Retirement Action Plan
Use the following checklists to help you stay organized and take the necessary steps before/after you retire from AEP.
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Thinking About Retirement
AEP Benefits Center
1-888-237-2363 (Option 1 or 2)
Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. EST
1-866-217-8693 Monday - Thursday 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. EST Friday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. EST
Discuss Your Retirement Date With Your Manager
- Discuss any retirement plans with your manager, including your last day and any vacation or personal days off you intend to take before the end of your employment.
- Your manager must submit your termination transaction in Workday. It’s important that the date that you and your manager discuss together is the date that your manager enters as your termination date. This date must also align with any dates you are providing regarding any Pension estimate or Retirement kit requests.
Contact The AEP Benefits Center
The best time to contact the AEP Benefits Center is 60 to 90 days before your anticipated retirement date. Discuss your plans for retiring and benefit options with an AEP Retiree Counselor.
Consider Financial Counseling
Goldman Sachs Ayco Financial Wellness provides confidential financial counseling and retirement planning to AEP employees at no cost. You can also visit the digital platform to learn more.
Confirm Your Personal Contact Information
Verify your mailing address, email and phone number before and after your employment with AEP ends. While you are still employed with AEP, check Workday to ensure all of your information is up to date as this is the contact information that AEP will use for emails, phone calls or information mailed to you before your last day of employment.
Health & Welfare Benefit Considerations
Determine Your Options
Discuss any Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance Plan options and associated costs with an AEP Retiree Counselor. Your active employee coverage ends on the last day of the month in which you end your employment with AEP. Your coverage as an AEP retiree begins the following day, assuming you meet all eligibility requirements.
Calculate Your Rates
You can use the Retiree Cost Modeler to estimate your retiree contribution rates based on projected retirement dates. Log in at aepbenefits.com and click Start planning retirement on the Home page to access the modeler.
Enroll in Medicare Part B (if applicable)
If you or your spouse are eligible for Medicare at the time of your retirement date, whether due to age or disability, you MUST contact Medicare to enroll into Medicare Parts A & B. If you don’t do this prior to your retirement effective date, your Medical coverage through AEP will be impacted and potentially terminated. If possible, you should contact Medicare at least 60 days before your last day of employment to ensure timely enrollment in Part B.
Consider Your Health Savings Account (HSA)
If you contributed to an HSA or received employer-deposited HSA funds, contact HealthEquity to discuss your options. Refer to the Health Savings Account section for more details.
Continue Voluntary Coverage
If you were enrolled as an active employee in any voluntary benefits such as Life Insurance, Long-Term Care Insurance, Legal Plan, Home & Auto Insurance, or Pet Health Insurance, decide if you want to continue coverage.
AEP Pension Plan Steps
Estimate Your Pension Benefit
Consider your Pension payment options and estimate your Pension amount at any time using different retirement dates and assumptions.
Follow these steps to calculate your Pension amounts:
- Log in to aepbenefits.com.
- Click on the AEP Pension Plan link, then select View Details and Run Estimates.
- Go to Estimates and select the date you would like to use for your estimate.
Request Your Distribution Package
Once you’ve decided on your retirement date and, if applicable, your Pension benefit commencement date, you must request a distribution package. This information will include all of your options under the AEP Retirement Plan based on your last day on the AEP payroll (whether you actually work that day or use vacation) and commencement date that you specify.
Request a distribution kit by following these steps:
- Log in to aepbenefits.com.
- Click on the AEP Pension Plan tile.
- Click Get Started under Benefit Commencement.
Complete and Return Your Retirement Plan Forms
Once you select the option that best fits your financial needs, review the instructions about which forms you must complete and what documentation you must submit with your completed paperwork.
If You Choose to Defer
You may also choose to defer your Pension benefit to some later date (but not beyond age 72). If you wish to defer your benefits until a later date, no action is necessary. Once you are ready to begin your benefit, follow the steps to request a distribution package at least 60 days before you’d like to start receiving your benefit. If you are electing to defer your AEP Retirement Plan (Pension) benefit, it’s important that you have a beneficiary on file.
To review your Pension beneficiary information, follow these steps:
- Log in to aepbenefits.com.
- Select the AEP Pension Plan link, then select Manage Beneficiaries.
Please note that if you are legally married, you must obtain spousal consent in order to name a beneficiary other than your spouse.
AEP Retirement Savings 401(k) Plan
1-877-237-4015
Learn About Your Options
Visit aep401k.com or call Empower to learn about your options for your 401(k) Plan account, including distributions, rollovers to IRAs, or repayment of any outstanding loans. Depending on your account balance, you may also choose to leave your Retirement Savings Plan account in place until a later date (though you must begin taking required minimum distributions beginning at age 72).
Update/Review Your 401(k) Beneficiary
Contact Empower Retirement at 1-877-237-4015 or visit aep401k.com.
Executive Compensation & Benefit Plans
Executive Compensation & Benefit Plan Participants
If you participate in any Executive Compensation & Benefit Plans, please direct your questions as follows:
- Supplemental Retirement Savings Plan and Incentive Compensation Deferral Plan: Call Empower at 1-877-237-4015.
- Long-Term Incentive Plan(s): Visit netbenefits.fidelity.com or call 1-800-544-9354.
- Supplemental Excess Retirement Plan (SERP): Contact the AEP Benefits Center at 1-888-237-2363, (Option 1 or 2) or visit aepbenefits.com.
After logging in to aepbenefits.com, follow these instructions:
- Click on the AEP Pension Plan link.
- Select View Details and Run Estimates.
- Select Estimate Your Pension.
Treatment of AEP Long-Term Incentive (LTI) Awards upon a Qualifying Retirement
- Certain LTI awards may partially or fully vest at retirement, depending on the award year, retirement eligibility, and how long the award has been outstanding, provided the participant meets all requirements.
- To be eligible for Retirement vesting (when applicable), participants must be at least age 55, have at least 5 years of AEP service, and have 65 points (age + service, each in whole years).
- The participant’s employment termination must be for reasons other than Cause, in lieu of termination for Cause, a Change in Control event and, for 2026 and later awards, due to a severance.
- For 2026 awards, vesting depends on timing of the participant’s last day of active work after the specified effective date of the awards:
- Less than 6 months: no vesting
- 6–12 months and all requirements met: prorated vesting
- >12 months and all requirements met: full vesting
- Retirement vesting of 2026 awards also require that participants provide 3 months advanced notice of retirement in Workday and agree to a Release of All Claims and Non-Competition Agreement.
- For 2025 awards, eligible retirees receive prorated vesting for both Performance Shares and restricted stock units (RSUs). Prorated vesting of RSUs also requires that participants timely agree to a Release of All Claims Agreement.
- For 2024 awards, only Performance Shares are eligible for prorated vesting at retirement, which requires participants to be at least age 55 with at least 5 years of AEP service; RSUs do not vest upon retirement.
- Performance Share payouts occur after vesting with normal plan payout timing. RSU payouts occur on the last day of the month coincident with or next following the date that is 3 months after the last day worked (6 months after that date for Key Employees, which generally are officers and employee’s in salary grade 13 and higher positions.
If a participant severed at a time that you are retirement eligible as described here for LTI awards, the analysis of how you may become vested in your LTI awards is more complex. Such participants should refer to each of their outstanding LTI award agreements for additional information. Please direct any questions about LTI awards to aepcompensation@aep.com.
Prorated Vesting
- If the employment termination of an LTI participant makes them eligible for prorated vesting due to their Retirement, the number of LTI shares or units that vest is dependent upon the number of whole months between the defined Effective Date of the award and the participant’s last day of active work, divided by the number of whole months in the longest vesting period for such award. Because Restricted Stock Unit (RSU) awards may vest and pay out during the longest vesting period, the cumulative percentage of RSU units that have vested are then subtracted.
The information above is provided as a summary. For the complete plan details, please refer to the LTI Awards Upon Qualifying Retirement document, available here or on AEP Now.
Need Further Assistance?
You can speak with an AEP Retiree Counselor by calling 1-888-237-2363 (Option 1 or 2) Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m to 8:00 p.m. EST. AEP Retiree Counselors can help walk you through the retirement process, answer many of your questions about retirement benefits, and help you with site navigation, support and password resets.
This guide covers the benefits of retirees who are age 55 or older and who have ten or more years of credited service with AEP as of their last day of employment. If you are under age 55 with ten years of credited service as of your last day of employment, please refer to the guide “Leaving AEP: A Guide for Ending Employment.” If you were a part-time employee, please note that the following Plans or programs referenced in this guide are not applicable: Life Insurance, Dependent Life Insurance, Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance, the Long-term Disability (LTD) Plan, personal days off, educational assistance, adoption assistance, the educational awards program, and SIRVA Mortgage Services.
This guide is not intended to be a Plan document, Summary Plan Description, or required notice with respect to any of the Plans mentioned. AEP reserves the right to modify, amend, suspend, or terminate the Plans at any time. Refer to the applicable Plan document if you have any questions relating to a specific Plan or benefit.