Are you worried about the U.S. stock market? This past week has been a tough one for investors. As of Thursday, the S&P 500 index was 10.1% below the peak that it reached last month. That puts the market in what experts call a "correction." Other indexes, including the NASDAQ and the Russell 2000, were in a correction as well.
For your family and friends who rely only on a 401k plan for their retirement, they may have been nervously checking their account balances all week. If someone was planning to retire this summer with a 401k, they may have to rethink and delay their retirement if their account lost thousands of dollars below where it was just a month ago.
But is this a worry for ATRS members? Absolutely not.
As a defined benefit retirement plan, ATRS promises its members a steady monthly payment that is not affected by the ups and downs of the stock market. And that payment is guaranteed for life.
Don't get me wrong, at ATRS we pay close attention to our investments in the stock market. We adjust them to adapt to changing market conditions. We don't like to see the value of the ATRS investment portfolio go down because of a stock market correction. We have an obligation to you to wisely invest the more than $20 billion in assets that fund your retirement benefits.
The ATRS investment portfolio is built to withstand the ups and downs that we saw last week. We diversify our funds among many different types of investments so that when one type is down, others are steady or up, helping to balance out the losses. We invest across the globe, so that our performance isn’t solely dependent on how the U.S. economy performs.
Most importantly, because we are investing for generations of Arkansas public school employees, we can spread the impact of losses like this across generations. That ensures we continue to pay each generation the full benefit they have earned in their careers.
So rest easy knowing that if you are an ATRS retiree, you will continue to receive your full benefit every month, no matter what the stock market does. And if you are not yet retired, you can trust that ATRS will still be here at your retirement, ready to pay you the guaranteed lifetime monthly benefit that you have earned.
If you would like to learn more about how ATRS invests your money, please take a look at an earlier Executive Director Update I did on that topic: https://www.artrs.gov/director-updates/executive-director-update-how-atrs-invests-contributions
RETIREMENT SEASON IS HERE
Speaking of retirement, we are now accepting applications for July 1 retirements or T-DROP entry. If you are considering retiring or entering T-DROP at the end of this school year, now is the time for you to start reviewing your options.
You can start by reading through our brand-new 2025 April Retirement Planner. We’ve completely revamped the Planner for this year, and I hope you find it helpful. You can find the 2025 April Planner at this link: https://www.artrs.gov/Publications/ATRS_2025_April_Planner_Members.pdf
Remember that you can create your own benefit projections in the ATRS member portal, as well as review and confirm your work and salary history. If you don’t have an ATRS member portal account, you can create one at this link: https://www.artrs.gov/registration
And if you have any other questions, or if you would like to schedule time with one of our counselors to review your options, please email us at info@artrs.gov or call us at (501) 682-1517.
BOARD ELECTION
ATRS is controlled by you, our members, because you elect 11 of the 15 members of the ATRS Board of Trustees. This year one of the Retired Trustee positions is up for election, Position #10. If you are an ATRS retiree, you are eligible to vote for this Position. Ballots have now been mailed and you should see them in your mailbox within the next week or so.
When you receive your ballot, please fill it out and mail it back to us. By participating in the Board Election, you will be signaling to legislators and others that you value the independence of our System. The more of our members who vote, the stronger the case will be that we should remain independent with a member-elected Board.
If you are a retired ATRS member and you do not receive a ballot by March 24, please send me an email with your name and mailing address to markw@artrs.gov.
All completed ballots must be received back by no later than April 15. Please complete and return your ballot as quickly as you can, to allow time for the mail to reach us. If you have any questions about the election process, please let me know.
Also, if you are a retired member receiving monthly benefits from ATRS, you should have already received your IRS Form 1099 for 2024. If you did not receive it, please let us know. And if you have an account on our member portal, you can download a copy of your Form 1099 directly from the portal.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
The Legislature is continuing its work, and so far, no bills have passed that would be a threat to ATRS independence or our benefits. Also, the ATRS 2025 legislative package has passed and is now law. You can read more about what was in our legislative package here: https://www.artrs.gov/2025-legislative-package
If you would like to subscribe to my weekly email updates about the legislative session, go to the following link and enter your email address to subscribe:
https://www.artrs.gov/sign-up-for-legislative-updates
As always, if you ever have a question about your retirement options or need information or advice, please reach out to our counselors by calling (501) 682-1517 or e-mailing info@artrs.gov.
Mark White
Executive Director, ATRS
MarkW@artrs.gov
Office: (501) 621-8853
Cell: (501) 541-2057