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APRIL 2022
 2021 member annual statements on their way in May
The latest information about your PERS retirement benefits will soon arrive in your mailbox. Member annual statements for 2021, reflecting data submitted by your employer as of December 31, 2021, will be mailed by the end of May.
When you receive your statement, check that all your personal information is correct. If not, contact your PERS-participating employer. If you are not currently employed, you can submit an Information Change Request form.
As an Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan (OPSRP) member, you have two parts to your PERS retirement: a pension and an Individual Account Program (IAP) account-based benefit. Both will be included on your statement.
Why send annual statements in May?
PERS cannot finalize 2021 statements until after the PERS Board adopts 2021 final earnings crediting, which occurred on March 28.
What resources can help me understand my statement?
Annual statement FAQs and resources are available on the PERS website.
Three key areas to review on your statement are:
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Your birthdate and other personal information, such as your address, hire date, and membership date. Your birth date is used to establish which age-based target-date fund (TDF) your IAP is invested in.
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Your retirement credit. Your years of service — also known as your retirement credit — are used to calculate your monthly pension benefit. Create a benefit estimate in Online Member Services (OMS) or use the formula listed on your statement to get an idea of what your monthly pension could be.
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Your IAP information. This area shows you the investment returns for your target-date fund. Each fund has its own mix of investments, set by the Oregon Investment Council. Your investment returns may differ from other members who are in different TDFs.
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Member Choice: If you opted to change your TDF ...
Any changes you made to your Individual Account Program (IAP) Target-Date Fund (TDF) in September 2021, took effect on January 1, 2022, and you cannot make any new changes in Online Member Services until the next Member Choice window in September 2022.
Changes that took effect in January will not be reflected on the member annual statement you receive this spring because the cut-off date for account information that goes into your statement was December 31, 2020. You will see January 2021 changes on your spring 2022 statement.
Find full information about Member Choice on the IAP Target-Date Funds webpage.
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 New video explains how retirement system works
Ever wonder how everything comes together to make your pension system function?
The Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) relies on the partnership of the Oregon Legislature; Oregon State Treasury; and PERS, the agency. PERS-participating employers also play a key role.
Learn more about the role each one plays in supporting your retirement system in our new video.
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Take PERS’ 2022 online member satisfaction survey
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Share your feedback and help PERS, the agency, improve our member services by taking our annual member satisfaction survey.
Starting May 1, you can complete the survey online. PERS will send a reminder about the survey once it's available.
You will have until May 31 to complete the online-only survey.
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 PERS headquarters scheduled to reopen May 2
PERS headquarters building in Tigard will reopen to the public on May 2. You can keep up to date about PERS’ operations via updates on our website and PERS emails.
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Salary limit increased for benefit calculations
In January 2022, the limit on subject salaries used in benefit calculations increased to $210,582* per year.
PERS uses subject salaries to determine member IAP contributions, employer contributions to fund the pension program, and the final average salary for calculating retirement benefits under formula methods.
If you plan to retire in the first few months of 2022, be aware that salary limitations also apply to working partial years. Read more about Senate Bill 1049 salary limits and partial year salary limits online.
*Indexed annually to the Consumer Price Index
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Your retirement future is up to you. How you plan and save for your retirement can determine your retirement security.
To check whether you’ll have the money you need for a secure retirement, begin by gathering benefit estimates for your retirement accounts and Social Security. Two available estimation tools are:
Add up your estimates and compare your total to what financial experts say you’ll need when you retire: 80% of your working income.
If your total estimate falls short, you may consider saving additional money in other retirement accounts.
One option for saving more is the Oregon Savings Growth Plan (OSGP). OGSP offers both pre- and/or post-tax retirement savings options and various free educational workshops.
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Preparing for retirement requires many steps — from estimating whether you’re saving enough to designating beneficiaries as applicable to your membership type.
Something else to plan for is who will act on your behalf in the event of severe illness or death. Check out these resources:
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Authorization to Release Account Information — This form will allow you to name other parties who can receive information about your PERS benefits, including account balances and benefit estimates.
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Special Power of Attorney for PERS — This form will allow you to designate others who can make decisions about your PERS benefits on your behalf.
Also be aware that when you die, a family member, beneficiary, or caregiver must notify PERS. More information about death benefits is available on the PERS website.
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As you ponder your future retirement, don’t forget about health care.
Many public employees have the majority of their health insurance costs covered by their employers while they are still working. In some cases, employers may cover up to 95% to 99% of medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance premiums. When you cease working, the cost of your insurance coverage will rest solely with you.
Depending on your age and other factors at retirement, you may or may not yet be eligible for Medicare coverage. Even when you are eligible, Medicare does not cover all health care costs, and you may wish to have supplemental coverage to bridge the gap.
Once you become a PERS retiree, several health insurance options will become available to you through the PERS Health Insurance Program (PHIP). PHIP offers Medicare and non-Medicare plans, as well as dental options.
Visit the PHIP website or call 800-768-7377 for more information about the program.
Additional information about health care costs
- Some industry estimates say the average health care costs in retirement amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- Estimator tools can help you explore possible health care costs. Fidelity, a financial services corporation, offers one such tool. This tool is for general information only and not a guarantee of future costs.
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Are you planning to retire in the near future? Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare.
Check out these helpful resources from PERS to get ready:
Also, keep the following important points in mind:
- It can take up to 92 days from your retirement date (not the date of your application submission) for your first pension benefit to be paid.
- Once PERS receives your application, we will review all of your account information and reconcile data with your employer(s) as needed. Data discrepancies can sometimes cause your finalized benefit amount to differ from benefit estimates you received earlier. Remember that benefit estimates are just that — estimates.
- Filling out your application correctly, checking your personal information in OMS or on your member annual statement, and getting benefit estimates can help you avoid delays in the processing of your application. If you find errors in your personal/account information, contact your employer for corrections.
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Individual Account Program (IAP) retirement benefits can typically take from 90 to 120 days to process and complete payments or rollovers. Processing is done both by PERS and Voya, which administers IAPs for PERS.
If you have questions, contact Member Services for assistance.
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If you are no longer working for a PERS-participating employer and considering whether to withdraw your Individual Account Program (IAP) balance, read our webpage about OPSRP withdrawals first.
Since July 1, 2020, withdrawing an IAP balance will result in the loss of OPSRP membership. That means you forfeit your rights to all future PERS benefits — including your pension.
You will not be paid any pension income in retirement nor the actuarial equivalent of your pension when you withdraw. You will only receive the balance of your IAP (and EPSA, if applicable).
You also will lose all of your accrued OPSRP retirement credit, and you will not have the option to restore it at a later date.
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By Tobias Read
Oregon State Treasurer
As state treasurer and a member of the Oregon Investment Council (OIC), I’m often asked questions that prompt me to begin my answer with “as a fiduciary” or “my fiduciary responsibilities require me to …”
What does that mean? What is a fiduciary? And how does that fiduciary responsibility inform investment decisions made by my team at Oregon State Treasury?
Under most state pension laws and the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), a fiduciary is anyone who exercises discretionary authority or control over management or investment of retirement plan assets. That places me, my fellow OIC members, and many state Treasury employees squarely in the role of being fiduciaries.
It’s a role with profound responsibility. It requires us to act for the exclusive benefit of plan beneficiaries. That means that OIC members make investment decisions for the $100 billion PERS’ pension fund — also known as the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (OPERF) — with undivided loyalty to PERS members and their retirement security.
Oregon law goes a step further. Statute requires fiduciaries to make our investment funds as “productive as possible,” subject to a prudent investor standard. This additional guidance means that while the council is directed to generate productive returns, we must do so with “reasonable care, skill, and caution” in our work.
Does this mean that I can’t factor in my morals and personal politics? Actually, yes, it does. Whether I like or don’t like a product or company CEO doesn’t matter — my opinion must be kept separate from the decisions I make as a fiduciary.
Risks from other issues — such as climate change, corporate governance, or labor relations — can be factored into decision making. That same prudent investor standard, and the long-term productivity of investments, requires us to account for risks when making decisions. But again, we are assessing the specific risks and returns of particular investments, not letting our broader sentiments on different issues drive decisions.
These decisions can involve countless data points, drivers, market analyses, and other factors. But at the heart of each decision is one constant: a commitment to ensuring that the public employees enrolled in PERS can count on OPERF fiduciaries like me to put their retirement security first.
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The Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (OPERF) earned 20.05% in investment returns for 2021.
However, annual earnings credited to member accounts will be different than this rate. They differ because of administrative expenses and various requirements set by state law, administrative rules, and PERS Board actions.
The board approved the 2021 annual earnings crediting to member accounts at its March 28, 2022, meeting.
As an OPSRP member, you have a pension and an Individual Account Program (IAP) account:
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OPSRP pensions do not have individual account balances to which a particular earnings rate is applied annually. However, OPERF investment returns, along with employer contributions, do help fund your future pension benefit.
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OPSRP Employee Pension Stability Account (EPSA) was credited 20.43%
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IAP accounts are invested in age-based IAP Target-Date Funds (TDF). The board-approved earnings for the TDFs are available on the 2021 earnings crediting webpage.
Your IAP account will reflect 2021 earnings crediting on your upcoming 2021 member annual statement. You should receive this statement by the end of May.
OPERF is managed by Oregon State Treasury under the direction of the Oregon Investment Council (OIC).
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As a PERS member, you may wonder how your pension system keeps track of its financial health.
Each year, PERS calculates its “funded status,” which compares projections of how much money the PERS system will have versus how much it is expected to pay out in retirement benefits within a certain timeframe.
To calculate the funded status, PERS follows a process called an “actuarial valuation.”
The latest official actuarial valuation* puts PERS’ funded status at 71% as of December 31, 2020. When funding is added in from employer sources known as "side accounts," that percentage increases to about 76%.
Every two years, the PERS Board examines how much money is coming into the system through employer sources. Based on the actuarial valuation and other data, the board decides whether to change employer contribution rates (C) to ensure that money coming into the system — along with projected earnings from investments (E) — will be enough to cover benefit payments (B).
On the earnings side, about 74% of benefit payments since 1970 have been paid for by long-term investments in the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (OPERF).
*The next official actuarial valuation will be for the year ending December 31, 2021. It will be released in fall 2022.
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 You can access the Online Member Services (OMS) login from the PERS homepage.
Need to check your retirement credit, register for an education session, or update your address or contact information? PERS has you covered with a number of self-service tools.
Online Member Services
Online Member Services (OMS) is where to go to:
- Review your employment history, including your salary and retirement credit.
- Generate online benefit estimates for your pension.
- Update your email address and phone number.
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Begin or end voluntary contributions to your IAP.
If you need to set up an OMS account, check out our What Is OMS? webpage.
Be sure to review your member information, which is submitted to PERS by your employer. Contact your employer to correct any errors.
 You also can acces the Individual Account Program (IAP) login from the PERS homepage.
Individual Account Program (IAP)
Use the Individual Account Program (IAP) portal to check information about your IAP account, such as your IAP balance and ongoing contributions.
If you’ve never logged into your IAP before, you’ll need to contact Member Services to request an initial login PIN. Further details can be found on PERS’ IAP Account Log-On Information webpage.
Note: Employer reporting cycles and other factors can sometimes cause delays in updates to your IAP information.
Oregon Savings Growth Plan (OSGP)
Do you want to save more for retirement? Learn how you could supplement your retirement savings through the Oregon Savings Growth Plan (OSGP).
Find your forms
Want to designate your beneficiary, request a benefit estimate, or apply for retirement? There’s a form for that.
Find the form you need on PERS’ Most Requested Forms and OPSRP Member Forms webpages.
When retirement nears
If you’re close to your desired retirement age, it’s time to review the steps you need to take to retire.
PERS recommends you start these preparations early to avoid delays in your retirement process. Preparations should include getting online or written benefit estimates of what your pension payments could be and participating in a PERS education session.
Post-retirement health plans
How will your health care needs be covered in retirement? Learn about Medicare and non-Medicare plans and options for supplemental medical and dental insurance through the PERS Health Insurance Program.
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PERS staff will not make unsolicited calls to you and will never ask you for account login or financial information.
PERS will only contact you in response to a request you made, a form you submitted, or another action you took. If you are unsure whether someone contacting you is from PERS, call Member Services directly at 1-888-320-7377 to check.
Read more on our Protect Yourself from Fraud webpage.
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You can get alerts on topics that include:
- Member news
- PERS Health Insurance Program
- Legislation affecting members
- PERS Board meetings
- PERS administrative rulemaking
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Mailing address:
PERS
PO Box 23700
Tigard, OR 97281-3700
Physical address:
11410 SW 68th Parkway Tigard, OR 97223
Phone: 888-320-7377
TTY: 503-603-7766
Phone lines open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays.
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We serve the people of Oregon by administering public employee benefit trusts to pay the right person the right benefit at the right time.
Chair: Sadhana Shenoy
Vice Chair: Lawrence Furnstahl
Members: Stephen Buckley, Jardon Jaramillo, and John Scanlan
PERS leadership
Director: Kevin Olineck
Deputy Director: Yvette Elledge-Rhodes
Chief Financial Officer: Richard Horsford
Chief Information Officer: Jordan Masanga
Chief Compliance, Audit, and Risk Officer: Jason Stanley Chief Operations Officer: Sam Paris
For more information contact:
PERS | PHIP | OSGP
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Perspectives is published by the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System for the benefit of members and employers. It is emailed three times a year.
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