Retirement is a journey—and you deserve to feel prepared every step of the way. Whether you’re just starting to think about your future or you’re ready to make concrete plans, we’re here to help. Here are five simple steps to set yourself up for a secure retirement.
1. Get Schooled Now: Enroll in Our Planning Your Retirement Class
Ready to take control of your future? Our Planning Your Retirement class is designed just for you. This comprehensive session will help you understand your benefits, explore your options, and answer your most pressing questions.
What you’ll learn:
- How your pension is calculated—and how you can maximize it.
- The different payment options available to you and your loved ones.
- How to run personalized retirement estimates through your myCalPERS account.
- The importance of the CalPERS Special Power of Attorney, your health benefits, and much more.
To enroll: Log in to myCalPERS and select the Education tab. Need help registering or recovering your login? Visit Using myCalPERS for instructions.
2. Forecast Your Future: Run a Retirement Estimate
Curious about what your retirement benefits might look like? It’s easy to find out. Use our step-by-step guide, How to Create a Retirement Estimate on myCalPERS (PDF), to run and save your own estimates. This tool helps you plan and make informed decisions about your future.
3. Stay on Track: Use Our Retirement Planning Checklist
There’s a lot to consider as you prepare for retirement, but you don’t have to do it alone. Our Retirement Planning Checklist highlights the steps you’ll want to take. For a deeper dive, check out our detailed guide, Planning Your Service Retirement (PDF), or watch our Retirement Planning Checklist video.
4. Prefer to Learn by Watching? Check Out Our Videos
We can’t emphasize it enough: Knowledge is power when planning for your retirement. To help you make informed decisions, we’ve created a series of videos to complement our guidance. Explore the videos below, each tailored to specific retirement-related topics.
Short-Form Videos
- Choosing a Retirement Date — Learn the elements to consider when choosing a retirement date, including the option to convert sick leave into service credit if you qualify.
- Cost-of-Living Adjustment — The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) benefit ensures your value of money at retirement keeps up with the rate of inflation. Learn about the power of compounding growth in retirement.
- Working After Retirement — Once you retire, you may decide to return to work for a CalPERS-covered employer as a retired annuitant or reinstate from your retirement. Learn the limitations as a retired annuitant and the rules to follow if you reinstate from retirement.
- Retirement Estimate Calculator — Learn about the Retirement Estimate Calculator in myCalPERS and how to review your retirement payment options to simplify your retirement planning.
Long-Form Videos
- Power of Attorney — Even if you have a power of attorney from another source, it may not cover your CalPERS-related matters. Discover the benefits of a CalPERS special power of attorney, and learn about your representative’s responsibilities and limitations.
- Retirement Income Sources — Planning for retirement should include understanding all potential income sources and determining how they fit in your overall financial strategy.
- Your Online Service Retirement Application — Skip the stamp or office visit by applying for your service retirement online. Follow along while we show you how to submit your application in your myCalPERS account.
5. Subscribe and Follow
Stay informed of upcoming CalPERS webcasts, instructor-led classes, and CalPERS Benefits Education Events by subscribing to our Member Education Bulletin and following us on social media.