Marshall County supervisors approve joining State of Iowa 457(b) retirement plan

Marshall County supervisors voted Nov. 19 to add the State of Iowa 457(b) retirement plan as an additional deferred-compensation option for county employees after a presentation from a retirement-plan adviser.

Sean Monhan of Corbridge/Corebridge Financial told the board the state plan (the Retirement Investors Club, or RIC) offers a mutual-fund structure that drives much lower participant fees than many employer annuity plans. Using model examples, Monhan compared a county example with a 1.89% annual fee (a hypothetical 25-year-old contributing $300 a month would retire with about $466,000 at an assumed 8% return) and a nationwide example with a 1.35% fee (~$528,000). The RIC’s all-in cost, he said, is about 0.22% and would produce about $690,000 under the same assumptions. "Significantly reduce investment cost," Monhan said, calling lower fees "the number one" benefit.

Monhan described administrative tradeoffs: a one-time county startup charge likely between $200 and $500 (not per employee) and an annual $150 county fee for state administration; he said the state rebids services periodically and that counties can offer the state plan alongside existing providers so employees can choose whether to move funds. He also explained implementation steps if the board proceeded: county notification to the vendor, a state service agreement for review, payroll testing and an employee outreach campaign.

The board moved to approve adoption of the RIC as an additional 457(b) option and to authorize staff to proceed with the state’s service agreement process. The motion carried on a roll-call vote with "Yes" responses recorded in the minutes for Goodman, Hibbs and Kyle.