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Distributions

 


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At time of termination/retirement you have choices regarding your 401(k) account at John Hancock Retirement Plan Services.


Account Options

  • You can leave all or part of your money in the Plan

  • If your 401(k) Plan account balance is $1,000 or less, your Vested Account Balance will be distributed in a lump sum.

  • If your balance is more than $1,000, you can:

      • Take your distribution all at once (single sum payment)

      • Take partial withdrawals

      • Have it paid to you in installment payments (can suspend or change quarterly):

        • Over your life expectancy

        • Over a period of up to 20 years

        • In a flat dollar amount

    • You can roll over all or part of your account balance

    • Roll over to a New York Life Portfolio IRA

    • Roll over to another IRA or retirement plan

    • You can leave all or part of your money in the Plan

    • You must start taking the IRS Required Minimum Distribution at age 70 ½

    • If you choose installment payments or leave all or part of your money in the plan, you will continue to have access to quarterly account statements at mylife.jhrps.com.

John Hancock will mail a 1099-R to you by Jan. 31 the following year if distribution. Your 1099-R will be stored on your online account under Statement Archives.


 

Partial Distributions

When you take a partial distribution, funds are distributed in a preset hierarchy.

Generally the order is as follows:

  1. Your pre-tax rollover contributions and associated earnings

  2. Employer contributions and match with associated earnings

  3. Your post-tax contributions with associated earnings: - Contributions - Rollover contributions

  4. Your pre-tax contributions with associated earnings

  5. Your Roth 401(k) contributions and associated earnings

Note: If you have a Roth portion in your account, you may specify a Roth-only partial distribution.


Online partial withdrawals by the fund or funds of choice

You can make online partial withdrawals by the fund or funds of your choice. Previously, a partial distribution would be taken from all the funds proportionately. If there are insufficient assets in any investment fund (due to market fluctuations, etc.) then the remainder of the distribution will come from the other investments included in the distribution, proportionally, until the full balance of all the included investments is exhausted. 

Please note that distributions done via form will not have this functionality.


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