Retirement Plan Basics

Your employer's retirement plan is a great way to save because it offers:

Control

• You decide how much to contribute within plan limitations.
• You choose how to invest your contributions.

Convenience

• Your contributions are deducted automatically from your paycheck.
• Automatic deductions allow you to take advantage of systematic investing.*
• There are a variety of investment choices to fit your needs.

Tax Benefits

• Your pre-tax contributions may reduce your current taxable income, lowering your current annual income taxes.
• Your participant account assets can accumulate without being taxed until you begin withdrawals.**

 Portability

• You can take your vested participant account balance with you if you change employers.

Flexibility

• You can monitor your participant account any time by phone or website.
• You can adjust your contributions and investment choice decisions.

Compounding

• When you save in a retirement plan, you have the potential to earn a return not only on the amount you contribute, but also on any earnings your contributions generate (and on any earnings those earnings generate).  So your participant account assets may accumulate faster.

Before investing, you should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the mutual funds or The Hartford's group variable annuity products and funding agreements, and their underlying funds. For fund and product prospectuses and/or a disclosure document containing this and other information, contact your financial professional or visit our website. Read them carefully.

This information is written in connection with the promotion or marketing of the matter(s) addressed in this material. This information cannot be used or relied upon for the purpose of avoiding IRS penalties. These materials are not intended to provide tax, accounting or legal advice. As with all matters of a tax or legal nature, you should consult your own tax or legal counsel for advice.

*Continuous or periodic investment plans neither assure a profit nor protect against loss in declining markets. Because systematic investing involves continuous investing regardless of fluctuating price levels, you should carefully consider your financial ability to continue investing through periods of fluctuating prices.

**Withdrawals are subject to ordinary income taxes and, if taken prior to age 59 ½, a 10% Federal income tax penalty may apply. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares/units, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

RPS 7394