accordance with the Plan document, and is based on the
profitability of the Company during the preceding fiscal year.
Effective January 1, 2023, the matching contributions for all Plan
options are 300 percent for the first two percent and 100 percent
for the next four percent contributed by the employee.
Contributions are sent to Fidelity as soon as practicable following
each payroll period and are invested by Fidelity in the funds as
specified by participants. Monies will be held and invested by
Fidelity in a BlackRock Lifepath Index Fund closest to the
employee’s 65th birthday (the
default investment option) until designated investments have been
elected by the participant.
All contributions are considered tax deferred under section 401(a)
of the IRC, with the exception of Roth elective deferrals, which
are made on an after-tax basis.
The Plan has a Traditional option which covers employees with hire
dates before November 1, 1996 except for those employees who opted
into the Contemporary option described below. Under this option,
participant and Company contributions are calculated as previously
described and participants are fully vested in their account
balance at all times.
The Plan has a Contemporary option which generally covers employees
with hire dates on or after November 1, 1996 and existing employees
at January 1, 1997 that selected this option. Under this option,
participants received a higher matching contribution from the
Company than participants in the Traditional option until January
1, 2023. In the Contemporary option, the Company match is three
times greater for the first two percent of participant
contributions than the next four percent. The matching contribution
for the Contemporary option does not vest until the participant has
completed their third year of service.
Participant Accounts
Individual accounts are maintained for each Plan participant. Each
participant’s account is credited with the participant’s
contributions, employer matching contributions, Plan
earnings/losses (based on each participant’s investment elections),
and charged with withdrawals and administrative expenses.
Participants are immediately vested in their contributions and
allocated earnings or losses. The benefit to which a participant is
entitled is one that can be provided from the participant’s vested
account balance.
Forfeited Accounts
At October 31, 2022 and 2021, forfeited nonvested accounts totaled
$462 thousand and $370 thousand, respectively. These accounts will
be used to reduce future Company contributions. During the year
ended October 31, 2022, Company contributions were reduced by
$1,325 thousand from forfeited nonvested accounts.
Fund Elections
Participants in the Plan direct the investment of their account
balances into one or more investment funds, which include the
following as of October 31, 2022:
|
● |
Deere & Company Common Stock Fund* |
|
● |
International Equity Fund |
|
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Any of 23 Common Collective Trust Funds |
*Participants may not invest more than 20 percent of their future
contributions in the Deere & Company Common Stock Fund or make
an exchange into the Deere & Company Stock Fund that