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Is Your Beneficiary Up-To-Date?

When was the last time you reviewed your beneficiary information? For many members, beneficiary designations are completed when they first enroll and then forgotten. However, life changes such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or the passing of a loved one can make it important to revisit those choices and ensure they still reflect your wishes.

Updating your beneficiary information is one of the simplest steps you can take to help protect your loved ones and avoid complications in the future.

New Year, New Savings: Strengthen Your Future Retirement

A new year is an ideal time to review your financial goals and consider additional savings options for your retirement future. While your ASRS pension provides a strong foundation for retirement, many members choose to enhance their long-term financial security with a supplemental savings plan.

To support members in this planning process, Nationwide Retirement Solutions, which offers a low-cost, low-fee 457(b) Supplemental Savings Plan for ASRS members, is hosting a series of live virtual educational meetings throughout 2026.

A Note on Mental Health

As the seasons change, it’s common to find ourselves facing additional stress that may affect our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. 

Mental health can significantly impact other aspects of our lives, such as our effectiveness at work, home life, learning, or the ability to be a good caregiver. Making our mental and emotional health a priority can help us adapt and cope while we experience hardship or life changes.

Understanding Your ASRS Contribution Rate

As a member of the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS), both you and your employer contribute toward your future retirement. These contributions make it possible for ASRS to provide a variety of benefits, including a lifetime monthly income once you retire.

Your total contribution rate is actually the sum of multiple parts: the Pension contributions, which are deducted pre-tax, and the Long-Term Disability Income Plan contributions, which are deducted post-tax.

How Often Do Contribution Rates Change?

Budgeting For Retirement: Potential Health Insurance Costs

One common budgeting oversight we see from members planning their retirement is comparing their estimated future pension amount against their current monthly bills to see if they can afford to retire. The oversight? Focusing on what their bills currently are, not what their bills will be. This is especially true when it comes to health insurance costs – and even more so if you won't be 65 and Medicare-eligible when you retire.

Can I Borrow Against My Retirement?

Many members reach out to the ASRS hoping to borrow or withdraw funds from their ASRS account for many reasons, such as making a down payment on a home or supplementing household finances. Unfortunately, Arizona law does not authorize loans from ASRS pension accounts. As a result, active and inactive members are not permitted to borrow against or take partial withdrawals from their ASRS account.

Returning to Work After Retirement: What ASRS Retirees Need to Know

If you are starting to think about retiring and drawing a pension from the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS), you may find yourself wondering about your options if you’d like to later return to work. The choice is yours – you can certainly keep collecting a monthly pension from the ASRS and go back to work, but it’s important to make sure you proceed in a manner that doesn’t negatively affect your pension. 

Choosing Where to Work

Becoming Spoof-Proof

Account security is always a top priority for the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS), and one of our biggest protections against fraud is our members' vigilance and safe practices.

One common way malicious actors attempt to gain access to your sensitive retirement information is through spoofed websites. These fake sites are designed to mimic real websites, tricking you into entering your username and password, which can then be stolen and used to compromise your account. 

Protecting yourself starts with careful observation and healthy online habits:

You Submitted Your Retirement Application. Now What?

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 calculating your benefit) or a processing queue (if no further information is needed to proceed). It’s important to remember 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.

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