“Back to School” season is in full swing. All across our state, tens of thousands of ATRS members are returning to their classrooms, buses, cafeterias, and offices to begin another year of serving our state’s families.

Hundreds more are getting ready to face students for the first time as new teachers and new school employees. They will join the ranks of ATRS members, with the potential to earn their way to a secure retirement. Please join me in welcoming these new members to ATRS and to the world of public education.

I want every one of these new teachers and school employees to understand the tremendous financial value of staying in public education and remaining a member of ATRS. When you see them, I hope that you will tell them about ATRS and the benefits you have gained from our system.

They need to understand that within just a few years, they can earn the right to a lifetime retirement benefit that they cannot lose. Once an ATRS member has at least five years of credited service in the system, they will be “vested” – that means they have earned the right to a pension benefit from ATRS when they retire. The more years of credited service they earn in our system, the greater their benefit will be.

Every new member needs to understand that the ATRS pension benefit brings four key advantages:

Guaranteed for Life: ATRS members never have to worry about outliving their pension benefit. Even when our members reach the age of 100 or older, they continue to receive their monthly benefit from ATRS. And annual cost-of-living adjustments help maintain their purchasing power over time.

Biggest Piece of the Retirement Puzzle: Once an ATRS member completes 28 years of contributory credited service, they are eligible for a monthly pension that is 60% of their final average salary. When you combine that with Social Security benefits, most members can expect monthly income close to what they made when they were working, if not more. And for every additional year that a member continues to work, their monthly benefit will be even larger.

A Safe, Worry-Free Investment: When your retirement is dependent on how your own personal investments perform, market downturns like the one earlier this month can be terrifying. That’s not a worry for ATRS members. Because our system is designed to serve for years to come, the effects of market downturns are spread across generations. And that means our members’ monthly benefits are protected even when the stock market goes down.  

For example: back in 2022, the S&P 500 dropped by nearly 20%, which meant thousands of Americans could no longer afford to retire that year. But for ATRS, the impact of that downturn was spread over many years and had zero impact on our members’ benefits.

Not Just Retirement: As a vested member of ATRS, you are entitled to more than just a monthly benefit in retirement. When an active vested member is unable to work due to a disability, they may be entitled to apply for disability retirement benefits. If an active vested member passes away, their family may be able to receive survivor benefits, as well as a lump-sum death benefit for members with 10 years of actual credited service. And if a member with 28 years of credited service decides to keep working, the T-DROP program allows them to build up a cash nest egg that can be substantial.

If you know someone who is a new teacher or a new school employee, I encourage you to talk to them about ATRS. You can even forward this email to them. And if you are a new employee yourself, please check out our website to learn more about what ATRS offers.

Updating Beneficiary Information

Speaking of survivor benefits and the lump-sum death benefit, it is critically important that ATRS members keep their beneficiary information updated. If something happens to you, and we don’t have correct and current information on file about your beneficiaries, it can create a headache and hassle for your family.

If you have an account on our Member Portal on the website, just log in there, select “Member Portal,” and then select “Member Data.” You’ll be able to see what information we have on file for your beneficiaries. And if a change is needed, you can click on “Change Beneficiaries” to submit that change to us.

If you don’t have an account on the Member Portal, you can set one up here, or you can call or send us an email to check on your beneficiary information.

Please make sure that the information we have on your beneficiaries is correct. And if anything changes, please let us know at once so that we can update your information.

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 emailing info@artrs.gov. And if you have any concerns or questions about the System as a whole, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Mark White
Executive Director, ATRS
MarkW@artrs.gov
Office: (501) 621-8853
Cell: (501) 541-2057