AHRP Home Page > Retirement Plan Description > Solving Your Retirement Puzzle

Solving Your Retirement Puzzle

The Adventist HealthCare Retirement Plan (AHRP) is designed to help you prepare for your retirement. The AHRP offers special opportunities for savings that you may not ordinarily get from taxable savings accounts. You'll find this to be really important when planning what you may need for retirement. 

To understand exactly what I mean, let's start with the BIG PICTURE! Have you ever considered where your retirement income will come from? This may be a good time to start thinking seriously about it. 

Did you know the BIGGEST source of retirement income for most people is their employer retirement plans, like the AHRP? It's unlikely you'll be able to rely solely on your Social Security benefits, so it's important to plan accordingly.

When you're trying to figure out a puzzle, how do you find exactly what you're looking for? Sometimes you've got to examine all the pieces very carefully. 

Let's do the same thing now with the AHRP. You may discover that these are just the pieces of your retirement puzzle you've been looking for! Let's see what they're really made of, and what they mean to you. 

In this planning basics section of the web site, we focus on what the AHRP pieces of the puzzle look like. The AHRP actually consists of two separate plans, brought together as one: 

AHRP Consists of Two Plans

401(a) Qualified Plan A retirement plan where your employer may contribute money on your behalf, in the form of Basic and/or Matching Contributions.

403(b) Tax Sheltered Annuity Plan TSA means "Tax Sheltered Annuity." This is a plan in which you, as an employee of an AHRP Participating Employer, may set aside paycheck money on a pre-tax basis.

Employer Matching Contributions 

If you contribute, your employer may also match some of your contributions.
 

Be sure to check the Participating Employer's page (clicking this link will display the page in a new browser window) to find out what Employer Group you are in. From that page you can click on the Employer Group Contributions next to your specific employer to see details about the contributions they offer.

These matching contributions happen after the end of each calendar year. But to get this money added to your account, you've got to contribute to your account first!

Your Voluntary AHRP-TSA Contributions

All employees, including you, can make contributions to their own AHRP-TSA account. This may qualify you for the employer match (explained earlier). It's easy--the amount you decide to contribute comes right out of your paycheck before current income taxes and goes into your account. You don't see it, so you're not tempted to spend it! For 2006, you may contribute up to $15,000 ($20,000 per year if you are at least 50 years of age by year-end).