Retirement Glossary

Planning for retirement shouldn’t be confusing. To help you navigate the retirement world, we put together a glossary of common terms.

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- (k)ickstart™
- 3(16) fiduciary
- 3(21) fiduciary
- 3(38) fiduciary
- 401(k)
- 401(k) transaction fee
- 402(g) limit
- 403(b)
A
- Algorithm
- Allocation
- Annual census
- Annual report
- Assets under management
- Automatic enrollment
- Automatic rebalancing
- Automatic Roth IRA
- Average fund expense ratio (Fund fee)
B
- Beneficiary
- Blackout/blackout notice
- Blue chip stocks
- Bond
- Bond fund
- Bundled service
C
- Catch-up contribution
- Cliff vesting schedule
- Compound interest
- Contribution
- Contribution limit
- Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)
- Custodian
- Customer
D
- Deferral rate
- Defined-contribution plan
- Distribution
- Diversification
- Dividends
E
- Eligibility
- Eligible automatic enrollment arrangement (EACA)
- Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
- Employer match
- Employer-sponsored retirement plan
- Expense ratio
F
- Fee disclosure
- Fiduciary
- Foreign payee
- Forfeitures
- Form 1099-R
- Full retirement age
- Fund lineup
- Funds
G
- Graded vesting schedule
H
- Hardship withdrawal
- Highly-compensated employee
I
- Immediate vesting schedule
- Investment management and custodial fee
- Investment platform
J
- Joint life annuity
K
- Key employee
L
- Lifetime income disclosure
- Loan cure period
- Loan offset
M
- Model portfolio
- Mutual fund
N
- Net asset value
- Non-highly compensated employees (NHCE)
- Nondiscrimination testing
P
- Plan administration fees
- Plan participant
- Plan provider
- Plan restatement
- Plan sponsor
- Portfolio
- Profit sharing
Q
- Qualified distributions
- Qualified domestic relations order (QDRO)
- Qualified nonelective contribution (QNEC)
R
- Rate of return
- Rebalance
- Required minimum distributions
- Risk
- Risk profile
- Risk questionnaire
- Risk tolerance
- Robo-advisor
- Rollover
- Roth 401(k)
S
- S&P 500® Index
- Safe harbor 401(k)
- Securities
- Single life annuity
- Social Security
- Stock
- Summary annual report (SAR)
- Summary plan description
T
- Tax deferral
- Third-party administrator
- Traditional 401(k)
- Trustee
V
- Vesting
- Volatility