A 457(b) deferred compensation plan is a retirement plan offered by Cook County, allowing county employees like you to put aside money from each paycheck toward retirement. Your deferred compensation plan can help bridge the gap between what you have in your pension and Social Security (if applicable), and how much you’ll need in retirement.

Frequently asked questions
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A 457(b) plan allows for penalty-free withdrawals once you stop working for your public sector employer, even if you are under age 59½. This is a unique benefit compared to other retirement plans, which typically impose a 10% early withdrawal penalty tax for withdrawals prior to age 59½.

Tax-deferred, also known as pre-tax, means you don't pay income taxes on your plan contributions or earnings until you withdraw the money, typically in retirement. This can lower your taxable income now and potentially in retirement.

Yes, you can often combine or consolidate your eligible retirement accounts into one plan. This can make managing your retirement investments easier and potentially reduce administrative costs. Visit the consolidation page to learn more on consolidating your retirement accounts

Contribution limits vary by plan type and are subject to IRS regulations. Check out the current contribution limits.
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For an overview of the plan, review the Plan Document.

Effective 7/1/2019, Cook County and Nationwide agreed to reduce the fees assessed on deferred compensation plan participant accounts. The new fee schedule, reflected below, was not implemented until late 2019, resulting in adjustments being needed to the fees assessed under the previous fee schedule. Here is the new fee schedule, along with the previous fee amounts for comparison:

  Effective 7/1/2019 (New) Through 6/20/2019 (Previous)
Administrative Fee - Nationwide $32 per year per account, assessed as $8 per quarter 0.0750% on account assets, assessed monthly
Administrative Fee - Cook County 0.0075% on account assets, assessed monthly* 0.0075% on account assets, assessed monthly
Loan Initiation Fee $25 per loan $50 per loan
Nationwide ProAccount Fee Maximum fee of 0.45% on account assets, with tiered progressive reductions on accounts over $100,000 Maximum fee of 0.55% on account assets, with tiered progressive reductions on accounts over $100,000

* Please note the 0.0075% fee assessed monthly on account assets remains in place to cover Cook County’s expenses attributable to making the Plan available to employees. This is not a change, as it was previously added to Nationwide’s fee of 0.0750%, for a total fee amount of 0.0825% annually.

For Unit Adjustments processed on March 26, 2020
The Unit Adjustment transaction applied to your account on March 26, 2020 included all adjustments related to the collection of fees in the 3rd Quarter 2020 and some loan initiation fees into October 2020. This adjustment includes the sum of the following:

Administrative Fee: Whereas Nationwide has historically assessed administrative fees based on account assets, the new fee methodology will be a flat amount per participant. The new fee will be $8.00 per calendar quarter, assessed on the last business day of the quarter. The amount included in this Unit Adjustment includes the difference between the total of the 0.075% asset fees assessed on your account on 7/31/2019, 8/31/2019 and 9/30/2019 and the $8.00 that should have been assessed on 9/30/2019. This may result in a positive or negative adjustment amount depending upon your account balance.

Loan Initiation Fee: For each new loan initiated between 7/1/2019 and 10/23/2019, the Unit Adjustment includes a $25 credit, which is the difference between the previous Loan Initiation Fee of $50 and the new Loan Initiation Fee of $25.

Nationwide ProAccount Fee: For the ProAccount service between 7/1/2019 and 9/30/2019 (through 10/31/2019 for Cook County Forest Preserve District), the Unit Adjustment includes a credit equal to 0.10% of account assets. This is the difference between the previous ProAccount fee starting at 0.55% and the new ProAccount fee of 0.45% annually.

The net adjustment amount was then further refined to include market earnings or interest on fixed return assets so your account is put in the position it would have been had the fee transactions all been processed as they should have been.

For Unit Adjustments processed on March 27, 2020
The Unit Adjustment transaction processed on March 27, 2020 includes the $8 Administrative Fee that should have been assessed by Nationwide on December 31, 2019. This adjustment amount was then further refined to include market earnings or interest on fixed return assets so your account is put in the position it would have been had this fee transaction been processed as it should have been on December 31, 2019.

Please note, the $8 Administrative Fee was assessed correctly on March 31, 2020 for 1st Quarter 2020.