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Choosing your retirement date

Workshops

CSUF and CalPERS offer excellent workshops on planning for retirement. Attend at least one of these before the year you plan to retire. You also can request an estimate from CalPERS of your retirement benefit.

CalPERs Tools

At least one year in advance of your anticipated retirement date request a copy of the booklet, “Stepping into Retirement… A Guide to Completing Your CalPERS Service Retirement Election Application.” available at the CalPERS opens in a new window website. The booklet contains several useful guidelines, including the calculator. In contrast to the estimate request, the calculator allows you to construct different scenarios to see the impact of age, final salary and years of service on retirement allowance. It also shows how various retirement options, such as continuing benefits for your surviving spouse, affect your monthly allowance.

In addition, CalPERS offers a very useful Retirement Planning Checklist opens in a new window that you should follow beginning a year before your planned retirement date.

Office of Human Resources, Diversity and Inclusion

The office can help determine whether it is worth teaching an extra semester or year to reach an extra year of age and/or service. Most faculty members retire at the end of the academic year. (Since the CalPERS age credits increments quarterly, it may be to your advantage if you plan to retire at the end of the academic year to wait until you reach that date during the summer to actually retire.)

HRDI opens in a new window can help determine which date is more beneficial for you. If you plan to enter FERP and also wish to teach summer school, you will need to pick a date that is after the end of the summer session that you teach. The situation is further complicated for 12-month chairs and other such employees who can “cash out” unused vacation hours, but only if they move directly into retirement after the last day of their 12-month contract. HRDI will be a valuable tool in your decision-making.