Our founder, Mr. George, recognized the impact associate ownership would have on the success of Publix from the very beginning. He believed when you own something, you tend to take better care of it. And his vision planted the seed for Publix to become the largest associate-owned company in the United States.
Through the PROFIT Plan, an employee stock ownership plan, you have the opportunity to become a company owner. Publix contributes Publix stock to this plan each year at no cost to its associates.
For 2017, Publix contributed 8 percent of participants’ eligible wages to the PROFIT Plan. This means each eligible associate received a new contribution of Publix stock to their PROFIT Plan account valued at 8 percent of their eligible wages. Over 133,000 full- and part-time associates shared in Publix’s contribution to the PROFIT Plan for 2017. The value of the average contribution was approximately $2,500 per associate.
You automatically participate in the PROFIT Plan after completing one year of employment during which you reach 1,000 or more work credit hours. As a participant, you were eligible to share in Publix’s contribution to the PROFIT Plan for 2017 if you reached 1,000 or more work credit hours during your anniversary year that ended in 2017. If you aren’t vested in your PROFIT Plan account, you had to be employed with Publix as of Dec. 31, 2017, to share in the contribution.
“Publix is committed to investing in our associates’ futures. Our PROFIT Plan contribution is one way we do this,” said Vice President of Benefits Administration Linda Kane. “Mr. George believed in profit sharing and associate ownership from the beginning. Our PROFIT Plan perpetuates Publix’s culture of company ownership more than eight decades later.”
In addition to the Publix contribution, the value of Publix stock increased 1.2 percent for the 2017 plan year, excluding dividends. This percent is based on the $0.50 increase (from $40.90 per share to $41.40) in the Publix stock valuation for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016 (stock valuation effective March 1, 2017), through the fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 30, 2017 (stock valuation effective March 1, 2018).
Over the last 10 years, the growth of Publix stock has averaged 7.2 percent per year (excluding dividends and determined as of March 1, 2018).
Please remember, past performance is no guarantee of future results.
The 2017 Publix Retirement Benefit Summaries for eligible associates will be available on PASSport by the end of April. You’ll receive a message on PASSport when your summary is posted. The summary shows the activity in your PROFIT Plan account for 2017 and your total retirement program balance with the 401(k) SMART Plan as of Dec. 31, 2017.
Now there are three convenient ways to view your PROFIT Plan account balance.
- Visit the Benefits Summary page on PASSport.
- Create or log in to your secure and confidential Publix Stockholder Online account by visiting corporate.publix.com/stock.
- Log in to your SMART Plan account by visiting the SMART Plan website from www.publix.org.
Do you have questions about the PROFIT Plan, 401(k) SMART Plan or Employee Stock Purchase Plan? Bring them to your 2018 Associate Benefits Meeting, which will be held in June at your work location.
Think you’re too young to worry about retirement? Think again. It’s never too early to start planning for your financial future.
Do you want to know what age you can retire if you save $20 a week? Need to know how much you should be contributing to retire by age 67? The myOrangeMoney tool makes it easy to test different scenarios so you can better understand the impact of your savings and investment decisions and make sure you’re on track to meet your retirement needs.
When you visit the 401(k) SMART Plan website from publix.org, you can use the myOrangeMoney tool to input specific information to determine your retirement readiness. Just log in to your SMART Plan account, and your current retirement savings, including your PROFIT Plan balance, will be available in the myOrangeMoney tool.
Don’t wait. Start today.
The group benefits stories in Publix News are published to assist associates in understanding Publix’s benefits plans. The information is in summary form only and does not replace the provisions in the benefit plan documents. If there is any conflict between the content of Publix News and the plans themselves, the terms of the plans will be the final authority.
