Most NYSLRS members can create their own pension estimates in minutes using Retirement Online. Your estimate will be based on the most up-to-date account information we have on file for you. You can enter different retirement dates and beneficiaries to see how those choices would affect your benefit. When you’re done, print your pension estimate or save it for future reference.
Remember, the amounts are estimates, not a guarantee of what you’ll receive when you retire.
Most Tier 2 through 6 members (more than 90 percent of all NYSLRS members) can use the Retirement Online pension calculator. However, some members may not be able to—for example, members who recently transferred to NYSLRS and some PFRS members. The system will let you know if your estimate cannot be completed. In that case, please send us a message using our secure contact form (select Estimates from the Topic dropdown).
Do More With Retirement Online
In Retirement Online, you can view your account details—date of membership, tier, retirement plan, estimated total service credit and more. Check out what else members can do in Retirement Online.
NYSLRS retirement plans provide death benefits for beneficiaries of eligible members who die before retiring.
It’s important to name beneficiaries and review them periodically. Life circumstances change and a beneficiary you named before might not be one you would choose today. For instance, you may have a new partner or you may have children now. And NYSLRS can only pay a death benefit to the beneficiaries you’ve named.
Your primary beneficiary will receive your death benefit. You can list more than one primary beneficiary. If you do, they will share the benefit equally. Or, you can choose different percentages for each beneficiary, which must total 100 percent. (Example: John Doe, 50 percent; Jane Doe, 25 percent; and Mary Doe, 25 percent.)
A contingent beneficiary will only receive a benefit if all your primary beneficiaries die before you do. If you list multiple contingent beneficiaries, they will share the benefit equally unless you choose different percentages.
Special Beneficiary Designations
Your beneficiary doesn’t have to be a person. You can name your estate, a trust or a charity as your beneficiary.
Estate. When you die, your estate is the money and property you owned. Your death benefit will be given to the executor of your estate to be distributed according to the terms of your will. You can name your estate as the primary or contingent beneficiary of your death benefit. If you name your estate as the primary beneficiary, do not name a contingent beneficiary.
Trust. You can name a trust as a primary or contingent beneficiary if you have a trust agreement or provided for a trust in your will. The trust itself would be your beneficiary, not the individuals for whom you established the trust. (Speak with your attorney if you’re thinking about making your trust a beneficiary.)
Entity. You can also name any charitable, civic, religious, educational or health-related organization as a beneficiary.
Minor children. If your beneficiary is under the age of 18 at the time of your death, your benefit will be paid to the child’s court-appointed guardian. You may instead choose a custodian to receive the benefit on the child’s behalf under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA). Custodians can be designated in Retirement Online, or you can contact us for more information and the appropriate form before making this type of designation.
Keep Your Beneficiaries Up to Date with Retirement Online
You can change your beneficiaries at any time. In addition to adding or removing them to reflect your current wishes, you should review the contact information for your named beneficiaries so we can find them when needed.
The fastest way to view or update your beneficiaries is in Retirement Online.
When it comes to managing your NYSLRS account, Retirement Online is the fastest way to do it. Skip printing forms, having them notarized and sending them through the mail. When you submit your requests online, NYSLRS has them immediately, and your changes will be completed more quickly. It’s convenient, and it’s secure.
Get Email Notifications for Important Documents and Help Us ‘Go Green’
You can help us ‘go green’ and reduce paper waste by choosing email as your delivery preference for correspondence and other important documents. When you have something to view, we’ll send an email notifying you to sign in to Retirement Online. And it’ll save time—you’ll get access to your important documents sooner than printed copies are mailed.
To update your delivery preferences:
Look under My Profile Information.
Click update next to ‘Contact by’ or ‘Member Annual Statement by.’
Choose Email from dropdown.
Be sure the email address listed in your profile is current.
If you choose email as your delivery preference, you will not receive a printed copy in the mail.
Update Your Contact Information
It’s important we have your current contact information so you receive the news, correspondence and statements we send you.
To update your contact information:
Look under My Profile Information.
Click update next to email address, mailing address or phone number.
If you don’t already have an email address on file, please provide it so we can contact you quickly with important information, such as a change to your benefits. Use a personal email address you will have access to before and after you retire, not a work email address.
Manage Your Beneficiaries
NYSLRS retirement plans provide death benefits for beneficiaries of eligible members who die before retiring. It’s a good idea to review your beneficiaries from time to time to make sure they reflect your current wishes. The beneficiary you named before might not be the one you would choose today. You should also review the contact information for your named beneficiaries so we can find them when needed.
To add or remove beneficiaries or update their contact information:
Look under My Account Summary.
Click View and Update My Beneficiaries button.
Estimate Your Pension
How much will your pension be? It’s an important question as you plan for retirement. In just a few steps, most members can use Retirement Online to estimate their pension based on the most up-to-date account information we have on file, then save or print the estimate. You can enter different retirement dates and beneficiaries to see how those choices would affect your benefit and help you choose the retirement date that’s right for you.
Look under My Account Summary.
Click Estimate My Pension Benefit button.
Apply for a Loan and Manage Loan Payments
The fastest way to apply for a loan is in Retirement Online. You can see how much you are eligible to borrow, what the repayment amount would be and whether your loan will be taxable—all before you apply.
Look under My Account Summary.
Click Apply for a Loan button.
If you have an existing loan, you can check your current loan balance and adjust your payment amount or make an additional one-time payment.
Look under My Account Summary.
Click Manage My Loans button.
Request Additional Service Credit
You may be able to request additional service credit if you worked for your current or another public employer before joining NYSLRS or if you served in the U.S. Armed Forces and received an honorable discharge from active military duty. In most cases, you have to pay for additional service credit. But because service credit is a factor in the calculation of your retirement benefits, purchasing additional service credit will usually increase your pension. You must submit your request before retirement, and you should do it as early in your career as possible—the sooner you purchase your credit, the less it will generally cost.
To submit your request online:
Look under My Account Summary.
Click Manage My Service Credit Purchases button.
Click Request Additional Service Credit link.
Get Your Member Annual Statement
Your Member Annual Statement is a valuable snapshot of your NYSLRS membership and benefits as of March 31, the end of the state fiscal year. You can access Statements dating back to 2020 online.
Look under My Account Summary.
Click View MyMember Annual Statement button.
Statements are made available online each year in early May, sooner than printed copies are mailed—update your delivery preference to get notified.
Generate a Mortgage Verification Letter
If you are applying for a mortgage and need a summary of your NYSLRS account information, you can quickly generate a mortgage verification letter online. The document will show your contribution balance, the date and amount of your last loan, and if you have an existing loan, the current balance, the payroll deduction amount and the interest rate.
Look under I want to… (located at the top right).
Click Generate Mortgage Verification Letter link.
Apply for Retirement
When you are ready to retire, avoid the hassle of paper forms and apply online. You’ll be able to see an estimate of your pension, select your payment option, enter federal tax withholding information, sign up for direct deposit, submit required documents and much more. Learn more about the advantages and how to apply for retirement in Retirement Online.
If you leave public employment with less than ten years of service credit, you can withdraw your membership online and request a refund of your contributions. However, this will end your NYSLRS membership. Before you submit a withdrawal application, we recommend speaking with a customer service representative by sending a message using our secure contact form.
Your retirement account can be an attractive target for scammers, and imposters continue to find new ways to try to impersonate government agencies, such as NYSLRS or the Social Security Administration. Learn to distinguish fake messages from official NYSLRS communications and protect yourself from scams.
How Scams Work
Imposters pretend to be an agency or organization you already know to gain your trust. They use similar logos or imagery in correspondence. They may contact you from an email address that mimics—but isn’t identical to—those used by employees of the actual organization. Some can even make a real agency’s phone number appear on caller ID (known as spoofing).
Usually, once they contact you, they claim there is a problem (or a prize or a new benefit available) requiring your immediate attention. But here’s the catch: to fix the problem or receive the reward, the imposter needs you to pay them a fee or provide personal data, such as your Social Security number or bank account information. They may even threaten you with legal action, a suspension of your benefits or arrest if you fail to act in time.
If someone contacts you and you notice these signs of a scam, remain calm. Hang up the phone or delete the message if you feel like something is off. It’s the easiest way to avoid accidentally giving away personal information.
AI: A New Tool for Scams
You should also be aware of an emerging threat—artificial intelligence (AI), which allows computers to mimic certain human behaviors, such as speech and writing. Using AI, scammers can personalize phishing emails, making it harder to recognize a fraudulent communication. AI may even be able to impersonate the voice of a family member or friend, making you think they are in trouble or need money.
Here are some things you can do to protect yourself from AI-enhanced scams:
Don’t share sensitive information through text or social media;
Don’t send or transfer money to unknown locations;
Consider designating a “safe word” for your family to use to identify themselves and share that word with family members and close contacts; and
When in doubt, hang up and call your loved one back.
Doing Business With NYSLRS
Generally, NYSLRS will only call you if we are following up on a previous communication from you, such as a phone call, secure email message, Retirement Online request, form or letter. For security, you can use your NYSLRS ID to identify yourself instead of providing your Social Security number. To find your NYSLRS ID, sign in to Retirement Online, or check your annual statement or other correspondence from NYSLRS.
It’s important to review the communications you receive from NYSLRS. We send you letters or emails (depending on your delivery preference in Retirement Online) whenever you update your Retirement Online account or benefit information.
Keep Your Retirement Online Account Secure
Retirement Online is the fastest and most convenient way to review your retirement account details and conduct business with NYSLRS. And it’s safe to use—it has the same security safeguards used for online banking and by other financial institutions. Please note, it is currently only available from the NYSLRS website; there is no mobile app.
Here are steps you can take to help make sure your Retirement Online account stays secure:
First, if you don’t have an account, learn more about Retirement Online and click Register Now to sign up. (For help, check out our Retirement Online Tools and Tips blog post.) By creating an account, you can prevent scammers who get a hold of your personal information from impersonating you and registering for a Retirement Online account in your name.
Once you have an account, keep your username and password in a safe place, and don’t share them with anyone. NYSLRS will never ask for your password.
Sign in to Retirement Online at least once a year and update your password so it doesn’t expire. If you haven’t signed in recently and forgot your user ID or password, don’t worry—from the customer login page, you can:
Click the Forgot ID link to look up your user ID.
Click the Forgot Password link to reset your password.
You’ll need to identify yourself and answer security questions you set when you signed in for the first time. Read our Forgot User ID and Forgot Password guides for step-by-step instructions.
Update your delivery preference to receive an email notifying you when you have correspondence to view in Retirement Online. That way, when there are changes to your account, you’ll receive an email notifying you instead of waiting for printed notices through the mail.
That depends. If you choose a pension payment option that provides a lifetime benefit for a beneficiary, you cannot change your beneficiary even if they die before you do. However, if you choose a pension payment option that provides a benefit for a certain period after retirement, you can change your beneficiary after you retire. Learn more about the different pension payment options and whether they allow you to change your beneficiary below.
If your retirement plan provides a one-time lump sum death benefit after you retire, you can also change your beneficiary (or beneficiaries) for that benefit.
Single Life Allowance option: Provides the maximum monthly benefit payment to you for the rest of your life. This option does not provide a continuing benefit so you will not select a beneficiary, and all payments stop when you die.
Joint Allowance options:Provide a lifetime benefit to a loved one in exchange for a reduction to your monthly benefit payment. After your death, your beneficiary will continue to receive your pension (or part of it, depending on the option you choose) for the rest of their life. If your beneficiary dies before you, your monthly benefit payment remains the same and all payments stop when you die. However, if you choose one of the Popup-Up/Joint Allowanceoptions and your beneficiary predeceases you, your monthly benefit payments will increase to the amount payable under the Single Life Allowance option. For these options, you can only choose one beneficiary, and you cannot change your beneficiary after you retire.
Five Year Certain or Ten Year Certain options:Provide a benefit for a certain period after retirement in exchange for a reduction to your monthly benefit payment. If you die within the five- or ten-year period after your retirement (depending on the option you choose), your beneficiary will continue to receive your monthly pension payment for the remainder of the five- or ten-year period. For these options, you can choose more than one beneficiary, and you can change your beneficiary after you retire.
Post-Retirement Death Benefit
Your pension is not your only NYSLRS retirement benefit. Most NYSLRS retirees are eligible to leave a death benefit if they retired directly from payroll or within one year of leaving employment. The post-retirement death benefit is a one-time lump sum payment. For information on how it’s calculated, visit our Death Benefits for Retirees page.
You can change your beneficiary for this benefit at any time, and your beneficiaries for this benefit do not have to be the same as your pension payment option beneficiary.
Manage Your Beneficiaries in Retirement Online
The fastest way to view or update your beneficiaries for your post-retirement death benefit is in Retirement Online.
As a NYSLRS member, you are enrolled in a defined benefit plan, also known as a traditional pension plan.
If you are vested and retire from NYSLRS, you will receive a monthly pension payment for the rest of your life. Your pension will be calculated using a preset formula based on your earnings and years of service—it will not be based on the individual contributions you paid into the system.
Member contributions support the benefits earned by current and future retirees and are an important asset of the Common Retirement Fund.
Defined benefit plans are supported by contributions from both members and employers. With defined benefit plans, retirement assets are pooled and the investment risk is shared. These plans are usually administered by professional managers, whose long-term investment strategies help to reduce the impact of market turmoil. NYSLRS employs an experienced group of investment managers.
The New York State Common Retirement Fund, which holds and invests the assets of NYSLRS, is one of the largest public pension plans in the United States, providing retirement security for over 1.2 million NYSLRS members, retirees and beneficiaries. The Fund has consistently been ranked as one of the best managed and best funded plans in the nation.
Defined Contribution Plans—And Their Risks
Defined benefit plans are often confused with 401(k)-style retirement savings plans, which are known as defined contribution plans.
With a defined contribution plan, the employee, the employer or both contribute to an individual retirement account for the employee, and the money in the account is invested. In most cases, the employee decides how and where the money is invested (or the plan may offer pre-packaged investment options). At retirement, the employee will be able to draw from the accumulated value of contributions and investment returns, minus any fees.
The amount of money the employee has at retirement often relies on the investment returns of the individual account. So, market downturns, especially near retirement, can negatively affect the value of the benefit. Employees depending on defined contribution plans run the risk of outliving their savings.
NYSLRS’ Defined Benefit Plans
We administer nearly 300 retirement plan combinations. NYSLRS retirement plans:
Provide a right to pension benefits (vesting) with five years of service credit.
Build a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) into pensions to help offset the effect of inflation.
Include disability retirement and death benefits.
We strongly encourage you to review your retirement plan publication for a complete description of your benefits. Visit our Find Your NYSLRS Retirement Plan Publication page and follow the steps listed.
As a NYSLRS member, you have a defined benefit plan that provides a lifetime pension when you retire. Your NYSLRS pension benefit amount will be determined by several factors, including your tier, service credit, and final average earnings (FAE).
When we calculate your pension, we find the consecutive years when your earnings were highest. These are usually your years of employment immediately before retirement, but they can be anytime in your career and do not need to match up with calendar years or fiscal years.
Update: Tier 6 Final Average Earnings Based on Highest Three Years
A new law improves the pension benefits of NYSLRS Tier 6 members. When you retire, your FAE will be based on the average of your three highest consecutive years of earnings, the same as members in other tiers.
These improvements apply to members who retire on or after:
April 1, 2024, for Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS) Tier 6.
April 20, 2024, for Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) Tier 6.
Previously, your FAE was the average of your highest five consecutive years of earnings.
If you recently retired and the change applies to you, we have updated your pension calculation — you don’t need to contact us. The new law does not apply to members who retired before the dates above.
Understanding Final Average Earnings Limits
If your earnings increase significantly through the years used in your FAE, some of those earnings may not be used toward your pension.
Your limit depends on whether you’re an ERS or PFRS member and your tier. For most members, if the earnings in any 12-month period in your FAE exceed the average of the previous two years by more than 10 percent, the amount above 10 percent will not be included in your FAE calculation.
The specific types of earnings included in your FAE calculation depend on your retirement plan and tier. Please check your plan publication for details.
In most cases, your FAE will include the payments listed below, if they are earned in the FAE period. (In some cases, restrictions may apply.)
NYSLRS membership provides more than just retirement benefits. For most members, if you die while in active service, your beneficiary may be eligible to receive a death benefit. Here is an overview of member death benefits. If you are retired, visit our Death Benefit page for retirees to learn about your available benefits.
Types of Death Benefits
Most members who die while they’re still working will leave their beneficiaries what’s called an “ordinary death benefit.” This is a lump sum payment that’s usually equal to one year of your earnings per year of service, up to a maximum of three years.
Generally, to leave your beneficiaries this death benefit, you must have at least one year of service credit and your death must occur while you are on the public payroll.
Some members who die because of an on-the-job accident (not due to their own willful negligence) may leave their beneficiary an accidental death benefit. The accidental death benefit is a pension payable to your spouse. Other beneficiaries, as specified by law, may be eligible if there is no spouse.
For Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) Tier 4, 5 and 6 members, the benefit would be 50 percent of your earnings from your last year of service.
For most other members, the benefit would be 50 percent of your final average earnings (less any workers’ compensation benefit).
There is no minimum service credit requirement to leave an accidental death benefit.
The specific death benefits that may be available to your beneficiaries depend on your tier and retirement plan. Find Your NYSLRS Retirement Plan Publication and check it for specific benefit amount and eligibility information.
Review and Update Your Beneficiaries
You should periodically review your beneficiary designations. Life circumstances sometimes change, and the beneficiary you may have named before might not be the one you would choose today. You should also make sure your beneficiary’s contact information is up to date so we can find them when needed.
Retirement Online is the best way to manage your beneficiary information. Sign in to Retirement Online today and click “View and Update My Beneficiaries” to review your named beneficiaries, and update them if needed.
Reporting a Death
NYSLRS cannot pay out death benefits until after we are notified of a member’s death and have a certified copy of the death certificate. The fastest way for survivors to report a member’s death to NYSLRS is using our online form on our website. Survivors can also upload a copy of the certified death certificate, which enables us to start reaching out to the beneficiary. It’s important to talk with your family about your benefits and how to report your death to NYSLRS.
Payment of Death Benefits
NYSLRS will reach out to your beneficiaries on file and send them the application and instructions for receiving benefits. NYSLRS can pay death benefits once it receives the required documentation.
Retroactive payments are lump sum payments you receive from your employer. These payments can be from new union contracts, arbitration awards or legal settlements that took place while you were on your employer’s payroll.
If you receive a retroactive payment from your employer, it could affect your pension benefit calculation.
How Retroactive Payments Can Affect Your Benefit
Your final average earnings (FAE) are a major factor in your pension benefit calculation. It’s the average of your three (five for Tier 6 members) highest consecutive years of earnings. For most people, their highest years of earnings come at the end of their careers.
Retroactive payments are applied to the pay periods when they were earned, not when they were paid. So, retroactive payments can increase your FAE, and therefore your pension benefit, as long as the time period in which you earned that money is part of the time period your FAE is based on.
However, please be aware that the law limits the FAE of all members who joined on or after June 17, 1971. For most members, if your earnings increase significantly through the years used in your FAE, some of those earnings may not be able to be used toward your pension. You can find information about earnings limitations by tier, including examples, on the Final Average Earnings page on our website. If your FAE has already been affected by these earnings limits, your retroactive payment will not increase your pension benefit.
Payments Received Before Retirement. If you receive a retroactive payment from your employer before you retire, your employer will report your earnings to us through their regular reporting process. You do not need to notify us of payments you receive.
Payments Received After Retirement (State Employees). If you retired from New York State and you receive a retroactive payment after you retire, we will recalculate your pension automatically. NYSLRS receives State payroll information automatically and you do not need to notify us. You will receive correspondence from us explaining any change in your pension benefit.
Payments Received After Retirement (Non-State Employees). If you retired from a non-State employer and you receive a retroactive payment after you retire, send a letter to our Recalculation Unit in the Benefit Calculations & Disbursement Services Bureau. Please include a copy of your check stub and any correspondence you received from your employer related to the payment. Mail it to:
NYSLRS Attn: BCDS – Recalculation Unit 110 State Street Albany, NY 12244-0001
You can also email and upload this information to the Retirement System through our secure contact form.
Your Pension Recalculation Will Be Completed
We continue to receive a record number of pension recalculations and are working diligently to address them. If you are currently waiting for your pension amount to be recalculated, please rest assured that we will get to it. Once we complete your recalculation, you will receive payment of all the money you are owed, and a letter explaining the change in your pension amount.
Recent PEF Retroactive Payments
If you were a Public Employees Federation (PEF) member before retiring from State service, you may have recently received a retroactive payment. The current PEF contract, covering employment from April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2021, was ratified last summer. If you were a PEF member, worked during these dates and have not received your retroactive payment, please check with your previous employer.
If you retired recently and your FAE included earnings from on or after April 1, 2019, your NYSLRS pension will be increased automatically. You do not need to notify us that you received a retroactive payment.
CSEA Contract Negotiations
If you were a member of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) before you retired, your contract and any retroactive payment is currently being negotiated. Contact CSEA if you have questions.
Service credit plays a vital part in your pension calculation and your eligibility for other NYSLRS benefits. As a NYSLRS member, you earn service credit by working for an employer who participates in the Retirement System. Your paid public employment is creditable. You would not, however, earn credit for any period when you are not receiving a salary, such as an unpaid leave of absence. You would earn credit for both full-time and part-time employment, but if you work part-time, the service you earn is pro-rated.
Earning Service Credit When You Work Full Time
When you work on a full-time, continuous basis throughout your career, we’ll calculate your total service credit from your date of employment up until the date you leave paid employment. Most full-time workers earn a year of service credit for working 260 workdays a year. For a full-time, 12-month employee, 260 workdays equal a full year. (If you work in an educational setting, you can read about earning service credit in our blog post, How School Employees Earn NYSLRS Service Credit.)
Earning Service Credit When You Work Part Time
Your service credit is prorated if you work part time. Part-time employment is credited as the lesser of:
the number of days worked ÷ 260 days
or
your reported annual salary ÷ (the State’s hourly minimum wage × 2,000)
You can think of it like this: let’s say you work 130 days in a year. If a year’s worth of service credit is earned for working 260 days full time, you’d earn half a year (0.5) of service credit for your part-time work.
Check Your Service Credit in Retirement Online
Retirement Online is the fastest way to check your current total estimated service credit. Once you sign in, go to the ‘My Account Summary’ section of your Account Homepage and look under “Account Information.”
You can also use Retirement Online to request credit for public employment from before you joined NYSLRS. If you’re eligible to purchase previous service credit, it’s a good idea to file your request as early in your career as possible because:
Records we need to verify your service will be more readily available.
If there is a cost, it will be less expensive than if you wait to purchase credit before retirement.
Your retirement benefit will be processed more quickly if your service credit request has been reviewed or processed prior to retirement.
