Retirement and Financial Planning

Read about UC retirement benefits and savings and investment plans, and find out how you can get financial planning assistance.

Retirement saving and investing

The University of California Retirement System (UCRS) offers several retirement savings and investment plans to eligible UC San Diego employees.

• University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP): A defined benefit plan for eligible UC employees. This means your benefits are determined by a formula including age, salary, and years of service. The plan provides you with monthly retirement income, or you can choose to take a lump sum cashout.

• Defined Contribution Plan (DC Plan): Provides supplemental retirement benefits.

• 403(b): A voluntary savings and investment plan. You contribute on a pretax basis, which reduces your taxable income. Your contributions and earnings are taxed when you withdraw the money.

• 457(b): Another voluntary, tax-deferred savings and investment plan. When used with an existing 403(b) plan, the 457(b) plan effectively doubles the amount you can put into tax-deferred retirement savings.
• ROTH: New Roth contribution option to the UC 403(b) and 457(b) Plans. The Roth option allows you to pay taxes on contributions now so that you have the potential to take the money out tax-free in retirement. View the Ways to Save with Roth presentation materials and recorded webinar.

Note: Fidelity Retirement Services maintains participant accounts and records for these plans. See UCnet for detailed information on Fidelity Retirement Services and on the DC Plan, 403(b) and 457(b). To enroll in any or all of these supplemental retirement benefits, log into Fidelity NetBenefits.

Other programs and resources

• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
• Health Flexible Spending Account
• ScholarShare: California's 529 College Savings Program
• Retirement Counseling
• Read online summary plan descriptions of all UC retirement plans.

UC Retirement Service Center

• 1-800-888-8267
  • Option #4 for retiree general assistance
  • Option #8 to begin processing a retirement request
• FAX: 1-800-792-5178