Retirement Guide - September 2024

Your employees can always schedule an appointment in advance to meet with a benefit counselor in our office. This will result in a much shorter wait time and allow us to answer all their questions about retirement, life insurance, and long-term disability benefits.

Counselors are available to assist members from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Our office is open during the noon hour for members who would like to drop off forms, but we also have a drop box outside our office available 24/7.

Our benefit counselors can:

• Print off benefit estimates during an appointment. 
• Discuss retirement options. 
• Demonstrate how to retire online. 
• Provide personal assistance when submitting a claim for life insurance or long-term disability benefits.

Please encourage your employees to make an appointment in advance to meet with a benefit counselor, as our staff is limited in availability. They can contact us by calling (800) 827-1063 or (573) 632-6100.

Pay is a key component in calculating an employee's future pension benefit. Part of the pension benefit formula uses an employee's "final average pay," which is the average of an employee's highest consecutive 36 months of pay. Accurate reporting of retirement-eligible pay to MOSERS ensures that member retirement benefit estimates and retirement benefits are calculated correctly.

Retirement-eligible pay includes all salary and wages payable to an employee for work performed. The following are among those payments excluded from retirement-eligible pay and must not be reported as salary and wages:

• Allowances and reimbursements for items such as phones, meals, uniforms, mileage or commuting, education or tuition, and housing or moving.
• Nonrecurring single-sum payments (such as a one-time bonus).
• Payments for unused annual leave or sick leave.
• Payments made after termination, unless it is for a final installment of salary or wages (such as a comp time payout or contract payout).
• Pay in excess of IRS compensation limits ($330,000 for 2023).
• Payments for which employer contributions have not been made.

For SAM II employers, non-retirement-eligible pay codes are automatically excluded from reporting to MOSERS. 

Non-SAM II employers must ensure that payroll files submitted to MOSERS exclude all non-retirement-eligible sources of pay. 

Before making benefit payments, MOSERS must verify the accuracy of service and salary data reported by employers. 

Please don't hesitate to contact the Employer Services team with your MOSERS-related questions by emailing employers@mosers.org or calling (800) 827-1063 option 2.

If members have questions about their MOSERS retirement, life insurance, or long-term disability benefits, they can certainly ask those questions over the phone or by email. However, if they prefer, they can schedule an appointment in our office. There are several advantages to scheduling the appointment in advance rather than just stopping by. The biggest advantage is that members are likely to have a much shorter wait time if they have an appointment. Counselors are available to assist members from 8:00 a.m. until noon and from 1:00 p.m. until 4:30 p.m Monday through Friday. Our office is open during the noon hour for members who would like to drop off forms, however, we also have a drop box outside our office available 24/7.

Our benefit counselors can:
• Print off benefit estimates during an appointment
• Discuss retirement options
• Demonstrate how to retire online
• Provide personal assistance when submitting a claim for life insurance or long-term disability benefits
• And so much more!

Please encourage your employees to make an appointment in advance and to see our tips for in person visits.

If employees would rather meet virtually, instead of in-person, they can just let us know when they contact us to schedule an appointment. We will set it up through GoToMeeting, making it easy to connect one-on-one with a benefit counselor.

The easiest and most convenient way to apply for retirement is online. Employees can complete both steps in the two-step retirement process all at once or leave and come back later to finish. Visit our Ready to Retire page for more information about the retirement process. These resources will help you make informed decisions during the retirement process:

• Retire Online Video – A handy video on the process of retiring online
• Retirement Guide – Why and how to complete various forms
• Smart Start Checklist – A list of information you should have readily available when you apply for retirement
• Destination Retirement Checklist – Checklist of other benefit providers to contact and tasks to complete
• Benefit Providers Chart – Verify which organization provides your retirement, employee assistance, and life, long-term disability, medical, dental, and vision insurance.

The most convenient way to apply for retirement is online. Employees can complete both steps in the two-step retirement process all at once or leave and come back later to finish. Visit our Ready to Retire page for more information about the retirement process. These resources will help you make informed decisions during the retirement process:

• Retire Online Video – A handy video on the process of retiring online
• Retirement Guide – Why and how to complete various forms
• Smart Start Checklist – A list of information you should have readily available when you apply for retirement
• Destination Retirement Checklist – Checklist of other benefit providers to contact and tasks to complete
• Benefit Providers Chart – Verify which organization provides your retirement, employee assistance, and life, long-term disability, medical, dental and vision insurance.

The Retirement Application was recently revised to include an agreement regarding MOSERS’ Board Rule on Separation of Service. Outdated paper versions of the Retirement Application will not be accepted and should be discarded. Please encourage employees to apply for retirement online by logging in to myMOSERS and selecting Retire Online from the menu. If an employee cannot apply online, they should contact a MOSERS benefit counselor who will send them a personalized paper form.