by Michael Garland, Senior Retirement Specialist
There is a common misconception that an appointment with an ASRS Retirement Specialist is required for employees ready to retire. While we’re happy to help guide members through the retirement process, an appointment with the ASRS is not a prerequisite for retiring. To start the retirement process, an employee just needs to submit an ASRS retirement application. Our online retirement application can be found within the myASRS portal and submitted online at any time.
We also have numerous online resources to help address common member questions about retirement. We encourage members to login to their secure myASRS account to generate benefit estimates and to also visit our Retirement Central page, which brings together a variety of excellent resources. There are numerous videos, eLearning tutorials, webinars, and links to handbooks to help explain the various stages and processes of retirement. Highly recommended videos are Route 3 (for when members are 3 years away from retirement) and Route 4 (for when members are 6 months to a year away from retirement). We also offer Route 3 and Route 4 as interactive webinars, hosted by our Member Education team, that members can register for through their secure myASRS account.
If your employee is not able to locate a specific answer to a question, they can always contact ASRS and speak with a knowledgeable Retirement Specialist who will be more than happy to address any questions or concerns an employee might have.
While scheduling an appointment with a Retirement Specialist is not mandatory for members to retire, virtual one-on-one appointments are available. Currently, we are not offering in-person appointments due to ongoing construction on the first floor, but members can call to schedule either a telephone appointment or a Google Meet teleconference.
In addition to reaching us by phone, members can also submit a secure message to the ASRS 24/7 via their secure myASRS account. We’re always here to help!
