Secure Your Future
Your retirement system is in very good financial shape
Nov 17, 2005 11:48 AM
The 87th Annual Report of the Teachers’ Retirement System for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004, has recently been released and it is good news. This report gives a financial and investment overview of the system, as well as a statistical report on the membership and benefits.
It shows that the system is in good financial shape with enough assets to cover the benefits of all current retirees and beneficiaries, and is being funded in a manner to have sufficient funds for those who are yet to retire. The tremendous losses caused by the stock market crash of 2000-2002 are being ameliorated by increased city contributions and better recent investment returns. The UFT insists that the proper funding of the TRS is one of the city’s highest fiscal obligations.
In fiscal year 2004, the employer contributed $940.6 million while employees contributed about $97.9 million. As you see, for the year the city contributed 10 times as much as the members of the system. These figures are dwarfed by the fact that the investment income for the fund was more than $4.5 billion. Pension benefits are funded by employer and employee contributions plus the investment return on the contributions.
There were 105,391 in-service members as of June 30, 2004, and 59,293 retirees. More than 93 percent of in-service members are in Tier III/IV with the rest in Tier I/II. The retirees collected $2.3 billion in retirement allowances for the year.
On the last day of the fiscal year, the Qualified Pension Plan had assets of almost $29 billion. This was an increase of almost $2.9 billion over 2003. This increase comes after the retirement system paid out more than $2.6 billion in benefits and expenses. On the same date, the Tax-Deferred Annuity Program had assets of $11.4 billion. This is an increase of more than $1.7 billion after subtracting almost $300 million in benefits payments, withdrawals and expenses.
UFT members have a set of pension and related retirement benefits that are among the best sets of benefits available to any non-public-safety employees in the country. The UFT will continue in its efforts to protect these benefits from the current attacks that are being waged against retirement security. We will fight to keep a defined benefit as the primary retirement plan instead of a defined-contribution plan. We will fight the efforts to privatize Social Security. We will fight to continue to improve the TDA program, which is our supplemental defined-contribution plan.
TDA investment elections
<>* Reports for the quarter are for the three-month period only and are not annualized.
Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Annualized Performance for the Investment Programs | ||||||
For the period ending 9/30/05 | ||||||
| . | Quarter * | 1 year 10/1/04-9/30/05 | 3 years 10/1/02-9/30/05 | 5 years 10/1/00-9/30/05 | 10 years 10/1/95-9/30/05 | 15 years 10/1/90-9/30/05 |
| Fixed | 2.06 | 8.25 | 8.25 | 8.25 | 8.25 | 8.25 |
| Variable A | 5.02 | 15.89 | 18.44 | 0.71 | 9.20 | 11.76 |
| Variable B | 0.91 | 3.58 | 3.50 | 4.27 | 5.05 | 5.80 |
Do you wish to make a change in your TDA investment election? Changes may be made online through the “My TRS Account Section” of TRS’ Web site (www.trs.nyc.ny.us) or by filing a hardcopy “TDA Investment Election Change Form” (code TD45). In order to file online, you need full access status. The filing deadline is Dec. 1 and changes take effect on Jan. 1. See the accompanying box which shows the investment results of TRS’ three plans for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
QAS to be distributed in November
The Quarterly Account Statement (QAS) for the third quarter of 2005 (July, August, September) was targeted for distribution beginning Nov. 10. The QAS summarizes TRS account information as of Sept. 30. It will be mailed to members'’home addresses. Members with both QPP and TDA accounts receive one statement that includes information about both accounts.
Did you receive your 2005 Annual Benefits Statement? If not, chances are that the TRS has an incorrect home address for you. You may also be entitled to a refund of contributions if you are in Tier IV and have more than 10 years of credited service. Please make sure that TRS has your current address.
“On retirement” is compiled and written by Mel Aaronson, Sandra March and Mona Romain, teacher-members of the NYC Teachers’ Retirement Board. For further information on items discussed, call your UFT borough office or the TRS. BRONX: 1-718-379-6200; BROOKLYN: 1-718-852-4900; MANHATTAN: 1-212-598-6800; QUEENS: 1-718-275-4400; STATEN ISLAND: 1-718-605-1400; Teachers’ Retirement System: 1-888-8NYC-TRS (692-877).
