Retirement industry experts, including OSGP representatives, will tell you that Social
Security typically only replaces 20% to 30% of your preretirement income.
Your PERS pension, meanwhile, may supply only up to 45% of the income you had while working,
depending on your hire date and length of service in a PERS-qualifying position. Not everyone
will get 45% of their preretirement income replaced by their pension in retirement.
To reach that level, you have to meet certain criteria*, which can include working in a
PERS-qualifying position for 30 years. The fewer years you work in a qualifying position, the
smaller the percentage of income replacement you’ll get in retirement.
If you also have an IAP and meet a
monthly salary threshold, less than 6% of your
salary is saved to your IAP account, and another small percentage is saved to your
Employee Pension Stability Account** (EPSA), as
of July 1, 2022.
Keep in mind that retirement industry experts now recommend that people save at least 10% to
15% of their pre-tax income for retirement. Because state law sets the contribution percentage
for your IAP, you cannot increase the percentage*** that’s saved to your IAP account.
Depending on your unique situation, you could have a sizeable gap to make up in order to
create a secure retirement.
*For more information about criteria, attend a PERS retirement education session for
Tier One/Tier Two or
OPSRP. To check how much income your pension might provide, go to your
Online Member Services
account to create a benefit estimate.
**For more information about EPSA, go to the website for your membership type:
Tier One/Tier Two or
Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan.
***Senate Bill (SB) 1049 (2019) does allow members to make voluntary contributions to their
IAP accounts but only in amounts that offset the small percentage redirect that goes to EPSA.
Read more about SB 1049, your IAP, EPSA, and voluntary contributions for
Tier One/Tier Two or
OPSRP members.