For many families, the transition into retirement is more like a series of steps than a leap. Oftentimes, for example, Social Security is started even though an earner is still working. There are many reasons for this, including an interest in at least staying employed on a part-time basis, but needing Social Security to supplement their income.
In times like these, Social Security’s “earning test” may come into play.
What a difference a year makes. Last May I was encouraging readers to never make investment decisions on emotion and to stick to their plan. Sticking with it is hard to do when stock and bond values drop significantly, as they were last year. Borrowing rates were also starting to climb, inflation was soaring, and one-year US Treasury bills were only yielding about 2%. It felt like there was no safe place to turn.
The WRS Public Employee Pension Plan serves more than 450 employers across the state “including state agencies, school districts, counties, cities and towns and other government organizations.” By Wyoming standards, it’s a big pension.
I’ve had the pleasure of helping several employees navigate some of the ins and outs of this pension plan, so it felt timely to do an overview of how the plan works, giving detailed focus to the benefit areas that have carried the most importance for my clients. The complete WRS pension handbook can be found at retirement.wyo.gov in the “Pension Handbooks” subsection under “Members.”