About us
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.
Here are some frequently asked questions about deferred comp plans:
- What sets a 457(b) apart from other retirement plans? A 457(b) may offer benefits other retirement plans can’t, like penalty-free withdrawals once you stop working for Cook County
- What does tax-deferred mean? Basically, you don’t pay income taxes on your deferred comp plan contributions or earnings until you retire and/or begin to take payments from your account. This may lower your taxable income now and in retirement
- Can I combine retirement accounts? Our Retirement Specialists will work with you to combine or consolidate your eligible retirement accounts into your Cook County Deferred Compensation account. This may make managing your retirement investments a little easier. Qualified retirement plans, deferred compensation plans and individual retirement accounts are all different, including fees and when you can access funds. Assets rolled over from your account(s) may be subject to surrender charges, other fees and/or an additional 10% early withdrawal tax if withdrawn before age 59½
- How much can I put into a 457 plan? Check out the current contribution limits.
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.