Reading Your Retirement Account Balance Summary in ERS OnLine

The Total Member Amount is all the money currently in your ERS retirement account and the years and months are your total service in your account. This includes:

• waiting period service you may have purchased, 
• Additional Service Credit you may have purchased and, 
• if you’re eligible, any Law Enforcement Custodial Officer (LECO) Supplemental Retirement Fund credit.
• Gain share (Group 4 members only)

Once you qualify and apply for retirement, you receive an annuity, the monthly check paid to you for your lifetime.How your annuity is calculated depends on which retirement group you are in:

• Groups 1, 2 and 3 - the calculation of your lifetime monthly retirement annuity is not based on how much money is in your account. Instead, it is based on a formula that includes how long you worked at a participating state agency (your service credit) and the average of your highest 36 months (Group 1), 48 months (Group 2) or 60 months (Group 3) of salary when you worked for the state. Your service credit (years and months of service) is calculated at a 2.3%.
• Group 4 - the calculation of your lifetime monthly retirement annuity is based on the balance in your ERS retirement account when you retire. The balance in your account will include: your monthly contributions over your career at a participating state agency, 4% annual interest, any additional interest earned through gain-sharing (up to 3% additional per year, depending on ERS’ investment performance) and a 150% match funded by state contributions to the ERS Retirement Trust Fund.
• Eligible Groups 1, 2, and 3 law enforcement and custodial officers (LECOs) who contribute to a LECO retirement account your retirement annuity is based on a formula that includes how long you worked in a LECO position and the average of your highest 36 months (Group 1), 48 months (Group 2) or 60 months (Group 3) salary when you worked for the state. If you retire with 20 or more years of LECO service, your service credit (years and months of service) will be calculated at a 2.8%.
• Eligible Group 4 LECOs who contribute to a LECO retirement account in addition to a regular ERS retirement account will get an addition to your monthly annuity based on the balance in your LECO account. The balance in your LECO account includes your LECO contributions, 4% annual interest, any additional interest earned through gain-sharing (up to 3% additional per year, depending on ERS’ investment performance) and a 300% match funded by state contributions to the LECO Supplemental Retirement Fund.

The Pre-Tax Amount includes contributions deducted from your monthly paycheck. If your contributions began Jan. 1, 1988 or later, they were deducted from your salary before your federal income taxes were calculated. It also includes service purchase payments that you paid directly from a pre-tax savings account.

The Post-Tax Amount includes service purchase payments made directly to ERS from your personal funds. For example, if you paid for service credit with a personal check, it would be reflected in the Post-Tax Amount.

If you worked for a state agency before, left that job and then withdrew the funds in your ERS retirement account, you no longer have service credit toward retirement eligibility for the time you previously worked.

However, if you return to state employment or work for an entity that participates in the Proportionate Retirement Program (PRP), you may have the opportunity to buy it back or claim it. The cost to buy withdrawn service credit is equal to the amount you withdrew plus 10% interest for each fiscal year from the withdrawal date to the purchase date (Retirement Groups 1,2 and 3). The cost to buy withdrawn service credit is equal to the amount you withdrew but the sooner you purchase it the sooner it will add to the balance in your account that accrues interest (Group 4). Group 4 members must purchase any withdrawn service credit within two years of their hire date when they return to work for the state.

To buy back withdrawn ERS service, you must be a member of either ERS or an entity that participates in the PRP. In addition, at least six months must have passed since the date of your withdrawal. Once you have purchased your withdrawn service, the service credit will again count toward both your retirement eligibility and annuity calculation (Retirement groups 1, 2 and 3). Once you have purchased your withdrawn service, the money will be added to your retirement account, which will start to gain interest that will be compounded for the rest of your career.

Groups 1, 2, and 3 members have a 2% interest that accrues on their account annually as of January 1, 2014. The interest prior to January 1, 2014 in your account earned 5% annually. This does not factor into your annuity calculation unless you decide to leave employment and withdraw your retirement account before you are eligible for retirement.

Group 4 members have a 4% interest that accrues annually on their account with potentially an additional 3% based on ERS’ investments over a five year period. This means your account could grow by as much as 7% per year, but never less than 4% per year.

Your retirement service credit in your ERS OnLine account shows the number of months for which you have a contribution on file in your ERS retirement account. It does not include any service credit you gave up if you previously left state employment and withdrew your retirement account.

The amount of service listed on your pay stub is known as longevity or time employed by the state. You don’t give up longevity/time employed by the state even if you withdrew your ERS retirement account.