Planning for life’s changes

Life Events section of OPERS website helps you navigate the future

By Michael Pramik, Ohio Public Employees Retirement System

Oct. 2, 2025 – While you’re building your career as an OPERS member — and even after you retire — life will change. Sometimes those changes are significant, and they can directly affect your retirement benefits. Knowing what steps to take will help you stay prepared.

That’s why the Life Events section of the OPERS website exists. It’s designed to walk you through important decisions you may face during or after your public service career, with links, forms and resources that make the process easier.

Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find in Life Events:

• Beneficiaries: Learn how to name or update the person who would receive a refund or benefit if you pass away while working. Retirees generally made this choice at retirement, but limited updates may be possible in certain cases.
• Caregivers: Discover how to authorize someone you trust to access your account or health information by completing the appropriate release forms.
• Marriage, remarriage, divorce, dissolution or annulment: Understand how changes in marital status may affect your retirement benefits, especially if you are already receiving them.
• Moving, relocating or changing jobs: If you’re actively working for an OPERS-covered employer and need to relocate or switch jobs, we can help you search our network of more than 3,700 employers across Ohio.
• Impact of seasonal employment: Find guidance on how part-time, seasonal, or intermittent work may influence your OPERS benefits.
• Changing your banking information: Use your online account to update your bank account info.
• Turning 65 & Medicare basics: Review key information about Medicare coverage and how it interacts with your OPERS benefits once you reach eligibility age.
• Returning to work: See what happens to your benefits and health care if you decide to re-enter the workforce after retirement.
• Death of an OPERS member: Caregivers and survivors can learn what to expect and how to reach OPERS when a member passes away.

The Life Events page is your go-to resource for navigating these transitions with confidence.

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.