Your NYSLRS pension is a good reason to be optimistic about your finances in retirement. Once you retire, your pension will provide monthly payments for the rest of your life. But there is more to a financially secure retirement than having a pension.
Think of retirement security as a three-legged stool. Each leg is a source of income to help support you when your working days are done. It’s important to understand all your potential sources of income to effectively plan for the future and boost your retirement confidence.
Leg 1: Your NYSLRS Pension
NYSLRS pensions are defined benefit plans, also known as traditional pension plans. When you retire, 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. Unlike workers who rely on 401(k)-style retirement plans, you won’t have to worry about this income running out.
Most members can estimate their pension in Retirement Online. But, if you’re a long way from retirement, it may be better to think in terms of earnings replacement. Financial advisers estimate you’ll need to replace 70 to 80 percent of your income to retire with confidence. Your pension can help get you there. For example, if you retire with 30 years of service, your NYSLRS pension could replace more than half of your earnings. (Pension benefits depend on your tier and retirement plan. Find your retirement plan publication for comprehensive information about your retirement benefits and how your pension will be calculated.)
Leg 2: Social Security
Your Social Security benefit is another source of income to help support you in retirement. At Social Security’s full retirement age, your benefit can replace from about 75 percent for lower income earners to about 27 percent for higher income earners. Learn more about Social Security benefits and visit the Social Security’s Plan for Retirement page to estimate your income.
Leg 3: Retirement Savings Can Boost Your Confidence
A lifetime pension and Social Security income will be substantial financial assets, but it’s still important to save for retirement. Healthy retirement savings will give you more flexibility to do the things you want to do in retirement. It can also help in case of an emergency and act as a hedge against inflation.
Your personal savings is the factor you have the most control over. You decide when to start, how much to save and how to invest your money. The key is to start saving early so your money has time to grow, even if you can only afford to save a small amount in the beginning.
Eligible employees might consider saving with the New York State Deferred Compensation Plan (NYSDCP). Money gets deducted from your paycheck, so you won’t even have to think about it. NYSDCP is not affiliated with NYSLRS, but New York State employees and some municipal employees can participate. If you’re a municipal employee, ask your employer whether you’re eligible for NYSDCP or another retirement savings plan.
What is taking recalculations so long? I was never informed by my union,my school district or the people who ran the retirement seminar I went to on retirement.That there would be a delay on my FULL pension.One retiree I spoke to said it took 3 checks.The 3rd being the correct one.Now the State Comptroller’s office says “2-5YEARS”!!!!! How in this age of computers and digital EVERYTHING does it take to alloy a some of money to a retiree account and press ENTER?
NYSLRS is experiencing delays finalizing pension benefits. We apologize to our retirees. We are working to address the issue and to finalize pension benefits more quickly.
For information about your specific account, 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.
I need the form to purchase service credit.
The fastest way to request additional service credit is in Retirement Online. To submit your request:
• Look under My Account Summary.
• Click Manage My Service Credit Purchases button.
• Click Request Additional Service Credit link.
You can also complete and submit a Request to Purchase Service Credit form (RS5042), although it will take longer than if you submit your request through Retirement Online. Attach your form (and any supporting documents) to our secure contact form, or mail it to:
NYSLRS
110 State Street
Albany, NY 12244-0001.
Waiting years now for a simple recalculation. When I ask about it, emails are never returned. Starting to look like I’ll get COLA before the recalculation, or ill just be dead, and then you get to keep the money I earned.
NYSLRS is working hard to complete recalculations and to provide retroactive payments as quickly as possible. We apologize for the length of time this is taking for you. We are working to improve our service in this area and we thank you for your patience.
I am waiting 2 1/2 years for a recalculation. Very difficult to get any answers. No estimate of where you are in the queue. I never imagined it would take this long. COLA may come first ! As you stated.
Your message is important to us, and we have sent you a private message in response.
Can you send me a link to get to the retirement benefit calculator? Thank you
Most members can use Retirement Online to create NYSLRS pension estimates based on the salary and service information we have on file for you.
To get started:
More than 90 percent of members can use this calculator.
Members may not be able to use the Retirement Online calculator in certain circumstances, for example, if they have recently transferred a membership to NYSLRS, or if they are a Tier 6 member with between five and ten years of service.
In this case, you can use the Quick Calculator to create a pension estimate based on the information you enter.