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

Have you ever wondered how we calculate pension benefits? There is sometimes the mistaken belief that it may have something to do with your account balance, when in fact it's all about salary and how many years you work.

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.

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.