What is your plan for retirement? Are you relying on a pension plan? What about auxiliary investment accounts? How does Medicare and Medicaid factor into your plans for the next stage of life? Don’t let these questions go unanswered for too long! Join me on this episode as we jump into some upcoming changes regarding the state of Connecticut and how their pensions work for state employees. You’ll want to pay close attention if you or someone you love is impacted by the changes in Connecticut. This particular question came to me from one of our listeners - if you have questions that you’d like to hear answered, make sure to reach out and leave a comment! 

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You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...

• Understanding upcoming changes for CT State Employees Pensions [1:00] 
• Setting your budget for retirement. [4:00]
• How your health insurance premiums are changing [8:00] 
• Are you eligible to retire? [10:00] 
• Closing thought [12:00] 

Retire before CT Pension changes take effect? 

What is going on with the changes to the state of Connecticut’s pension plan for state employees? Should you retire ASAP or is it still beneficial to wait? To give you a little bit of context, here is the main issue. 

An agreement made in 2017 with the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) included many changes to state employee retirement benefits. Some of the changes

specifically affect benefits for those who retire on or after July 1, 2022, and could encourage many to retire before then. The biggest change is eliminating the minimum annual cost of living

adjustment (COLA) for pension benefits and delaying a retiree’s first COLA until 30 months after

retirement. The agreement also changed the health insurance premium share for retirees who are not covered by Medicare.

According to the Office of the State Comptroller, as of November 19, 2020, there were 13,066

state employees (full- and part-time) who are eligible for normal or early retirement before July 1, 2022. In the past, similar changes to retirement benefits have led to a surge in 

retirements before the changes became effective. If this pattern reoccurs at a similar rate, the state can expect over 20% of eligible employees to retire between July 2021 and July 2022.

I know that this is a lot of information to think about and unpack - listen to this episode as I expand on this topic and so much more. Also - don’t miss the helpful links in the resources section! 

Resources Mentioned on This Episode

• Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) - Social Security
• Properly Estimating Retirement Cash Flow #36
• A Retirement Income Planning Strategy That Works, Ep #2
• www.osc.ct.gov/empret/

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