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There are a number of other benefits included with your membership in the ASRS!

When considering retirement there are a lot of factors to think about, but did you know that the decision of when to retire effects your pension benefit? The ASRS uses the following fairly simple formula to calculate the Straight Life annuity, the highest paying retirement option to calculate your base line monthly benefit:

Pensions are not as common as they used to be, which can lead to not fully understanding what you’re a part of, how it benefits you, and how to best take advantage of the benefits available to you. To further that understanding, let’s take a look at what the Arizona State Retirement System is, and what it isn’t.

Here at your ASRS we generally agree with the adage that “What gets measured gets managed.” As a result, we measure and analyze an array of activities that fall into the following general categories: investment performance, member satisfaction, service standards & cost structure, and staff engagement, to ensure top tier performance. When there is not top tier performance – we take positive and supportive action.

The Arizona State Retirement System is governed by a nine-member Board of Trustees, appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the state Senate.

The Board acts as a fiduciary of the ASRS trust fund with powers and duties outlined in state statute.

In addition to your pension, long-term disability and retiree health insurance benefits, the ASRS offers another program many of our active members find to be of value – the ASRS Supplemental Savings Deferral Plan – or SSDP for short.

The 54th Legislature, First Regular Session adjourned sine die on May 28, 2019 and the general effective date for legislation that was passed and signed by the Governor is August 27, 2019.  The legislature passed two bills that have a relatively minor impact on members and retirees. Below is a brief summary. You can also find more detailed information about these bills and other retirement-related bills in the 2019 Legislative Summary book at AzASRS.gov, on the Legislation page under the About Us tab.

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.”