‘U’ Retirement Terms

Ultimogeniture: "A system of inheritance whereby the youngest son gains possession of his deceased father's estate. Ultimogeniture was popular in many rural areas of medieval England, as well as parts of France, but it is rare today. Much more common is/was the tradition of primogeniture, or inheritance by the firstborn son."

Unconditional Vesting: "Pension benefits that are entitled to the employee without any restrictions. The employee is fully entitled to the vested benefits, even if he or she chooses to withdraw plan contributions. 
This is opposite to conditional vesting, in which entitlement to vested benefits is contingent upon the plan participant's contributions being retained in the plan and not withdrawn. "

Underfunded Pension Plan: "A company retirement plan that has more liabilities than assets. In other words, the money needed to cover current and future retirements is not readily available. Hence, there is no assurance that future retirees will receive the pensions they were promised or that current retirees will continue to get their previously established distribution amount."

Underemployment Compensation Amendment of 1992: "A law in the United States that allows a terminated employee to take employer-sponsored retirement savings and place them into a retirement plan of their choice. The Unemployment Compensation Amendment of 1992 gives the option upon termination of directly transferring the funds into an individual retirement account (IRA) or qualified pension plan of the individual's choice. If the individual would like to receive the distribution directly, there will be a 20% withholding penalty paid to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)."

Unfunded Pension Plan: "An employer managed retirement plan that uses the employer's current income to fund pension payments as they become necessary. This is in contrast to an advance funded pension plan where an employer sets aside funds systematically and in advance to cover any pension plan expenses such as payment to retirees and their beneficiaries."

Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA): "An act that allows minors to own property such as securities. The IRS allows persons to give so many thousands of dollars to another person without any tax consequences. If this recipient person is a minor, the UGMA allows the minor to own the assets without an attorney setting up a special trust fund. Under the UGMA, the ownership of the funds works like it does with any other trust except that the donor must appoint a custodian (the trustee) to look after the account."

Uniform Transfer Tax: "A combination of federal estate taxes and federal gift taxes. Uniform transfer tax taxes the transfer of assets from the death of a person to their chosen beneficiary as well as when assets are transferred from one individual to another without receiving anything or less than market value in return. The combination of both these taxes creates the uniform transfer tax."

Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA): "An act that allows a minor to receive gifts such as money, patents, royalties, real estate and fine art, without the aid of a guardian or trustee. Under UTMA, the gift giver or an appointed custodian manages the minor's account until the latter is of age (usually 18 or 21). The Uniform Transfer to Minors Act also shields the minor from tax consequences on the gifts (up to a specified value)."

Unit Benefit Formula: "A method of calculating an employer's contribution to an employee's defined benefit plan. The employer calculates the contribution by multiplying an employee's years of service by a percentage of his or her salary."

Unit Benefit Plan: "An employer-sponsored pension plan that provides retirement benefits based on a dollar amount or, more typically, a percentage of the employee's earnings for each year of service. A unit benefit plan is usually based on a percentage ranging from 1.25-2.5%. When the employee reaches retirement, his or her years of service are multiplied by the percentage multiplied by the career average salary to determine the employee's annual retirement benefit."

Unit Trust (UT): "An unincorporated mutual fund structure that allows funds to hold assets and pass profits through to the individual owners, rather than reinvesting them back into the fund. The investment fund is set up under a trust deed. The investor is effectively the beneficiary under the trust. "