While teaching may not be viewed as a financially-rewarding profession, school administrations and other educational organizations will do well to dispel this view by adequately planning their employees and members‚ benefit packages.
One such benefit package is the Educators Guaranteed Retirement Plan (EGRP) offered by Insular Life. EGRP is a retirement package that is a composite of a comprehensive group plan providing retirement, group life insurance, and disability benefits, a multi-purpose loan facility, housing program, and fire and motor vehicle insurance facilities.
"EGRP is a collaboration between Insular Life and three of its subsidiaries: Insular Savings Bank, Home Credit, and Insular General Insurance Co. Member institutions as well as employees (on a voluntary basis) help fund the plan," Aileen Beltrano, Insular Life assistant vice president explained. "The amount to be paid by the member-institution will be equal to four percent of the employee’s salary. On the other hand, the employee will pay an amount equal to one to four percent of his/her salary as voluntary contribution."
An alternative feature allows for the earnings of the retirement fund a three-year minimum guarantee of six-percent, which will be credited to the fund. In addition, 50 percent of the earnings in excess of the minimum guaranteed rate of return would also be credited back to the fund to assure continuous growth of the fund.
"Insular Life’s EGRP takes care of most of the financial worries of regular employees, even housing loan, fire and car insurance," Beltrano added.
Members of the plan may avail of the early retirement package at age 50 and with at least 10 years of continuous service with the school. It also has a built-in group life insurance benefit with a total and permanent disability rider. This means that when a member becomes totally and permanently disabled, a benefit equal to one-year salary up to P150,000 will be paid in addition to the accrued retirement benefit.
The plan also includes provisions for an all-purpose loan, which Insular Savings Bank will extend to EGRP members. Qualified members may also avail of the housing loan facility which either Insular Savings Bank or Home Credit can provide. The housing loan facility may be used for the construction of a residential house, purchase of house and/or lot, house improvements, or refinancing of an existing housing loan. The program also provides a rent-to-own scheme.
Furthermore, members have the option to protect their residential houses and vehicles through Insular General’s fire and motor/car insurance programs. Fire insurance will take care of damages or losses due to serious causes. It will also attend to home emergencies with the Home Assist Privilege such as plumbing, home security locks, glass window and electrical system. On the other hand, motor/car insurance provides coverage from theft and damages.
It also offers auto service and assistance program such as towing services and minor repairs such as changing tires, battery boosting and fuel line cleaning.
"All these are integrated in EGRP, which guarantees to be a one-stop shop and total solutions provider to an educator’s basic financial needs," Beltrano claimed.