After I retire, I would like to work in a restaurant owned by a friend of mine. We have never talked about it, but I thought I'd approach him as I get closer to my retirement date. Do I have to report this prospective employment?
Based on how you have described the situation, you don't really have an arrangement or agreement for employment as yet. However, once you have started discussions about possible future employment, you should get more specific guidance right away from your ethics official. You may have to report an agreement on next year's form.
Do I have to report my TIAA-CREF plan in Part IV?
TIAA-CREF offers retirement plans for employees of educational institutions and research organizations, and they offer retail mutual funds to the general public. If you invested in TIAA-CREF through your former employer such as a university, then you must report the TIAA-CREF plan in Part IV because it is an agreement or arrangement with your former employer. Even if your TIAA-CREF plan contains diversified mutual funds only, you still must report the plan in Part IV when you invested in the plan through your former employer.
How do you report the plan in Part IV? In the first column, you will list the name of your former employer and the city and state in which it is located. In the second column, you will describe what will happen to the plan while you are a government employee. If, for example, the University of Maryland is your former employer and you will keep your TIAA-CREF plan with them, you will make the following entry in the second column: “I will keep my TIAA-CREF plan with the University of Maryland.”