Welcome New Members
Your Journey to Retirement Begins Now
As a new member of the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS), you’ve joined one of the largest retirement systems in the world. NYSLRS administers benefits for more than 1.2 million members, retirees and beneficiaries.
There are two distinct retirement systems in NYSLRS:
- The Employees’ Retirement System (ERS), which provides benefits to employees of participating public employers in non-teaching positions outside of New York City, including uniformed services personnel, such as correction officers and sheriffs.
- The Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), which provides benefits for police officers and firefighters of participating public employers outside of New York City.
Your retirement may be far in the future, but the decisions you make now will have an impact on your later years. NYSLRS is here to help you understand how your membership works and the benefits you are entitled to receive so you can make informed decisions and start planning for a financially secure retirement.
Understand Your NYSLRS Membership
If you’ve just joined NYSLRS, it’s important to understand how your membership works and the benefits you are entitled to receive, such as:
- What tier you’re in.
- Your membership contributions.
- Becoming vested.
On your journey to retirement, look out for these membership milestones:
Designate a Beneficiary
Your retirement plan provides you with a death benefit, so it’s important to designate a beneficiary or beneficiaries.
- Sign in to Retirement Online.
- Look under My Account Summary.
- Click View and Update My Beneficiaries button.
Throughout your career, you should periodically view and update your beneficiaries. Life circumstances sometimes change, and the beneficiary you choose today might not be the one you would choose in the future. You should also make sure your beneficiary’s contact information is up to date so we can find them when needed.
For more information, including guidelines for special beneficiary designations, read our publication, Life Changes: Why Should I Designate a Beneficiary?
Get Credit for All Your Public Service
Service credit is one of the major factors in calculating your pension benefit, so it’s important to make sure you get credit for all your public service.
You can request additional service credit toward your pension benefit for:
- Previous Public Employment: If you worked for your current or another public employer before joining NYSLRS.
- Military Service: If you served in the U.S. Armed Forces and received an honorable discharge from active military duty.
Or you may be able to:
- Transfer Service: If you are still a member of another New York State or a New York City public retirement system.
- Reinstate Service: If you withdrew your membership in NYSLRS or another New York State public retirement system.
Learn How Defined Benefit Plans Work
A NYSLRS pension is a defined benefit plan, also known as a traditional pension plan. Defined benefit plans provide several advantages, but perhaps the greatest benefit is that, once you meet the minimum age and service requirements established by your retirement plan, you will receive a monthly pension payment for the rest of your life.
Your pension will be calculated using a preset formula based on your earnings and years of service—it will not be based on the individual contributions you paid into the system. Member contributions support the benefits earned by current and future retirees and are an important asset of the Common Retirement Fund, which holds and invests the money used to pay NYSLRS benefits.
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