403(b)(9) General Overview

Reliant now offers a 403(b)(9) retirement plan option (previously 401(k) was offered) to eligible employees. We have chosen the This type of 403(b) plan is under a subsection of the IRS code (9) for church plans, but it's basically just a special type of 403(b) plan with additional benefits for churches. For simplicity purposes, we will refer to it as a 403(b) plan in most of our documentation.  

(9) option which is a retirement church saving plan managed by Principal Financial Group. Just like many 401K/403B plans Reliant's 403(b)(9) retirement plan has a matching incentive for our career employees. Reliant will match funds (up to a certain percentage) that their these employees contribute to the 403(b) (9) plan. The matching incentive is designed to motivate career employees to contribute funds to the retirement savings plan. Reliant Missionaries employees are 100% vested from the point they start contributing to the 403(b) (9) Plan.  

Reliant's 403(b)(9) Plan offers two types of savings opportunities for our employees: Traditional vs. Roth Contributions. Reliant auto-enrolls employees in the traditional contribution. Employees may opt to change to the Roth or give additional contributions to Roth as well as Traditional. 

Employees who have worked for Reliant for at least 90 days are eligible to begin participating in the plan. Upon becoming eligible to participate, employees will be auto-enrolled in the 403(b)(9) plan at a $50 employee contribution amount (see see Enrollment & Eligibility). Upon reaching eligibility, Reliant will send an email stating the eligibility date has arrived and that the employee has been auto-enrolled on the Principal sitewith GuideStone. Employees will then need to to register on the Principal MyGuidestone site in order to access their Principal account. If an employee wishes to make any changes to the contribution amount or type of contribution, the changes will need to be done through their online MyGuidestone account with Principal after Reliant has informed them that their eligibility date has arrived. 

To change a contribution see Principal Changes to Contributions. Contribution changes must be submitted to Principal GuideStone by the 19th to then be effective on the following month's paycheck. Principal GuideStone informs Reliant of any payroll changes for payrollmade by employees.

Reliant also offers an employer match of for career employees is $1 match for every $1 employees contribute an employee contributes to the 403(b)(9) plan, up to a maximum of 5% of 5% of their eligible earnings. Upon reaching participant eligibility, Reliant automatically will contribute a $50 employer match from the MTD account for which employees are responsible into the retirement account. (See See Employer Matching Contributions - Class 1, Career Employees for more details.) The match is paid directly from the MTD account fund the employee is responsible for with Reliant and it does affect the employee support goal. Employees will want . The employee's support goal is increased by the match amount. Employees are asked to submit a new support goal to reflect any changes to their contributions made on the Principal site403(b) contributions, to ensure their goals are up to date. 

Withdrawals can be made from the 403(b)(9) Plan Retirement account. (See Withdrawal (Age 59 1/2 or Higher) and Withdrawal as Parsonage (Age 59 1/2 or Older )). Withdrawals made prior to before age 59½ may incur tax penalties.

Reliant employees are also eligible to receive a 403(b)(9) loan. (See See Loan Guidelines)

For questions or additional information about Reliant's 403(b)(9) retirement plan please contact payroll@reliant.org.