AMO Currents - AMO develops spreadsheet for calculating potential DC Plan earnings

AMO Currents - Posted: September 16, 2010

AMO develops spreadsheet for calculating potential DC Plan earnings

In conjunction with the receipt of lump-sum estimates from the Plans, AMO members and applicants will be able to access and download an Excel spreadsheet from the AMO Web site to determine their potential career-long earnings under the forthcoming employer-paid AMO Defined Contribution Plan.

The spreadsheet developed by the AMO national secretary-treasurer allows users to enter relevant data such as age, years of service, daily benefit wages, vacation pay and an assumed annual rate of return on investments made through their individual AMO Defined Contribution Plan retirement savings accounts. The spreadsheet provides hypothetical rates of return that users can select.

An automatic assumed wage increase of 2.5 percent per year is factored into the spreadsheet, which also applies accrued annual interest on defined contribution account deposits and accrued days of employment and vacation to calculate total annual deposits into the accounts.

The spreadsheet is designed to reflect account balance growth based on 183 days of shipboard employment per year. AMO members and applicants can calculate their potential earnings over 20 years.

Funding factors from Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 are already programmed into the spreadsheet so that the appropriate contribution factor is shown for each year.

The spreadsheet soon will allow users to enter actual changes in wages as they occur. This will permit officers sailing in junior ratings to calculate the impact of promotions on their defined contribution accounts over the 20-year period.

This practical, easy-to-use tool and the AMO Pension Plan's imminent estimates of the lump-sum values of earned monthly pension benefits will make it easier for AMO members to make sound career choices and to plan for retirement on their own terms and timetables. The spreadsheet can be downloaded directly from the AMO Web site any time after Oct. 1, 2010.