It’s easy to overlook- You set up your secure ASRS account when you first become a member, you enter all your contact information, and then it’s all on autopilot until you retire, right??
Close, but not quite! Mailing addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers can easily change as the years pass, and it’s important that when they do, you log into your account at AzASRS.gov and update them. This is important for a number of reasons: it keeps your account (and your hard earned money) safe and secure, and it also allows us to periodically send you information that keeps you in the know about all things ASRS.
One often overlooked piece of information that’s also necessary to keep current: your primary beneficiary. Whether you’re mid-career, about to retire, or long into your retirement… it’s important to have a primary beneficiary on file. It’s also important to keep it current, as life situations could periodically change your mind on who should be the primary person to receive a financial benefit in the event of your passing.
A couple of notes: you can have multiple beneficiaries and define how funds are to be split amongst them - as long as the percentages add up to 100%. Divorce automatically nullifies a named spouse as a beneficiary. Also, should you wish, you can name a trust or an organization as a beneficiary – you just need their name and tax ID. If you are retiring, all of this may depend on the annuity option you choose.
Also note that just because you have changed your demographic information or your beneficiary with your employer; this does not change it at the ASRS. In fact, these are two different entities with two different systems and both should be notified.
To make sure all you own information is up to date with the ASRS, visit AzASRS.gov and click on the secure MyASRS log-in in the upper right.
Written by Nathaniel Brengle, Strategic Communications
This article appeared in "Financial Horizons " (Q3-2018) , a publication of the ASRS
