STATE & LOCAL EMPLOYEES · PLAN TIER / RECIPROCITY / SERVICE CREDIT

There is no generic state pension. The hire-date tier and exit rules are the plan.

Two employees with the same salary and service can have different vesting, multipliers, COLAs, Social Security coverage, and refund rights. The member handbook—not a national pension article—must drive the model.

First document to findWrite down the legal plan name, employer, plan tier, hire date, vesting date, service balance, and the handbook effective date. Without those, every projection is a guess.

THE EXIT PATH CONTROLS VALUE

Staying, transferring, and leaving create different assets.

Do not call employee contributions the pension value. The decision is what future benefit, healthcare, COLA, and survivor rights remain under each exit path.

STAYING TO ELIGIBILITY

Model the pension at several service thresholds.

Use the exact final-average compensation window, multiplier, age or service test, early-retirement factor, COLA provision, and survivor option.

ONE OFFICIAL ESTIMATE IS NOT A RETIREMENT PLAN.

MOVING WITHIN PUBLIC SERVICE

Reciprocity may preserve more than a refund.

Some systems coordinate service or salary while keeping assets separate; others do not. Get both administrators to describe the transfer or reciprocal treatment in writing.

VERIFY BOTH SIDES BEFORE THE JOB CHANGE.

LEAVING PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT

Deferred pension and refund are not equivalent.

A refund may return employee contributions while surrendering employer-funded lifetime benefits, disability rights, retiree health, or future COLA treatment. Price the deferred benefit first.

NEVER REFUND SERVICE CREDIT TO CLEAN UP AN ACCOUNT LIST.

BUYING SERVICE CREDIT

A quote needs a break-even and liquidity test.

Compare purchase cost with incremental lifetime benefit, start date, COLA, survivor continuation, refundability, funding source, and the return sacrificed elsewhere.

RUN THE INCREMENTAL BENEFIT—NOT THE TOTAL PENSION.

SERVICE-PURCHASE SCREEN

Find the simple break-even before writing a check or rolling over assets.

Use the official purchase cost and the incremental annual pension from the same quote. This screen rejects obviously weak purchases; it does not make the final decision.

Service-purchase costAdded annual pensionAge when added benefit starts

Simple cash break-even only. Taxes, COLA, survivor continuation, plan solvency, refundability, time value, funding source, and death before or after retirement can materially change the result.

SERVICE-PURCHASE BREAK-EVEN—

THE PLAN-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

Generic pension math fails when the tier or exit rule changes.

These are the four facts most likely to make two similar employees receive very different outcomes.

PLAN TIER

Hire date can change the multiplier and retirement age.

Use the handbook for the exact tier and effective date. Do not borrow a formula from a coworker hired under a different statute, bargaining agreement, or plan election.

COLA

Inflation protection is a contract term—not an assumption.

A COLA may be automatic, ad hoc, capped, delayed, or absent. Model the pension in nominal and real purchasing power using the actual provision.

REFUND VALUE

Your contribution balance is not the same as the pension.

The refund may omit employer-funded value and terminate service credit. Request the deferred monthly benefit and refund amount on the same date before comparing.

SOCIAL SECURITY

WEP and GPO are gone, but coverage still matters.

The 2025 law removed those reductions for benefits payable January 2024 and later. It did not award Social Security credits for non-covered employment; verify the earnings record.

PLAN-TIER FILE

Turn a state or local pension promise into a decision you can defend.

The member handbook and administrator estimates outrank every calculator on this page.

Record the exact legal plan name, tier, hire date, vesting date, and handbook effective date.

Reconcile service credit, salary history, beneficiary, and employee contribution balance.

Request estimates for staying, each serious departure date, and each benefit start date.

Document reciprocity, refund, rollover, deferred-benefit, and return-to-work rules before moving money.

Model COLA, survivor, retiree-health, disability, and Social Security coverage separately.

For any service purchase, obtain the incremental benefit in writing and run cash, discounted, and survivor break-evens.

OFFICIAL RULES

Use the source that controls this benefit.

SSA: Social Security Fairness Act update
SSA: government and foreign pensions
IRS: governmental 457(b) plans
IRS: retirement-plan resources
Your plan: current member handbook and written estimates

The calculator is a screening tool. The current plan document, administrator record, and written benefit estimate control eligibility and payment. Verify the edition and effective date before an irreversible election.

RUN THE NEXT NUMBER

Use the calculator that matches this retirement system.

ELECTION VALUE