Financial Wellness workshops debut
The choices you make today can impact your future in retirement
By Kristen Dohrmann, Ohio Public Employees Retirement System
June 5, 2018 — According to a report from the National Institute for Retirement Security, two-thirds of working millennials have nothing – zero – saved for retirement, and those who are saving aren’t saving nearly enough.
The report, Millennials and Retirement: Already Falling Short, found that only 5 percent of working millennials are saving adequately (at least 15 percent of their salary) for retirement. What’s more, while two-thirds of this group work for an employer that offers a retirement plan, just one-third participate, often because of employer-set eligibility requirements like working a minimum number of hours or meeting minimum job tenure.
As an OPERS member you already have a leg up on your peers. No matter which plan you contribute to – 24 percent of your salary is being invested for your future. That’s right – 24 percent. But will that be enough when you retire? Do you even know how much you’ll need in retirement? Are you making financial decisions today that will lead to a secure retirement future?
OPERS can help you answer those questions. Our new, interactive workshop, “Bridging the Gap to Financial Wellness,” will help you assess your financial wellness, review your current spending habits and estimate your retirement income so you can identify the “gap” between what you will have in retirement and what you will need.
You can also access the online retirement gap calculator. This tool walks you through the process of identifying your gap. Make sure you have your annual statement handy so you can easily enter your estimated OPERS retirement income. If you have additional retirement savings, you can add those too – the online tool can even convert those estimated account balances into monthly payments upon retirement.
Don’t put off retirement planning because it seems overwhelming or daunting or just too far off. Now is the time you can make the biggest impact on your retirement savings. Think about it. It’s going to be hard to travel the world, buy a boat or enjoy your free time if you don’t have enough money. Start saving today.
To learn more visit the Financial Wellness page on opers.org.
Who do I speak with to find out where I stand with my OPERS retirement, the years I worked under social security, how does that fit in with my OPERS?
For information about your OPERS retirement, please contact us at 1-800-222-7377 or send a secure message through your online account. For questions about Social Security, please contact your local Social Security office.