Your NYSLRS pension will provide you with a monthly benefit for the rest of your life. When you apply for retirement, you’ll have the option to choose the maximum amount payable or a reduced benefit in exchange for possibly continuing payments to a beneficiary upon your death. There’s a lot to consider when choosing a pension payment option, so let’s break this down using an example.
Meet Jane
Jane plans to retire soon and considers whether she should leave a continuing benefit to her husband or grandchildren.
No Beneficiaries
The Single Life Allowance option would provide the maximum monthly benefit payment, but all payments will stop when Jane dies, and nothing will be paid to a beneficiary.
Multiple Beneficiaries, Limited Benefit
For Jane to name both of her grandchildren as beneficiaries, she would have to select either the Five Year Certain or Ten Year Certain option—these pension payment options provide a limited benefit for multiple beneficiaries and wouldn’t reduce her pension much. If Jane dies within five or ten years of retirement, depending on which option she chooses, Jane’s grandchildren would split her pension benefit for the remainder of the five- or ten-year period. However, if Jane lives beyond the five- or ten-year period, her grandchildren would not receive a pension benefit when she dies. (Note: Jane could select one of these options and name just one beneficiary, for example, her husband instead of her grandchildren.)
Single Beneficiary, Lifetime Benefit
Jane’s husband doesn’t have his own pension, so she also considers pension payment options providing a lifetime benefit for a single beneficiary. Under the Joint Allowance — Full or Joint Allowance — Half options, Jane’s husband would receive all or half of her reduced benefit for life, depending on which option she chooses. The same goes for the Pop-Up/Joint Allowance — Full or Pop-Up/Joint Allowance — Half options. While these “pop-up” options reduce the pension a little more, they provide added security—if Jane outlives her husband, her monthly payment will increase to the maximum amount as if she selected the Single Life Allowance option at retirement.
Pension payment amounts are based on the birth dates of both the retiree and their beneficiary. So, if Jane chose one of these options and named one of her grandchildren as her beneficiary, her pension would be much lower than the amounts listed in the graphic.
Things to Consider
As you plan for your own retirement and think about whether to leave a continuing benefit for a beneficiary, you may want to consider both your spouse’s and your:
- Financial needs (for instance, whether you have a mortgage, unpaid loans or other monthly payments).
- Other sources of retirement income (for example, Social Security or savings).
- Options for continuing benefits (for example, whether your retirement plan includes a death benefit or if you have life insurance).
- Age and health at retirement.
It’s also important to understand whether you can change your beneficiary after you retire. Life circumstances can sometimes change, and if you choose a pension payment option that provides a lifetime benefit, you cannot change your beneficiary.
Find your NYSLRS retirement plan publication to learn more about pension payment options and how your pension will be calculated. You can also estimate your pension using Retirement Online, and enter different retirement dates and beneficiary birth dates to see how those choices would affect your benefit. When you’re done, print your pension estimate or save it for future reference.
i am looking for the amt of monies my benficiary would get at my death . i am unable to find it. i have new york state take out $100 dollars a month from my retirement for the purpose of leaving my beneficiary monies.Please respond to me that info because i am unable to locate it on line.
For account-specific questions, please call our customer service representatives at 866-805-0990 (press 2, then follow the prompts). You can also message them using our secure contact form. Filling out the secure form allows them to safely contact you about your personal account information.
Is there a Lump Sum option for the retirement pension??
If the pension payment options described on our website do not meet your needs, we will consider written requests for other pension payment methods. You must outline your request in detail and submit it to NYSLRS for review to ensure it meets all legal and actuarial requirements.
Please mail your signed letter to:
NYSLRS
Attn: Service Retirement
110 State Street
Albany, NY 12244-0001
My account page is saying that I need to upload my Retirement Option Election Form. Where can I find the form to complete and upload it?
Thank you.
Option election forms are available on our website at https://www.osc.ny.gov/retirement/forms#options.
If you have account-specific questions, you can call our customer service representatives at 866-805-0990, or message them using our secure contact form (http://www.emailNYSLRS.com). Filling out the secure form allows NYSLRS to safely contact you about your personal account information.
I have been on hold for an hour and still no assistance. I want to make changes to my retirement plan and there aren’t any forms online to help me. This is ridiculous. We shouldn’t have to wait so long for assistance.
We’d like to help resolve your issue. Your message is important to us, and we have sent you a private message in response.
I have been trying to use the retirement calculator, and I am always directed to a page saying that it cannot be used at this time and to call NYSLRS. The contact number listed is never answered and I have sent emails asking for help and have yet to get a reply. How is any of this even possible?
We’re sorry for the trouble. Your message is important to us, and we have sent you a private message in response.
Why am I getting these irrelevant emails regarding options for retirement payments when I have already been receiving the retirement benefit for a year? These untimely emails are clogging up my email with useless information.
Please update your email distribution to those not yet receiving benefits and those who have been getting payments.
Please advise.
We’re sorry for the inconvenience. Subscribers to the NYSLRS New York Retirement News blog receive an email notification when we publish a new or updated post. We write about a mix of topics for retirees, members and the general public.
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