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. In this post, we’ll explore the Joint Allowance and Pop-Up/Joint Allowance pension payment options which provide a lifetime benefit for a single beneficiary.
Joint Allowance Pension Payment Options
In exchange for a permanent reduction in your monthly pension payment, the Joint Allowance options provide a lifetime benefit to a beneficiary after you die.
You can select either:
- Full: Your beneficiary will receive the same monthly pension payment as you were receiving for life.
- Half: Your beneficiary will receive half of the monthly pension payment you were receiving for life.
- Partial: Your beneficiary will receive either 75, 50, or 25 percent of the monthly pension payment you were receiving for life.
You can only choose one beneficiary under a Joint Allowance option, and you cannot change your beneficiary after you retire—regardless of the circumstances. If your beneficiary dies before you, all payments will stop when you die.
Pension payment amounts are based on the birth dates of both you and your beneficiary. Because life expectancy is a factor, the reduction to your pension payment amount will be more if you select a child or grandchild than a spouse of a similar age as you.
If you designate your spouse as your beneficiary, they would be eligible to receive 50% of your cost-of-living adjustment.
Pop-Up/Joint Allowance Pension Payment Options
The Pop-Up/Joint Allowance options have all the same terms of the Joint Allowance options with added security—if your beneficiary dies before you, your monthly pension payment will “pop up” or increase to the amount you would have been receiving had you chosen the Single Life Allowance option at retirement. (Note: This only affects future payments. You would not be entitled to retroactive payments.) Therefore, the Pop-up/Joint Allowance options reduce your monthly pension payment a little more than a comparable Joint Allowance option.
Other Pension Payment Options
The Single Life Allowance provides the maximum monthly pension payment to you for the rest of your life. However, this option does not provide a continuing benefit. All payments will stop when you die, and nothing will be paid to a beneficiary.
Some pension payment options provide a limited benefit for multiple beneficiaries.
Things to Consider
When choosing your pension payment option, 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.
You only have 30 days after the last day of your retirement month to change your option. After that date, you cannot change your option for any reason.
Estimate Your Pension in Retirement Online
Most members can use Retirement Online to create a pension estimate based on the most up-to-date salary and service information we have on file. You can enter different retirement dates, beneficiaries and pension payment options to see how they affect your potential benefit.
- Sign in to Retirement Online.
- Look under My Account Summary section.
- Click Estimate my Pension Benefit button.
When you’re done, print your pension estimate or save it for future reference.
How can I choose the Pop-Up/Joint Allowance-Full option now and what re the percentage choices?
My spouse is my primary beneficiary, but I still have several years until retirement. If I die before I retire will my spouse get a one-time payout? Or will she get a monthly pension payment for the rest of her life?
Most members who die while they’re still working will leave their beneficiaries what’s called an ordinary death benefit—a one-time, lump sum payment that’s usually equal to one year of your earnings per year of service, up to a maximum of three years. If you’ve named your spouse as your primary beneficiary, this is the benefit she would currently receive, not a pension benefit.
You choose your pension payment option at retirement. If you select a Pop-Up/Joint Allowance option, you could again name your spouse as your beneficiary, and she would receive a lifetime benefit when you die. The most common percentages are 100, 75, 50, or 25 percent.
You can find more information about the ordinary death benefit and other death benefits in our Know Your Benefits: Death Benefits blog post.
You may want to Estimate Your Pension in Retirement Online to get an idea of the benefit your spouse might receive under different payment options once you retire. These estimates are based on the most up-to-date account information we have on file for you.
For account-specific questions, please message our customer service representatives using our secure contact form. Filling out the secure form allows them to safely contact you about your personal account information.
Both my husband and I work at the same high school. He will be drawing on his pension June 1st. His pension benefit is hirer than mine as his salary was higher. My question is, if he does a pop-up/joint allowance for me do I still get both his pension and mine as I am his pension beneficiary?
I understand that in Social Security I would take the higher benefit for spouse? Since we both earned pensions, and as long as my husband’s has me as his pop up/joint allowance, I would get both his and mine upon his death? Is this correct? This is a big question for us in regards to getting life insurance.
If you and your husband will each collect your own pension from NYSLRS, it will not affect the amount you would receive as the beneficiary of his NYSLRS pension.
We recommend you use Retirement Online to create a custom pension estimate for you and your husband. Most Tier 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 members can use Retirement Online to create NYSLRS pension estimates based on the salary and service information we have on file for you.
• Sign in to Retirement Online.
• From Account Homepage, click Estimate my Pension Benefit button.
You can enter different retirement dates and beneficiaries to see how they affect your potential benefit. For additional information about pension estimates, please message our customer service representatives using our secure contact form. Filling out the secure form allows them to safely contact you about your personal account information.
Hello, I have a question about my retirement. If my spouse passes away before I do, what happens to her portion of the pension? Does it go back to me? or can I arrange it to go to my children?
Some pension payment options let a retiree choose a reduced benefit in exchange for continuing payments to a beneficiary upon their death. So, it depends on what payment option your spouse selected when she retired and who she named as beneficiary.
Once NYSLRS is informed of a retiree’s death and we receive the death certificate, we will send named beneficiaries or their certified representatives (guardians, powers of attorney, executors) information about death benefits and, if applicable, information about any continuing pension benefits and death benefits that may be payable. We will also send named beneficiaries the appropriate forms to complete.