Here's What's New!

ASRS active members and employers will see a slight increase in the total contribution rate they pay in the upcoming fiscal year beginning July 1.

The new contribution rate covering both pension and health insurance benefit will be 11.94% each for employees and employers. This is an increase from the current 11.64%.  The new contribution rate for the long term disability program will be 0.17% each for employees and employers. This is an increase from the current 0.16%

If you find yourself getting close to retirement but have a lot of questions, don’t worry – you’re just like most members! In fact, we developed our series of retirement meetings specifically to answers all of the most common questions people have while on the road to retirement. Our “Route 3” and “Route 4” meetings are specifically aimed at those who may be at the end of their career. But how do you know which meeting is right for you?

The ASRS website has many helpful resources to assist members on their road to retirement. To help streamline the member experience, we’ve created the one-page Member Tool Kit. The Member Tool Kit puts all of our digital tools, such as calculators and estimators into one place, and organizes them into Member Resources or Retirement Planning tools. 

With seven ASRS annuity options available to you, how do you decide which one is right for you? Narrowing the choices down is a good place to start. Ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish financially when you retire. Most members respond in one of three ways:

1. “I want to receive the maximum monthly amount possible and don’t need to worry about providing money for a beneficiary.”

What happens after you hit “submit” on your retirement application? We input the application information into our system, validate the application for compliance, and place your application in a hold queue (if we require additional information before we can calculate your benefit) or a processing queue (if no further information is needed to proceed). It’s important to keep in mind that while the ASRS may receive your retirement application in advance of your retirement date, we will not be able to begin any retirement calculations until your retirement date has occurred.

Getting ready to retire is a big step! It means closing one chapter and beginning another. To make sure you’re as prepared and informed as possible before you hit ‘submit’ on your retirement application, make sure you’ve considered the following questions;

It’s that time of year – winter is fading into spring and the Arizona Legislature is in session!  The ASRS has identified a number of bills that have been introduced in the current session which, if passed into law, will enact legislative changes that affect the ASRS, members, and employers.  This information is subject to change as the session progresses, so we recommend visiting the ASRS Bill Tracker and Legislation page for more details and the most current information. 

Do You Have Employees Retiring This Summer? Schedule a Meeting Now.  We offer a number of different group Member Education meetings to help explain various facets of retirement and the process of retiring for your employees - at your location!

You may have recently received a secure message about Membership Eligibility Inconsistencies from Employer Relations.  This message and the accompanying report are part of a new, ongoing function of the Employer Relations team that should be a great benefit for our employers.