Are you a teacher in Georgia who is vested in the TRS plan, but don’t think you can make to 30 years of service or age 60 – the magical time you can apply for retirement benefits?
Attend a TRS pre-retirement counseling session. Go to a group informational session and follow-up with a one-on-one session with a TRS counselor. You can do this more than once, if necessary. TRS is your best source for retirement planning information for non-traditional retirement scenarios – not necessarily your district’s HR office.
If you fall between 10-25 years of service and are still under 60, you have a decision to make:
Do you want to continue health insurance benefits into retirement? If so, do you have 5 years of service credit prior to January 1, 2012? If not, your premiums are going to be much higher because you’ll fall under a different retirement subsidy scheme. I bring this up because many folks who took a job with the school district in the late 2000’s as a second career with the promise of a pension and health insurance after a 10 year vesting schedule are now ready to retire and are learning that their health insurance premiums in retirement are way more than they expected.
If you elect to continue health insurance benefits into retirement, how will you cover the insurance gap to make sure you maintain continuous SHBP coverage between your last date of employment and your first pension check? COBRA and State Extended Coverage may be used to fill that gap. If you’re vested in TRS, then you qualify to keep your SHBP coverage in force as long as you are willing to pay the COBRA premiums. There’s some paperwork you have to complete at each stage and you have to stay on top of deadlines, but the option is available. We are utilizing this option and I would still be working if this option were not available.
Your retirement pension amount is calculated on the average of your highest salary over 24 consecutive months of service. If you quit, then go back for a year at a much higher salary, you’ll earn service credit, but that salary won’t count toward your pension calculation. Likewise, if you move to a part-time TRS covered position or one at a lower salary, you’ll earn service credit and your pension will still be calculated based on your highest salary over 24 consecutive months. Moving to a part-time position was my back-up plan in case we couldn’t figure out how to cover the insurance gap between last date of employment and official retiree status
Important dates to keep in mind:
Official retirement date: 1 day of month following your 60th birthday.
Application window: Anytime from 6 months prior to your 60th birthday up to your 60th birthday. Earlier is better.
First check: 15th of month following your 60th birthday. 1st of month every month thereafter.
Your first pension check will not include a deduction for health insurance, so you’ll have to cover that yourself if you’re keeping SHBP coverage in retirement. Make sure it is billed correctly at retiree rates! I’ll be on top of that! You have no idea how much we are looking forward to paying retiree rates after several months of COBRA payments.
Disclaimer: As stated earlier, your best source of information is directly from TRS. Each person’s situation is different. I would have never known about the option to use COBRA/SEC coverage had the TRS rep not told me about it in early 2020. My district’s HR office didn’t know anything about it.
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