Effective July 1, 2025, Voya Financial® (Voya) will replace Empower Retirement™ (Empower) as
recordkeeper for several plans administered by MSRS.
Voya was selected by MSRS as a result of a thorough vendor selection process.
Voya, a leader in the financial services industry, is a retirement recordkeeper to many state, municipal, and county governments. A recordkeeper provides investment accounting services, access to the account online website that allows you to view your account information and process transactions, and other functions needed to operate a retirement plan.
MSRS will continue to administer your plans. We’ll answer your calls; provide counseling and education
regarding your retirement plans; and process investment and withdrawal request.
Blackout dates required
The transfer of plan records and account assets from Empower to Voya will happen automatically and take approximately two weeks.
During this “blackout period” you will not be able to:
- Make changes to your account
- Complete investment transactions of any kind, including transferring money among investments
- Change your MNDCP salary deferral amount
- Request withdrawals from the MNDCP or reimbursements from the HCSP
- MNDCP distribution request
- Requests received in good order will process prior to the blackout period
- Requests received after this date will process once the blackout period ends
- HCSP reimbursement request
- Reimbursements requested during June could be delayed until after July 1.
We will continue to accept and review reimbursement requests so they can process
as quickly as possible after the blackout period ends.
- Reimbursements requested during June could be delayed until after July 1.
- MNDCP salary deferral changes: Minnesota public employees (excluding State of MN employees) must complete salary deferral changes by 3 p.m. No changes will be allowed from June 14 to July 1.
- Salary deferral changes, State of Minnesota employees: No MNDCP salary deferral changes after 3 p.m. and continuing through the 2-week blackout period.
- Accounts viewable online; however, transactions will not be available. Account data, such as balances will not be updated.
- Your assets will remain invested and will continue to gain and/or lose value, depending on market conditions.
- Contact MSRS for account information during the blackout period.
- All account data fully updated.
- All account transactions are available to process, including salary deferral changes.
- Re-establish plan features on the MSRS website.
- State employee salary deferral changes (contribution amount) should be made on the MSRS website instead of MMB's self-service website.
Communicating news about the transition
- A Recordkeeper Transition Guide (pdf) was mailed to plan participants in mid-May. It provides important information about the transition, including:
- What’s changing; what’s staying the same
- What you need to do
- Blackout dates and how it affects your ability to access your account
- How you will know that your assets have been moved to Voya
- We will continue to update this webpage with recordkeeper transition news.
- You will receive separate correspondence from MSRS if you need to re-enroll in plan services you previously elected.
Some services will not automatically transfer to Voya.
What you need to do
Your account will automatically transfer from Empower to Voya. You do not need to do anything.
- During the transition from Empower to Voya there will be a time period when you will not be able to access your account – we call this the “blackout period.”
See “Blackout period and other important dates” in the "What you need to know about the transition" section below.
- After the transition to Voya is complete on July 1, you may need to re-enroll in some plan services you previously elected. See below to learn more.
You may elect to receive your quarterly statements and confirmation of transactions electronically.
You can enroll anytime after June 30.
Important! If you previously elected e-delivery, your election will not transfer to Voya and you will need to re-elect this delivery method.
Selecting to e-delivery (Go Paperless)
- Login to your account online at www.mnretire.gov
- Select Go to Savings Plans
- Select the dropdown next to your name (upper right corner)
- Select Communication Preferences
- Update your Paperless or Mail Options
If you have an established account rebalancer, this feature will not transfer to Voya. Your rebalancer will automatically terminate in June. Any rebalancers scheduled to occur in July will not process.
Starting July 1, 2025, you can set up a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual rebalancer on your account.
There are two ways to add rebalancer to your account:
- Log in to your Account Online
- Contact MSRS to speak with a plan representative
If you are affected by the rebalancer re-enrollment, you will receive a separate correspondence from MSRS.
What is a rebalancer?
Rebalancing simply adjusts your retirement account investments to the same proportions as you originally intended. Rebalancing automatically processes on a regular schedule selected by you (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually). This feature allows you to keep your investment strategy aligned with your intended asset allocation.
Your MSRS website login credentials will remain the same; however, the first time you Go to Savings Plans to view your MNDCP and/or HCSP account, you will be prompted to set-up security credentials with Voya.
- Login to your account online at www.mnretire.gov
- Select Go to Savings Plans
- The first time you Go to Savings Plans, you will be prompted to set up security credentials.
You will only have to do this once. After you set up security credentials you will not be asked again
Starting July 1, 2025, State employees should make MNDCP salary deferral changes (payroll deduction) on the MSRS website. Previously State of MN employees changed their deferral amount on MMB’s Self-Service website.
The last day to change your salary deferral on the MMB self-service website is June 17, before 3 p.m. CT.
No salary deferral changes will be allowed during the blackout period from June 17 through July 1.
You will receive an email at your work address with additional information about this change.
Starting July 1, 2025, there are two ways to change your MNDCP salary deferral:
1. Speak with an MSRS Representative at 651.284.7730 or 1.800.657.5757, option 3
OR
2. Login to your MNDCP account online at www.mnretire.gov
- If this is the first time you’ve used this site, you’ll need to establish login credentials
- Select My Savings Plans
- Select MNDCP if you have multiple plans
- Select Contributions & Savings
- Select Manage Contributions
What you need to know about the transition
The transfer of plan records and account assets from Empower to Voya will happen automatically and take approximately two weeks. During this “blackout period” you will not be able to:
- Make changes to your account
- Complete investment transactions of any kind, including transferring money among investments
- Change your MNDCP salary deferral amount
- Request withdrawals from the MNDCP or reimbursements from the HCSP
June 13, 2025 at 3 p.m. CT
Final day to process certain transactions
- MNDCP distribution request
- Requests received in good order will process prior to the blackout period
- Requests received after this date will process once the blackout period ends.
- HCSP reimbursement request
- Reimbursements requested during June could be delayed until after July 1.
We will continue to accept and review reimbursement requests so they can process
as quickly as possible after the blackout period ends.
- Reimbursements requested during June could be delayed until after July 1.
- Minnesota public employees (excluding State of MN employees): MNDCP salary deferral changes must be completed by 3 p.m. No changes are allowed until July 1, 2025.
June 17, 2025 at 3 p.m. CT
Blackout period begins
- State of Minnesota employees: No MNDCP salary deferral changes after 3 p.m. and continuing through the 2-week blackout period.
- Accounts viewable online; however, transactions will not be available. Account data, such as balances will not be updated
- Your assets will remain invested and will continue to gain and/or lose value, depending on market conditions
- Contact MSRS for account information during the blackout period
July 1, 2025
Full account access restored
- All account data fully updated
- All account transactions are available to process
- Re-establish plan features on the MSRS website
- State employee salary deferral changes (contribution amount) should be made on the MSRS website instead of MMB's self-service website.
Charles Schwab Self-Directed Brokerage Account (SDBA)
Your Charles Schwab SDBA may be affected by the blackout period. To learn more, see below.
You will receive two statements in July to reflect the transfer of your assets from Empower to Voya.
- Empower will send you a statement for the period of January 1, 2025 through market close on June 24, 2025. It will show all account activity that occurred between those dates.
The statement will show your account balance converted to Voya. Your ending account balance will be $0. Don’t be alarmed by the $0 balance – it simply means your account assets were moved to Voya.
The statement will be sent via e-delivery or paper, based on your existing delivery election.
- Voya will send you a "conversion notification" for the period of June 24 through June 30, 2025, reflecting the transfer of assets to their recordkeeping system. This will allow you to reconcile your account.
In October, you will receive a quarterly statement from Voya that will include all activity from June 25, 2025 through September 30, 2025.- The statement will show an opening balance of $0, detail converted balances as of market close on June 24, 2025 and show activity after June 24, 2025.
- The statement will be sent via e-delivery or paper, based on your existing delivery election.
MNDCP & Hennepin County 1% Supplemental Plan Installment Payments
If you are scheduled to receive an ongoing payment in June and/or July, MSRS will process your payment earlier than normal. If you receive monthly payments, you will receive two payments in June and no payments in July. Subsequent payments will be processed as scheduled.
If you are affected, you will receive separate correspondence from MSRS about the timing of the June and July payments.
HCSP Monthly Ongoing Reimbursements
If you are scheduled to receive a monthly ongoing reimbursement in June, MSRS will process your reimbursement on June 11. Typically your reimbursement is deposited into your bank account or mailed to you the last Friday of the month; however, the June reimbursements must be processed earlier in order to avoid the recordkeeper transition blackout period. Subsequent payments will be processed as scheduled.
Blackout period will apply
The transfer of plan records and account assets from Empower to Voya will take approximately two weeks and require a “blackout period” from 3 p.m. on June 17 to July 1, 2025.
During the blackout period :
- You can view your SDB account online; however, account information, such as balances, will not be updated.
- Your funds will remain invested and will continue to gain and/or lose value, depending on market conditions.
- You can process transactions, including trades, within your SDBA account.
- You cannot transfer money from MNDCP to Charles Schwab or vice versa.
Please Note: In May, MSRS mailed you a Recordkeeper Transition Guide. The guide indicated that you will receive a new PIN for your SDA account. We have since learned that you should continue to use your existing PIN. No new PIN is required.
If you currently elected Investment Advisory Services, your enrollment will continue with Voya.
This fee based service offers personalized advice and guidance from Voya financial professionals. Plus, you receive ongoing account monitoring and reviews that adjust as your financial goals or situation changes.
Please note: The Recordkeeper Transition Guide you received in the mail from MSRS in May indicated you will need to re-elect this service with Voya. We have since learned that you do not need to re-elect this service.
The MSRS website URL will change to www.mnretire.gov.
You may continue to use the existing URL www.msrs.state.mn.us for the near future, but we recommend that if you have bookmarked this web address, that you change it to the new URL.