Spring is in full bloom and the winter chill is gone. The changing of seasons brings new opportunities and life adventures. Several ATRS members are ready to begin a new adventure called retirement or a wealth building opportunity called T-DROP! On July 1st, many ATRS members will enter a new phase of life as a retiree or a T-DROP participant. ATRS is ready for Retirement Season 2015! Please know that ATRS staff is smiling and ready to help you as a new journey is about to begin in your life! Please do not think help is too far away. Help is a telephone call or email away!
ATRS has prepared this T-DROP and Retirement Planner for 2015. The 30 plus pages of the planner are full of information for you. If you are considering T-DROP or retirement after this school year is over, you will find that this information addresses most of the questions that are frequently asked by members. Even if you are not considering retirement or entering T-DROP, this information can help you better understand how your ATRS retirement benefits work. Because retirement benefits can be complicated, ATRS staff has totally reworked the planner this year to make it more user friendly. ATRS hopes to have more member calls, emails, and visits than ever before!
ATRS Employers: Please send this executive director update email to all your staff via a broadcast email to all employees. ATRS wants to get this planner to as many ATRS members as possible!
ATRS had 3,156 new retirees and 623 new T-DROP participants in the 2014 fiscal year. ATRS expects more to retire and enter T-DROP in 2015 than last year. ATRS expects that the combined total will be well in excess of 4,000 applications. If you are considering entering either group for 2015, then ATRS is here to help you through the process and make it as simple as possible. Starting early can help get you through the process more smoothly. First, ATRS thanks you for your dedicated service to the schools of Arkansas! Now, ATRS is ready to give you information that will be helpful as you enter this special time in your life.
This is the annual Retirement Planner and T-DROP Update. This update has helpful information for retirees, T-DROP participants, contributory members, noncontributory members, inactive vested members, and future members. Please read about the superior benefits and rights that you have as a member of ATRS. This is a very positive and helpful planner for all ATRS members. On behalf of the ATRS Board, I want to thank all 2015 retirees for your dedicated service to education in Arkansas and wish you the best in retirement. Just as when you were an active member, ATRS will be here to serve you. New retirees can soon enjoy the third R of the 3R's of ATRS, the Reward for a career in public education. If you are considering entering T-DROP this year, this update is full of detailed information. Even if you are not retiring or entering T-DROP you will find useful information about your retirement system.
Retirement and T-DROP Planner
Many ATRS members are contemplating whether July 1, 2015, should be their official date to enter T-DROP or to retire. Other members may be thinking about a retirement date in the future. It is time to pause, reflect, and understand that ATRS is here to help you make one of the most important decisions in your lifetime.
List of Attachments
4. T-DROP FAQs
Remember that ATRS has a new website that allows members to have direct access to specific member account information. This may help as you look at retirement. Over 5,000 members have direct account access to account information. Here is the link to the instructions to sign up: https://www.artrs.gov/general/director-updates/716-08-15-2014-executive-director-update-the-new-atrs-website.
You can sign up to obtain these executive director updates through your private email address. Updates are made throughout the year such as at retirement season and other times when information needs to be shared. Now, over 8,000 people have signed up to receive this executive director by listserve email. You can find the link to sign up for listserve delivery to these updates here: https://www.artrs.gov/login
In addition, over 10,000 people have access to the ATRS executive director updates via direct email delivery. It is always a great pleasure for ATRS staff to learn of more ways to provide information to ATRS members, employers, and beneficiaries. The ATRS Board is committed to providing a system that is member friendly and transparent.
You can also get helpful ATRS information on the ATRS Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/arkansasteacherretirementsystem under the name of Arkansas Teacher Retirement System. Over 2,400 Facebook users get regular updates via the ATRS Facebook page. Go to the Facebook page and "like" ATRS to get daily updates. I try to go to the Facebook page every day to post information and answer member questions about ATRS. In addition, if you use Twitter, you can follow events at ATRS and issues of interest by finding the Twitter ID of ATRS or find George Hopkins in the Twitter directory. The link is https://twitter.com/atrs ATRS is here to serve you!
Respectfully,
George Hopkins
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