This year, the date a person retires takes on added importance.

Members eligible to retire need to make a decision on whether to retire on or before June 30, 2014, or later. All retiring members will get every single penny that they have earned.

In regard to retroactive salary, members who are already retired and those who retire on June 30 or earlier will receive their retroactive salary in a lump sum. Those who retire on July 1 or later will receive their retroactive payments on the same schedule as in-service members, with payments beginning Oct. 1, 2015 and ending Oct. 1, 2020.

The question of when you retire, and thus when and how you will receive your retroactive pay, will determine when taxes on the money is due. Members should discuss the matter with their tax consultants.

As for the calculation of retirement allowances: If you have already retired and you worked any time since 2009, your pension will be recalculated to reflect any pay increases during your employment, including a 4 percent retroactive rate increase in 2009 and another 4 percent increase in 2010. It may take some time for these recalculations and calculations to occur. Until then, retirees will continue to collect their current pensions. Those who retire between the date the contract is ratified and June 30 will be getting advance payments on their pension until it is finalized.

For those who retire on July 1 or later, it may take longer to recalculate the final pension with all retroactive rates rolled in. We are working with the city and the Teachers’ Retirement System to try to have this done once, but it may be necessary to have your pension recalculated several times. Remember, however long this might take, we want to reassure you that your final pension will reflect every single penny to which you are entitled.

The city and the TRS are in the process of determining the new formulas they will use to calculate and implement individual pensions — and that is going to take some time. We nonetheless can have confidence in that process — the TRS is well-managed and financially secure.

You need to know that the UFT remains committed to protecting the pensions (which are among the best in the United States) of both in-service members and retirees. That commitment is unwavering.

The decision on whether to retire on or before June 30, 2014, may also affect your prescription drug benefits through the UFT Welfare Fund. A retiring member continues to have the in-service drug plan for the month of retirement and the two months immediately following.

Therefore, a member retiring on or before June 30, 2014, will have the in-service drug plan for June, July and August. A member who retires on July 1, 2014, or later in July will be covered by the in-service drug plan for July, August and September.

To those members considering retiring on or before June 30 based on the ratification of the new contract, we encourage you to consider whether you have planned as carefully as you should for the life-changing event that retirement is, such as by taking advantage of the UFT’s retirement planning services. If not, you may want to reconsider.

The difference between receiving your retroactive pay in one lump sum, if you retire on or before June 30, 2014, or spread out in several payments if you retire later should not be the sole driving force in a decision that will affect how you live the next 25 or 30 years of your life.

The UFT will be holding group final pension consultation sessions in each borough for members planning to retire before July 1, 2014. These meetings will cover every aspect of a regular final consultation on retirement, except that we will not be able to have estimates of your retirement allowance ready as we normally do for final consultations (another important reason not to rush into retirement).

Topics that will be covered at the group meeting

• How to fill out a retirement application
• Maximum retirement compared to other options
• Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA) investment choices
• Lump-sum withdrawals
• Health insurance in retirement
• The Supplemental Health Insurance Program (SHIP)
• Welfare Fund benefits in retirement
• Taxes in retirement
• Final entitlement

Most members who are retiring bring their retirement applications and related forms directly to the Teachers’ Retirement System on the second floor of 55 Water St. in lower Manhattan.

We have made arrangements with the Board of Education Health Insurance Unit to provide staff at TRS headquarters to accept members’ health insurance applications. This service will be available from June 5 to June 27. If you do not hand the in health insurance application at the TRS when you retire, you must bring it to 65 Court St., Brooklyn.

See the list of group final pension consultations scheduled for June 2014 >>

See regularly scheduled pension clinics scheduled for summer 2014 >>