative Guidelines – Provides information on transmitting payroll deductions and gives helpful definitions and information about the Plan
Administrative Manual – Describes the administrative procedures the Plan’s Administrative Service Agency follows in performing services for the Plan
Plan Document – Details the benefits and administrative procedures of the Plan
Rules and Regulations – Provides the governance structure of the Plan