I know all schools and ATRS members are very busy at this time in October. I hope all ATRS members are having a great school year. For all active members who worked at least 40 days in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2016, this is a very important executive director update about the member annual statement that over 70,000 of you will receive in the next few weeks. Some member annual statements may be received as early as next week.This update also highlights ATRS disability, the 2016 retirement season, and a trust fund update. ATRS respectfully requests that to the extent possible, ATRS employers distribute this executive director update email with attachments as a broadcast email to all employees. This email contains important information to assist members in reading and understanding the member annual statements that will be mailed to over 70,000 members in the coming few weeks.
This email has two (2) attachments: 1. A seven (7) page executive director update on member annual statements, disability retirement, survivor benefits, noncontributory to contributory service, report on retirement season, and a status update; and 2. A nine (9) page frequently asked questions (FAQs) on ATRS disability retirement.
Remember that ATRS has a new website that allows members to have direct access to specific member account information. Now approximately 9,000 members have direct account access to individualized 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 13,000 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 under the name of Arkansas Teacher Retirement System. Over 2,900 Facebook users get 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 join over 750 others by following events at ATRS and issues of interest on the ATRS Twitter page. Remember that ATRS is here to serve you!
Respectfully,
George Hopkins
Click on the following document(s) for more information: