Category Archives: General News

Make Sure You Receive Your Member Annual Statement

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Member Annual Statements are distributed to NYSLRS members each spring. It’s important that you make sure your contact information is correct to ensure you receive your Statement, which you can access in Retirement Online or have mailed to you.

Note for retirees: Retiree Annual Statements were mailed at the end of February.

Use Retirement Online to Check and Update Your Contact Information

The fastest way to check your contact information, and update it if needed, is through Retirement Online. Sign in to your Retirement Online account, go to the ‘My Profile Information’ area of your Account Homepage and click “update” next to your mailing address or email address to make corrections. Use a personal email, not a work email address.

Member Annual Statement

If you need assistance with Retirement Online, please call our Customer Service Representatives at 866-805-0990.

You can also update your contact information using our secure contact form. Be sure to complete all fields and provide your old and new contact information.

If your new mailing address is a PO Box, you must update your address in Retirement Online or complete and mail us a Change of Address Form (RS5512).

Your employer can’t update your NYSLRS contact information. So even if you updated it with your employer, you’ll need to update it with NYSLRS too.

Get Your Member Annual Statement Faster

You’ll receive your Member Annual Statement faster if you choose to receive it through Retirement Online. If you choose this option, you’ll receive an email that directs you to Retirement Online to see your Statement once it’s ready. To change your Statement delivery preference, go to the ‘My Profile Information’ area of your Retirement Online Account Homepage and click “update” next to ‘Member Annual Statement by.’

You can also receive other NYSLRS correspondence through Retirement Online by clicking “update” next to ‘Contact by.’ If you choose ‘Mail’ or don’t select a preference, you will receive letters by mail. Note: For security purposes, certain correspondence will only be sent by mail.

Please share this post with friends, family or coworkers who are NYSLRS members so they can also review their contact information.

Sex Identification and Your NYSLRS Membership

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As of January 1, 2023, when new members are enrolled in NYSLRS, they can choose “x” as their sex identification instead of “male” or “female.”

sex identification

Updating Your Sex Identification With NYSLRS

If you’re already a member or a retiree, you can update your sex identification with us at any time.

Sign in to Retirement Online to check what information we have on file for you. You can find your current sex identifier on your Account Homepage under ‘My Profile Information.’

If you need to change or correct your sex identification, send us a signed letter requesting the change. Please include your NYSLRS ID on the letter. No additional documentation is required to change your sex identifier.

You can send us the letter by attaching it to our secure contact form, or by mailing it to:

NYSLRS
110 State Street
Albany, NY 12244-0001

We are working to update Retirement Online so members and retirees can sign in and update their sex identification on their own. This feature is expected to be available sometime in 2023. (Need help accessing Retirement Online in the meantime? See our Tools and Tips post for more information.)

Need a Name Change Too?

If you’re changing your last name, you can make the update, and upload copies of the documentation showing the change, in Retirement Online. Sign in to your account, go to the ‘My Profile Information’ section of your Account Homepage and click the “update” link next to your name. A list of acceptable documentation will be provided.

To update your first or last name, send us a Name Change Notice (RS5483) form. You will need to provide original documentation, such as a court order, if the name change is for a reason other than a change in marital status. We can also accept a certified copy of the documentation.

Why Your Retirement Plan Publication Is So Important

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Your plan publication is an essential resource that you should consult throughout your career. It will help you plan for retirement and guide you when your retirement date draws near.

Reminder: you can use this tool to help you find your retirement plan publication.

Let’s explore the information you’ll find in your plan publication and what it means.

retirement plan publication

About Your Membership

This section has basic information about your membership, including your tier, contributions, when you will be eligible for a pension and how to withdraw your membership if you leave public employment.

Service Credit

Service credit is one of the main factors in determining your pension benefit amount. If you work full-time for the State or a participating municipal employer for 12 months, you’ll earn a year of service credit. If you work part-time, your service credit is prorated.

You’ll also find information about how your service credit is calculated, how to purchase credit for previous public employment or military service, how leaves of absence affect service credit, and how sick leave can be used for extra service credit at retirement.

Final Average Earnings

Final average earnings (FAE) are another major factor in determining the amount of your pension. Your FAE is the average earnings during the set of consecutive years (three or five years, depending on your tier and retirement plan) when your earnings were highest.

This section describes what types of payments are used in calculating your FAE and any limitations that may apply.

Service Retirement Benefits

This section describes your retirement eligibility and how your benefit is calculated. If you have questions about how much your pension will be, you should read this section.

Choosing a Pension Payment Option

You can choose from several options for the payment of your pension. Some payment options allow you to provide for your spouse or other beneficiary after you die in exchange for a reduction in your monthly payment. Consider each payment option carefully, as you’ll only have at most 30 days to change it after you retire.

Items That May Affect Your Pension

This section describes factors that can change the amount of your pension. For example, if you retire with an outstanding loan, your pension will be permanently reduced. Also, if you get a divorce, your ex-spouse may be entitled to a portion of your benefit.

A cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), on the other hand, would increase your benefit once you become eligible.

Vested Retirement Benefits

If you leave public employment before retirement age but have met the minimum service requirement to receive a pension, you can apply for a vested retirement benefit when you become eligible.

Disability and Death Benefits

Your NYSLRS benefits include more than a pension. If you are no longer able to perform your job because of a medical condition, you may be eligible for a disability retirement. If you die before retirement, your survivors may be eligible for a death benefit.

Receiving Your Benefits

Before you can receive your pension, you must file an application with the Office of the State Comptroller. This section describes the process of applying for your retirement benefits, including information about filing online.

Compounding: A Great Way for Your Money to Grow

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Financial security doesn’t just happen; it takes planning … and time. You know you can count on your pension income in retirement. But if you want to improve your chances of a financially secure retirement, you should have a retirement savings plan. The sooner you do that, the better, because it’s important to start saving and investing early so your money has time to grow.

When you invest in a retirement savings plan such as an IRA or 457(b), you earn a return on your investment, and your returns are compounded. That means your money increases in value by earning returns on both the original amount and accumulated profits. This is a little different from earning simple interest. Let’s see how they both work.

the power of compounding interest

 

How Simple Interest Works

In banking, simple interest is a certain percentage you are paid on the money you put in your account. With simple interest, the amount of interest you earn is based on the original (or principal) amount of the deposit.

Let’s say you opened a savings account and deposit $1,000 in January. If the bank paid 5 percent annual interest on that deposit, you’d receive five cents for every dollar in your savings account each year. At the end of one year, you’d have $1,050. That’s $50 more than the principal amount you started with. With simple interest, the interest you earn every year would still be based on the principal amount of $1,000 — no compounding.

How Compounding Works

With compounding, your initial investment plus your earnings are reinvested. If you earn the same 5 percent, with compounding, it’s applied to the full balance of your account. So, you would still have that $1,050 at the end of the first year, but by the end of the second year you’d have $1,102.50 in your account instead of $1,100.

In this example, that’s just a difference of $2.50, but, over time, compounding can mean a difference of hundreds or thousands of dollars.

If you’re thinking about boosting your personal savings for retirement, look for accounts that use compounding. For example, the New York State Deferred Compensation Plan (NYSDCP) is the 457(b) plan created for New York State employees and employees of other participating public employers in New York. The sooner you can start saving, the more time your money has to grow.

Other Sources:
How to Calculate Simple and Compound Interest

Left Public Employment? Don’t Forget to File for Retirement

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If you expect to leave public employment before retirement age, or if you’ve already left, take note of this important information about your NYSLRS pension.

Once you become a vested NYSLRS member, you’re eligible for a NYSLRS pension even if you leave public employment before retirement age. Vesting is automatic but receiving retirement benefits is not. You’ll need to apply for your pension. But when should you apply?

Filing for Retirement If You Have Left Public Employment

Most NYSLRS members can begin collecting their pension as early as age 55. If you file for your retirement benefit between age 55 and your full NYSLRS retirement age, you may face a permanent benefit reduction. Full retirement age for a NYSLRS pension is 62 or 63, depending on your plan and tier.

retirement age for full benefits if you left public employment

Waiting longer than your full retirement age, however, could cost you a lot of money.

If you aren’t working for a NYSLRS participating employer, your NYSLRS pension will not increase after your full retirement age. Pension benefits are not retroactive, and you will not be able to recover the monthly pension payments that you would have received if you retired at full retirement age.

How Social Security and NYSLRS Rules Differ

NYSLRS and Social Security are different systems with different milestones. You can collect Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62. If you delay taking Social Security, your benefit amount will continue to increase 8 percent per year until you reach age 70 (for those born in 1943 or later).

But if you wait until you’re 70 to apply for your NYSLRS pension, you’ll miss out on years of NYSLRS benefit payments.

The information above applies only to members who leave public employment before their full retirement age.

(In most cases, if you are still working for a participating public employer in New York State, your pension amount will continue to increase, even if you work past your retirement age.)

Steps You Can Take

Your retirement may be years or even decades in the future. Here are a few steps you can take to help you keep track of your NYSLRS pension if you leave public employment:

  • Estimate your NYSLRS pension at different ages using the benefit calculator in Retirement Online.
  • Create a plan for retirement, taking into account the milestones above.
  • Review your plan periodically and update it as necessary.
  • Keep your contact information up to date using Retirement Online.
  • Contact NYSLRS if you have questions about your benefits.

NYSLRS Membership by Tier

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NYSLRS, which administers the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) and the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), had 685,450 members as of March 31, 2022. Our members are State government, local government, school district and other public-sector employees from across New York — 650,251 in ERS and 35,199 in PFRS. About 74 percent of our members were active, which means they were on a public payroll as of March 31.

NYSLRS Membership Over Time

A decade ago, more than 80 percent of NYSLRS members were in Tiers 3 and 4. Now, those tiers represent less than 40 percent of our membership. Tier 6, which includes members who joined NYSLRS since April 1, 2012, now has 367,013 members, or 53.5 percent of total membership.

NYSLRS Membership by Tier

Here’s a look at our NYSLRS membership by tier, as of March 31:

Tier 1: NYSLRS’ oldest tier, whose members first joined the system before July 1, 1973 (July 31, 1973, for PFRS members), is dwindling. Tier 1 represented only 0.2 percent of our membership. There were only 1,043 Tier 1 ERS members and 17 Tier 1 PFRS members.

Tier 2: With 18,074 members, Tier 2 represented 2.6 percent of membership. Ninety-four percent of Tier 2 members were in PFRS.

Tiers 3 & 4: Tiers 3 and 4, which have similar retirement plans, had 263,734 members, 38.5 percent of the total membership. Tiers 3 and 4 are primarily ERS tiers. There is no Tier 4 in PFRS, and only 173 PFRS members were in Tier 3.

Tier 5: Tier 5 covers members who joined from January 1, 2010, through March 31, 2012. With 35,569 members, Tier 5 represented 5.2 percent of membership.

Tier 6: This tier covers members who joined since April 1, 2012. Its ranks grew by about 13 percent during the last fiscal year.

Why Your Tier Matters

Your tier is an essential component of your NYSLRS membership because it is one of the factors that determines your benefits. You can find out more by reading your retirement plan booklet. Our recent blog posts explain how to find your plan booklet and how to get the most out of it.

Public Pensions Give Economic Boost to Small Towns, Rural Areas

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Small towns and rural areas in New York and across the United States get an important economic boost from public pensions, a recent study concludes.

Public Pensions Give Economic Boost to Small Towns and Rural Areas Across New York

Why Public Pensions Give an Economic Boost

Because of their smaller economies, less-populated counties benefit more from pension dollars than larger, urban counties, according to Fortifying Main Street: The Economic Benefit Of Public Pension Dollars In Rural America.

In many small towns and rural communities, the report notes, school districts and local governments are the largest employers. Those public employees typically remain in their communities after retirement, and the authors attribute the economic boosts they found to pension dollars spent locally on goods and services.

Across New York State, public pensions were responsible for 1.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018. (GDP, the total value of goods and services produced during a specific period, is a common gauge of economic activity.) However, during the same period:

  • Wyoming County in western New York, where a handful of villages dot a rural landscape, saw public pensions generate 4.6 percent of GDP.
  • Hamilton County, with fewer than 5,000 people, received an economic boost from public pensions that accounted for 6.3 percent of GDP.

The study’s findings are in line with data showing the impact NYSLRS retirees have on local economies and other studies about the economic benefits of pensions.

Notes on the Data

Fortifying Main Street, which was released in July by the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS), examines pension data from 2,922 counties in 43 states. Based on criteria used by the federal Office of Budget Management, it divides counties into three main categories: metropolitan, small-town (or micropolitan) and rural. The study also analyzes data from counties that are home to the state capital, because these places tend to have higher numbers of public retirees. In Albany County, public pensions generated 2.7 percent of GDP.

Hamilton County is the only county in New York defined as rural in the study, but 16 counties, including Wyoming County, fit the “small town” criteria. You can read the full report on the NIRS website.

The study uses pensions paid by NYSLRS, the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System, the Teachers’ Retirement System of New York City and the New York City Employees’ Retirement System in its data for New York State.

Estimate Your Pension in Retirement Online

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How much will your pension be?

Fortunately, it is easier than ever to find out. Most NYSLRS members can create their own pension estimate in minutes using Retirement Online.

A Retirement Online estimate is based on the most up-to-date account information we have on file for you. You can enter different retirement dates to see how those choices would affect your benefit. When you’re done, you can print your pension estimate or save it for future reference.

estimate your pension in Retirement Online

How to Create Your Pension Estimate

Before you can use the pension calculator, you will need a Retirement Online account. Once you sign in, go to the ‘My Account Summary’ section of your account homepage and click the “Estimate my Pension Benefit” button.

You can enter an estimated retirement date (or retirement age), your current salary and expected annual salary increases. You can also include any service credit you plan to purchase and anticipated lump sum payment for unused vacation. If you add the birthdate for a beneficiary, you’ll also see the estimated monthly payment you would receive if you were to choose a pension payment option that provides a benefit for a survivor.

Any pension estimate you generate with the online calculator would be an approximation of your potential benefit; it is not a guarantee that you’ll receive a certain amount when you retire.

Alternative Ways to Get an Estimate

While more than 90 percent of NYSLRS members (most Tier 2 through 6 members) can use the Retirement Online pension calculator, some members should have NYSLRS generate their benefit estimate. For example, if you recently transferred your membership to NYSLRS or are covered under certain special plans, it would be better if NYSLRS created an estimate for you.

The system will notify you if your estimate cannot be completed using Retirement Online’s pension calculator. Please contact us to request a pension estimate if you receive this notification. Also, if you are in Tiers 2 through 6, you can still use the Quick Calculator on the NYSLRS website. The Quick Calculator generates estimates based on information you provide.

A Look Inside NYSLRS

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NYSLRS provided pension benefits to more than 500,000 retirees and beneficiaries during the State fiscal year that ended on March 31. These benefits are provided by the New York State Common Retirement Fund (the Fund).

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli is administrative head of NYSLRS and trustee of the Fund. It is widely recognized as one of the best-managed and best-funded public retirement funds in the nation.

NYSLRS information

NYSLRS Membership                                                          

But NYSLRS is more than just the pension fund. The system serves more than 685,000 members as of March 31. Here are some facts about our membership:

  • 506,084 active members (that is, members still on the public payroll) work for 2,972 public employers statewide.
  • About one-third of those active members work for New York State. The rest work for counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts and public authorities.
  • Nearly 94 percent of total active members are in the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS). The Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS) accounts for 6 percent of total active membership.
  • More than 50 percent of all Retirement System members are in Tier 6.
  • In ERS, 54 percent of members are in Tier 6, while 40.5 percent are in Tiers 3 and 4.
  • In PFRS, 45 percent of members are in Tier 6, while 48 percent are in Tier 2.

NYSLRS Retirees and Beneficiaries

The average pension for an ERS retiree was $26,467 as of March 31, 2022; the average for a PFRS retiree was $58,522. But these pension payments don’t just benefit the System’s retirees and beneficiaries. Seventy-nine percent of retirees and beneficiaries stay in New York and generate billions of dollars in economic activity across the state. Their spending supports local businesses, contributes to local taxes and creates jobs in our communities.

Learn More About NYSLRS

Extensive information about our members and retirees, the Fund and Fund investments can be found in the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. This report includes detailed information about the Fund’s investments, strategies and financial position. It also provides details about NYSLRS’ 1.19 million members, retirees and beneficiaries.

Update Regarding Retiree Earnings Limit

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Normally, most NYSLRS retirees who return to work for a public employer face an earnings limit. Under Section 212 of the Retirement and Social Security Law, most NYSLRS retirees under age 65 who return to work for a public employer can earn up to $35,000 per calendar year without penalty. The limit includes all earnings for the calendar year, including money or retroactive payments earned in the calendar year but paid in a different calendar year. If a retiree exceeds the earnings limit and continues to work, their pension benefits are suspended for the remainder of the year.

However, executive orders and new legislation have temporarily suspended the earnings limit for retirees who returned to work.

retiree earnings limit

Earnings Limit Suspended through June 30, 2023 for School Districts and BOCES

The state budget for fiscal year 2022-2023 included legislation that temporarily suspends the earnings limit for retirees employed by school districts and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). Under this legislation, post-retirement earnings with a school district or BOCES will not count toward a retiree’s annual earnings limit through June 30, 2023.

The new law means that for retirees working for school districts or BOCES, the limit is eliminated through the end of the school year 2022-23. This extension does not apply to universities, colleges or charter schools.

Earnings Limit Suspended through April 22, 2023 for Other Public Employers

The Governor has issued an executive order temporarily suspending the retiree earnings limit. Under the executive order, post-retirement earnings with a public employer will not count toward the annual calendar-year earnings limit during the following time periods:

  • January 1, 2023 through April 22, 2023.
  • January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022.
  • January 1, 2021 through June 24, 2021, and September 27, 2021 through December 31, 2021.
  • March 27, 2020 through December 31, 2020.

If the order is extended beyond April 22, 2023 we will update this blog post. For general information about post-retirement employment, please read What If I Work After Retirement.