Many people ask whether OPERS is an adequate retirement plan; the answer to that depends on your personal circumstances. OPERS provides retirement income and benefits for Ohio public employees who choose membership; unlike Social Security, your contributions are invested by OPERS instead of going directly into Social Security when you retire; instead OPERS invests them to pay you a lifetime retirement benefit at retirement time. You have two OPERS plans available to them – Traditional Pension Plan and Member-Directed Plan.
OPERS investment professionals manage the investments of both member and employer contributions for your Traditional Pension Plan, with your retirement benefit calculated based on an index formula that takes into account factors like final average salary and years of service credit. Your pension benefit is guaranteed for life without being subject to investment gains or losses.
By choosing the Member-Directed Plan, you have total control of where both your member and employer contributions are invested and retirement income derived from its value. However, there will be a monthly administrative fee of $6 charged against all accounts regardless of balance.
An investment plan that includes retirement savings is key for financial planning and can ensure you have enough money to live comfortably during retirement. At OPERS, we offer several resources to assist in this planning, such as our Plan Comparison Calculator and an online retirement savings calculator.
Most OPERS members who retire will receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment to their retirement allowance in order to lessen the impact of inflation on your standard of living. Your actual cost-of-living adjustment may differ year to year; please refer to your plan’s leaflet for more details.
OPERS members can utilize various resources and tools to prepare for retirement, such as online calculators, educational seminars and webinars, one-on-one counseling sessions and personal counseling. You can also access account information, benefit estimates and change address/contact/bank details online via your OPERS account.
Many OPERS members use their accounts to supplement other sources of retirement income, including Social Security, additional pensions and investments. Depending on which payment option you select, your OPERS account could even help cover discounted health care coverage or Medicare premiums and copayments.