I understand that my cash balance plan is subject to 3-year vesting. What does this mean?

All cash balance plan participants must be 100% vested after 3 years of participation. As a result, most plans that we set up are on a 3 year vesting schedule. This is sometimes called “cliff vesting” because 100% of the account balance is vested at the 3 year mark.

What vesting means is that participants do not have “ownership” in any plan contributions until they hit the 3rd service year. If a participant quits or terminates before the third year of service, all contributions will be forfeited back to the plan and can be allocated to reduce future contributions.

Please realize that if a plan is terminated, all participant accounts will become 100% vested.