Northwest Carpenters Retirement Plan
Regular Early Retirement
Eligibility and Retirement Date
To be eligible for regular early retirement you must be:
- Vested in this plan;
- Age 55 through age 64; and
- No longer working in any type of work for an employer that contributes to the plan.
Prior to January 1, 2017, you were required to satisfy the five-year vesting rule to be eligible for regular early retirement. Effective January 1, 2017, you may qualify for regular early retirement if you satisfy the three-year vesting rule.
Your retirement date cannot be earlier than the later of (1) the first of any month following your 55th birthday, or (2) the first of the month following receipt of your completed Application For Retirement Benefits and Carpenters Retirement Plan Explanation of Payment Options and Election of Retirement Benefits form and related documents.
- For additional information about regular early retirement eligibility, please see Article 4.2.1.
Monthly Benefit
Under regular early retirement, your monthly income is your monthly traditional income benefit plus your monthly sustainable income benefit, less the appropriate reduction for early retirement, less the appropriate reduction for a joint and survivor benefit (if applicable). Your total monthly benefit is reduced because your monthly payments will begin earlier and will likely be paid for a longer period of time than if you had retired under normal retirement. Traditional regular early retirement reduction factors are listed in Table 3. The 2018 sustainable regular early retirement reduction factors are listed in Table 4. These factors are subject to change each year and are available on the Carpenters Trusts website: www.carpentersbenefits.org. Traditional joint and survivor factors are listed in Table 7. Sustainable joint and survivor factors are subject to change each year and are available on the Carpenters Trusts website: www.carpentersbenefits.org. The examples below illustrate how to calculate a regular early retirement income.
Retirement benefits are taxable income. Carpenters Trusts will provide you with a Form 1099-R in late January of each year for the upcoming April 15 tax deadline.
- For additional information about the monthly benefit available under regular early retirement, please see Article 6.2.1.
Example 1
If you are single and retire at age 60 in 2018 under regular early retirement with a traditional income benefit of $2,000.00 and a sustainable income benefit of $100.00, what is your initial monthly benefit?
Traditional Income Benefit
$2,000.00 x 0.850 = $1,700.00
Initial Sustainable Income Benefit
$100.00 x 0.710 = $71.00
Total Initial Monthly Benefit
$1,700.00 + $71.00 = $1,771.00
In this example, your $2,000.00 traditional income benefit is reduced by $300.00 for regular early retirement at age 60 (please see Table 3). Your initial $100.00 sustainable income benefit is reduced by $29.00 for regular early retirement at age 60 (please see Table 4). This provides you with an initial lifetime monthly benefit of $1,771.00. Your sustainable income benefit will continue to be adjusted to reflect investment performance each year during your retirement. Your traditional income benefit remains unchanged.
Example 2
If you are married and retire at age 60 in 2018 under regular early retirement with a traditional income benefit of $2,000.00 and a sustainable income benefit of $100.00, what is your initial monthly benefit? Your spouse is two years younger than you and you elect a 50% joint and survivor benefit:
Traditional Income Benefit
$2,000.00 x 0.850 = $1,700.00
$1,700.00 x 0.870 = $1,479.00
Initial Sustainable Income Benefit
$100.00 x 0.710 = $71.00
$71.00 x 0.906 = $64.33
Total Initial Monthly Benefit
$1,479.00 + $64.33 = $1,543.33
$1,543.33 x 0.50 = $771.66
In this example, your $2,000.00 traditional income benefit is reduced by $300.00 for regular early retirement at age 60 (please see Table 3) and by $221.00 for a 50% joint and survivor benefit (please see Table 7). Your initial $100.00 sustainable income benefit is reduced by $29.00 for regular early retirement at age 60 (please see Table 4) and by $6.67 for a 50% joint and survivor benefit (please see www.carpentersbenefits.org). This provides you with an initial lifetime monthly benefit of $1,543.33 and a monthly benefit for the rest of your spouse's life of 50% of your monthly benefit if you predecease your spouse. Your sustainable income benefit will continue to be adjusted to reflect investment performance each year during your retirement and during your spouse's life if you predecease your spouse. Your traditional benefit remains unchanged.
Last Updated: 04/20/2023