VECA
The Board of Trustees of the Bahamas Hotel Industry Management Pension Fund allows participants to voluntarily defer a portion of their current salary as a savings for retirement. If you chose the Voluntary Employee Contribution Account (VECA), you can set aside additional (savings) money to supplement the monthly pension benefit provided by your Employer through the Pension Plan at retirement. When you retire, you can elect to receive the balance of the VECA amount as a lump sum payment, or it can be converted to a monthly benefit payable for the rest of your life. Another option that the Plan allows is for you to receive 50% of the balance as a lump sum payment, then use the remainder of the VECA amount to provide an additional monthly benefit payable for the rest of your life.
The money that you contribute to VECA earns interest each year. The Trustees granted 2.5% interest for VECA contributions in 2008, 7.0% in 2009, 6.0% in 2010, 2.0% in 2011, 4.5% in 2012, 5.0% in 2013, 4.75% in 2014, 5.0% in 2015, 4.0% in 2016, 4.0% in 2017, 2.0% in 2018, 4.0% in 2019, 4.0% in 2020, and 4.5% in 2021. All are positive and extraordinary interest rates in today’s investment world. If you have questions regarding the VECA, you can call the Pension Fund Office or see your HR representative today.