Keeping your beneficiary information up to date is important! Events such as marriage, divorce, and adding or losing family members make it even more important to double-check your beneficiary elections. Upon your death, it’s the only way to ensure that benefits are paid according to your wishes; not even a will can change a beneficiary.
The plans listed below all require beneficiary designations. Take time now to review your beneficiary choices and make sure they’re up to date; plans do not need to have the same beneficiary.
Not sure which plans you have? Log into Employee Self Service (ESS) to check. (If the plan name says “Waive” then you’re not enrolled in that plan.)
Life Insurance
Employer-Paid Basic Group Life – MetLife
Review/update your beneficiaries at the MetLife Website. If prompted to select your organization, type “Commonwealth of Pennsylvania”. If
you prefer to complete a paper form, please call the MetLife Customer Service line
at 1-855-972-5433.
Voluntary Life and Accident Insurance
Voluntary Group Life – MetLife
You can review and update your beneficiaries electronically via Employee Self Service (ESS). To make changes to your beneficiaries, please follow these instructions.
Retirement Plans
SERS
Beneficiary nominations are plan specific. If you contribute to more than one SERS
retirement plan, you will need to submit a form for each plan. The Defined Benefit
Plan forms are returned to SERS while the Defined Contribution and Deferred Compensation
Plan forms are returned to Empower, our third-party administrator for those plans. To
make changes to your defined benefit plan, please complete the Beneficiary Nomination Form and mail to the address on the bottom of the form. If you are a participant of the
Defined Contribution (investment) Plan or the supplemental, voluntary Deferred Compensation
Plan, you can update your beneficiaries after you sign into your online account, or Empower’s app
ARP
Log into Retirement@Work to review/update your beneficiaries. Once you have logged in, click on your investment
provider’s website.
PSERS
Log into PSERS to review/update your beneficiaries. Or you can complete the Nomination of Beneficiaries Form and mail to the address listed in the instructions.
Tax-Sheltered Annuity
Log into Retirement@Work to review/update your beneficiaries. Once you have logged in, click on your investment
provider’s website. If you have an account with a prior investment provider, please
contact them directly.
Deferred Compensation
Log into Empower Retirement to review and update your beneficiaries.