Closing the retirement gap

OPERS webinar shows how to improve your financial wellness

By Michael Pramik, Ohio Public Employees Retirement System

Aug. 26, 2021 – One of the major challenges we face during our working careers is creating enough income to live comfortably in retirement.

OPERS can help. Our Bridging the Retirement Gap webinar helps members assess their financial wellness, review current spending habits and estimate their retirement income. The goal is to identify the “gap” between what you will have in retirement and what you need, and construct a plan to reduce or eliminate that gap.

There are several key ways that members can reduce the gap. They include working longer, which not only puts more wages in your pocket for a longer period of time but also boosts your eventual pension benefit.

Another way to have more money in retirement is to save more while you’re working. That’s obvious, but the Bridging the Gap webinar reviews several ways to do so, including opening an IRA or Roth IRA, and contributing to Ohio Deferred Compensation, a supplemental savings plan that defers taxes until you’re retired.

Ohio Deferred Compensation offers several easy ways to save, including automatic payroll deduction and a plan that automatically boosts the amount you contribute each year.

Many members will receive Social Security in retirement through jobs they performed before or after becoming OPERS members. We highlight the effects that the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset could have on that Social Security income for members of pension plans such as ours.

The main tool you’ll learn about when attending this webinar is our Retirement Gap Calculator, which you can use to estimate your retirement income and expenses to determine your gap. The calculator walks you through each step, including establishing your retirement timeline, calculating your retirement income, estimating taxes, figuring your expenses and accounting for inflation. It then provides some strategies for closing the gap that include boosting your income and reducing expenses.

Identifying any gaps between the income you’ll need in retirement and your actual income, and having a plan in place to close them, is part of building a secure retirement. Sign up for the Bridging the Gap webinar today. You’ll have a chance to ask questions of OPERS staff after the webinar information has been presented. This info is always available on our website as a recorded presentation.

Michael Pramik

Michael Pramik is communication strategist for the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and editor of the PERSpective blog. As an experienced business journalist, he clarifies complex pension policies and helps members make smart choices to secure their retirement.