HOW TO USE THE KPERS BENEFIT CALCULATOR

Transcription

1 HOW TO USE THE KPERS BENEFIT CALCULATOR 1. Go to 2. On the left hand side of the screen, click on Estimate Your Benefit.

2 3. In the middle of the screen, click on KPERS Benefit Calculator.

3 You will then get the following screen: 4. In the first box (Your Date of Birth), enter your birth date. 5. In the second box (Joint Annuitant s Date of Birth), enter your spouse s birth date if you are married. If not, leave it blank.

4 6. In the third box (Date You Plan to Retire), enter the date you plan to retire. KPERS will only allow you to retire on the first day of a month. For certified staff, this will be June 1, July 1, or August 1. For classified staff, your last physical day at work must be before the retirement date. In other words, if your last physical day at work will be November 23 rd, you would put December 1 st as your retirement date. (i.e. 12/01/2014) 7. For the fourth box (Final Average Salary), you will need to figure one of the following: An average of your three highest years of salary, or, An average of your four highest years of salary, including additional compensation such as unused vacation Use the figure on your last annual statement **Note when figuring your final average salary, you must use your CALENDAR YEAR salary, not school or contract year. In most cases, it will be to your advantage to use the first option above. Enter this amount in the fourth box. 8. For the next series of boxes under the category Years of Service, use your last KPERS statement to determine your number of KPERS service years at each level. To do this, look at your last KPERS statement under the section labeled Service Credit. The statement will include your years of service as of the end of the last calendar year. Most employees will only have years of service at the 1.75% multiplier. For each level on your statement, follow the following formula: a. Take the number of years listed b. Add 0.25 for each quarter past December, even if you only work part of the quarter. For example, if your retirement date will be July 1 st and your statement says you have years of service, you would add 0.25 for 1 st quarter (January, February, and March) and 0.25 for 2 nd quarter (April, May, and June) for a total of 20 years by July 1 st. If the total adds up to any number of years plus.50 or.75, round up to the next year. c. If you have years at the 1.0% or 0.75% levels, follow the same procedure as above and put the years in the corresponding boxes on the form. If you do not have years at the 1.0% or 0.75% levels, leave those boxes blank.

5 EXAMPLE: You plan to retire August 1 st. Your statement says you have years of service. You would add 0.25 for 1 st quarter (January, February, and March), 0.25 for 2 nd quarter (April, May, and June), AND 0.25 for 3 rd quarter (July, August and September) even though you only will work part of that quarter. The total would be 22.50, so you would round up to the next year giving you 23 years of service. 9. Click Calculate. You will now see all of your retirement options. Retirement Payment Options As a retired KPERS member, you will receive a monthly retirement benefit for the rest of your life. In addition, KPERS has retirement payment options that add financial flexibility and allow you to provide for loved ones after your death. KPERS Retirement Options Booklet (PDF, 354KB) Maximum Monthly Benefit Option This option is the maximum monthly benefit you can receive. There is no continued monthly benefit after your death. Joint-Survivor Option You can provide a continuing monthly benefit for someone after your death. Survivor benefits are equal to 50 percent, 75 percent or 100 percent of your benefit and are paid for the rest of your survivor's life. To provide this continuing benefit, your monthly benefit is reduced. Your benefit decreases as your joint annuitant's benefit increases. Life-Certain Option If you die within a guaranteed period of time from retirement, your beneficiary will receive the same monthly benefit for the rest of that guaranteed period. Your monthly payments are reduced based on whether you chose the five-, ten-, or 15-year life-certain option. You can change beneficiaries at any time. Partial Lump-Sum Option, Partial Lump-Sum brochure (PDF, 26KB) You can take part of your retirement benefit in an up-front lump sum at retirement. This lump sum is then combined with one of the other retirement options to provide reduce, regular monthly payments for the rest of your life. The PLSO is available in 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 percent amounts of the actuarial present value of your benefit. Remember this is a tool that estimates your retirement benefits based on your data entry. When you are ready to retire, contact Human Resources at to schedule an appointment.

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