How to Participate

1. Complete this online RCRP form. Once you receive acknowledgment from the RCRP staff that you meet our eligibility requirements and are welcomed to the Plan, you can then move to Step 2.
2. Open an account at Fidelity by completing this online enrollment. The Plan ID is 19000. For date of hire, enter the approximate date you signed up as a participant in the Rabbis and Cantors Retirement Plan. Initially, your RCRP account at Fidelity will have a balance of $0. Fidelity phone number: 800-343-0860.  
3. Choose your investments. (click on “Investments” in your Fidelity account.) The investment options are categorized into four tiers for fund choices. (The term “tiers” is not used on Fidelity platforms, but it is helpful to understand the options.) This will help simplify choices for you. More details are included in our February 2019 Update to Participants. You can get more information on each fund, including returns, major investments, and net annual expenses (costs) by clicking on the name of the fund in the list. Also, you can change your investment choices at a later date directly with Fidelity (like any other customer) without contacting RCRP.

   Please note that RCRP cannot give individual tax or investment advice. We recommend consulting a tax professional or financial planner.

   These initial options are:
   • Tier 1 ("ONE-FUND TARGET YEAR”) is a group of Target Date Funds (a balance of stocks and bonds) based on your estimated retirement year. This could be your one-fund investment choice. This is the industry standard and simplest form of investing. Each of these funds is a mixture (balance) of stocks and bonds, varied on the basis of time to anticipated retirement. Note that there are two target date fund options for each retirement year: (for example 2040), Fidelity Freedom Index and Fidelity Freedom.  The least expensive option is the  Fidelity Freedom Index, for example FID FDM IDX 2040 INV (FBIFX).
   • Tier 2 is a short list of low-cost funds for those who prefer to choose their own investments, listed under “CORE FUNDS.”
     • Included are four Fidelity index mutual funds: (A US stock fund, an international stock fund, and two bond funds).  There is also a money market fund.
     • Also included are four low-cost SRI funds from Calvert Funds, a well-known company in the fields of socially responsible investing and use of environmental, social impact, and governance (ESG) criteria. Investors preferring to use social screening criteria should be able to manage their retirement accounts with good options using these four funds. RCRP participants get the “institutional” rate for Calvert funds, with a lower cost, not usually available to individuals.
       1. 1. SRI US stock (equity) fund: Calvert US Large Cap Core Responsible Index I
          2. SRI international fund: Calvert International Responsible Index I
          3. SRI bond fund: Calvert Green Bond I
          4. SRI balanced fund: Calvert Balanced I.  This fund is approximately 60% stock and 40% bonds.
   • Tier 3 includes over 190 more Fidelity Funds. Fidelity has also begun several new ESG funds, with differing selection criteria, which are available through Tier 3 (“Expanded Options”). More information from Fidelity is available here.
   • Tier 4 is the option to open a Fidelity brokerage account. This is the most self directed option. Most RCRP participants will not need to use Tier 3 or Tier 4, though they are an option.
4. Complete the Fidelity Beneficiary Form and mail it to the address on the form.
5. Complete the Employer Adoption Agreement.
   • If you are employed by a synagogue, the synagogue must complete the Adoption Agreement.
   • If you are self-employed, you will participate in the plan directly and need to complete the Adoption Agreement. Check the box in Section A, option 2.
   • If you are employed by another non-profit, then the non-profit can either submit your contributions for you or you can contribute directly. A non-profit which is not a synagogue should not complete the adoption agreement. You will need to complete the Adoption Agreement as the participating Rabbi or Cantor. Check the box in Section A, option 3. 
   • If your employer will be deducting your contributions from your paycheck, you should complete the Fidelity Salary Deferral Form, and give it to your employer. This form does not have to be submitted to Fidelity or to us.
6. Set up contributions. Contributions to participant accounts are made through Fidelity's online Simplified Contribution Platform (SCP). The person who will be making the contributions (either the employer in most cases or the Rabbi directly who is not working for a synagogue) completes this request for access form using our Plan Number 19000. You will then receive an email when Fidelity has created the account with a division code and instructions to connect a bank account. Link to the Simplified Contribution Platform.

   Please note that contributions need to be received by Fidelity no later than December 15 to be processed and included in the current tax year. 

7. Transfer/Rollover of Funds (if applicable). You may have funds, earned as a rabbi or cantor, in other retirement accounts such as an IRA or 403 (b) account that you want to transfer/rollover to your RCRP account. Check the FAQ section of our website http://www.rabbisretirementplan.org/faqs/ for more information, and to confirm these funds are eligible to be transferred to RCRP. Let us know you have funds to rollover and we’ll send you instructions.