TRF Member Handbook: Retirement
- Retirement Appointments
- Retirement Applications
- Determining Retirement Date
- Preliminary and Final Calculations and Payments for the Monthly Pension Benefit
- Deductions
- Cost of Living Adjustment(COLA)
- 13th Check
Retirement Appointments
TRF has designated benefit specialists who are available by appointment to discuss retirement options and the retirement process with members. These appointments may take place in TRF’s Indianapolis office, or, if set up in advance by the schools, TRF will travel to members’ individual schools. It is also possible to schedule a telephone appointment with a benefit specialist. Though you may schedule a benefit appointment at any time during your career, TRF highly recommends that all members within two years of retirement schedule an appointment with one of TRF’s benefit specialists.
Retirement Application
The Retirement Application is available on on this site, here. If you do not wish to fill out a hard copy of the Retirement Application, the whole process may be completed online by logging in to TRF Interactive.
Part I
- Retiring members are required to complete and submit the Application for Retirement Benefits, Part I to TRF.
- Generally, the selected payment options and survivor designations are irrevocable once the retirement application has been processed and a benefit is scheduled to begin. Certain exceptions would be if the retired member’s designated beneficiary pre-deceases the member, the member marries for the first time after retirement, or the member becomes divorced and the divorce decree permits the change.
Part II
- It is the member’s responsibility to give a copy of the Application for Retirement Benefits, Part II to all employers the member has worked for during the member’s most eight recent years of service.
- Once the employer is given the form, it is the employer’s responsibility to get this form to TRF.
Determining Retirement Date
Your benefit accrual date is generally your last day at work. You will receive a prorated payment for that month. Your retirement date is the first of the month following your benefit accrual date or any future month requested in writing by the member. For example, if your last day of work is May 15, your retirement date would be June 1. Benefits are paid 30 days in arrears.
Preliminary and Final Calculations and Payments for the Monthly Pension Benefit
When a completed Application for Retirement Benefits, Part I is received, contains all the necessary information and supporting documentation, and the member’s retirement date is at hand, TRF processes a monthly pension benefit check for the estimated monthly pension benefit amount. The member begins receiving 100 percent of the final monthly pension benefit once TRF receives all contributions from the employer(s) and calculates and processes the final monthly pension benefit. The member also receives the difference between the estimated benefit and the 100 percent final benefit times the number of months the member received an estimated benefit. Any ASA contributions totaling $1,000 or less received after the final date on which a member’s retirement benefit is processed may be paid directly to the member in a lump sum.
Deductions
A member may elect to have federal and/or Indiana state, as well as county, taxes withheld from his or her monthly pension benefit payments. Additionally, if the member elects to participate in the TRF-sponsored supplemental group health insurance, the member’s premiums will be deducted from the monthly pension benefit payments.
Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)
Cost of living adjustments (COLAs) are an adjustment to the member’s monthly pension benefit payment (does not include annuitized ASA). COLAs are not automatic in Indiana; the General Assembly must pass legislation granting a COLA. When such legislation has been passed, it generally applies a graduated percentage increase that is greater for those who have been retired longer. TRF adds all COLAs to the monthly pension benefit payments as directed by the legislation.
COLAs are not guaranteed annually. They are voted on each year and approved by the Indiana General Assembly.
13th Check
The 13th check is a lump sum single payment made in addition to a member’s monthly pension benefit payment and does not increase a member’s monthly pension benefit base. The 13th check is not automatic in Indiana; the General Assembly must pass legislation granting a 13th check. When such legislation has been passed, it awards a benefit amount to a member based upon the creditable service that was used to calculate the member’s retirement benefit. TRF distributes the 13th check as directed by legislation.
