Executive Director Update: What Sets ATRS Apart From Most Private Retirement Plans

Retirement is a frequent theme in social media content and news media stories. Some talk about how much money people need to retire, others focus on worries about the stock market and economy, or how much retirees can safely spend each year. Most of this advice is aimed at people with private retirement plans, where the employee takes on all the risk and responsibility.

With the new school year starting, many new members are joining ATRS. This is a great time to highlight what sets ATRS apart—and why we stand out compared to many private plans. The biggest difference is that ATRS provides a guaranteed monthly benefit for life. That benefit will never go down, and it is backed by the more than $23 billion in investments that ATRS manages for members.

ATRS provides a pension plan, also known as a "Defined Benefit Plan". This is when an employer promises to pay a set monthly benefit for retirement. The employee and employer each contribute to a shared fund, and a pension manager (like ATRS) invests that money to help it grow over time. When the employee retires, that shared fund pays a set monthly benefit for the rest of the employee's life. The benefit amount is based on how much the employee earned in salary and how long they worked for the employer.

ATRS has offered a Defined Benefit Plan for Arkansas educators since 1937. It has remained strong through many economic ups and downs, thanks to support from state leaders who understand how important retirement security is for our public school employees.

Back in 1960, nearly half of all private-sector employees in the U.S. had a pension like ATRS. But over the last 50 years, many private employers have moved to something called a "Defined Contribution Plan." These plans – like 401(k)s and IRAs -- don't promise a lifetime benefit. Instead, the employee is expected to save and invest a portion of their income for retirement. Sometimes, the employer matches part of those savings, but the employee is responsible for managing the money and taking on all the risk.  

Private employers like these plans because they shift the risk away from the employer and to the employee. But that means if the stock market drops or an employee makes a poor investment choice, they could lose a big part of their retirement savings—with no guaranteed income to fall back on.

That’s not a worry for ATRS. Our investment portfolio is built to withstand the ups and downs of the stock market. Even when there are losses, we can spread them across generations to protect the security of your monthly retirement benefit.  

This benefit is available to any ATRS member once they are vested, meaning they have at least 5 years of credited service. Once a member is vested, they are guaranteed a monthly retirement benefit when the reach age 60 or have 28 years of credited service. And they can also build up additional savings by participating in T-DROP. 

T-DROP stands for Teacher Deferred Retirement Option Plan. It allows a member to defer retirement and continue working while benefits accumulate in a cash (savings) account. When the member retires, that savings balance can be rolled over into another retirement account and invested, it can be paid out directly to the member, or it can be used to increase the member’s monthly retirement benefit.

If you’re interested in the T-DROP program, you can find out more on our website at https://www.artrs.gov/teacher-deferred-retirement-option-t-drop. 

And if you would like to learn more about your retirement options through ATRS, you can check out our Retirement Planner here: https://www.artrs.gov/Publications/ATRS_2025_April_Planner_Members.pdf. 

Email us at info@artrs.gov or call us at (501) 682-1517 if you have questions about your retirement options. We’re here to help you feel confident about your future.  

 

Highlighting an ATRS Member

Did you know that ATRS has more than 900 retirees who are age 91 and above? And 15 retirees who are age 101 and above?   

One of those members is Ms. Etoyle Mouser. She is a retired teacher who will turn 100 in November. Our staff sat down with Ms. Mouser to talk about her childhood and her career in public education (plus her time working at the Arkansas Ordnance Plant in Jacksonville in World War II). You can watch and listen as she discusses her life and the impact ATRS has had on her retirement here:  

https://youtu.be/jxeDZYLm7lI?si=q4ZZjlIyFFlVHWUB 

 

Mark White
Executive Director, ATRS
MarkW@artrs.gov
Office: (501) 621-8853
Cell: (501) 541-2057 

Executive Director Update: ATRS Members Go Back to School

It’s August, which means that schools are back in session as I write this. Many of our members have been in professional development or training the last few days, getting ready to welcome students back for the new school year.

Across Arkansas, there will be hundreds of teachers and school employees who are brand new, facing classrooms full of students for the first time. Not only are they joining the ranks of public education in Arkansas, they are also joining ATRS as new members with the potential to earn their way to a secure retirement.

It is so important that new teachers and school employees understand the financial value of staying in public education and remaining a member of ATRS. When those of you who are retirees see them, I hope that you will tell them about ATRS and the benefits you have gained from our system.

They need to understand that within just a few years, they can earn the right to a lifetime retirement benefit that they cannot lose. Once an ATRS member has at least five years of credited service in the system, they will be “vested” – that means they have earned the right to a pension benefit from ATRS when they retire. The more years of credited service they earn in our system, the greater their benefit will be.

Being a vested member of ATRS brings four key advantages:

Guaranteed for Life: ATRS members never have to worry about outliving their pension benefit. Even if they reach the age of 100 or older, they will continue to receive a monthly benefit from ATRS, along with annual cost-of-living adjustments.

Biggest Piece of the Retirement Puzzle: If an ATRS member completes 28 years of contributory credited service, they are eligible for a monthly pension that is about 60% of their final average salary. When you combine that with Social Security benefits, most members can expect monthly income close to what they made when they were working, if not more. For every additional year that a member continues to work, their monthly benefit will be even larger.

A Safe, Worry-Free Investment: When your retirement depends on how your personal investments perform, market downturns can be terrifying. That’s not a worry for ATRS members. Because our system is designed to serve members for generations to come, the effects of market downturns are spread across those generations. Our members’ monthly benefits are protected even when the stock market goes down.

Not Just Retirement: As a vested member of ATRS, you are entitled to more than just a monthly benefit in retirement. When an active vested member becomes unable to work due to a disability, they may be entitled to apply for disability retirement benefits. If an active vested member passes away, their family may be able to receive survivor benefits, as well as a lump-sum death benefit for members with 10 years of actual credited service. And if a member with 28 years of credited service decides to keep working, T-DROP allows them to build up a cash nest egg that can be substantial.

If you know someone who is a new teacher or a new school employee, I encourage you to talk to them about ATRS. You can even forward this email to them or point them to our Member Handbook which answers many of the questions they might have. If you are a new employee yourself, please check out our website to learn more about what ATRS offers.

BEWARE OF MISLEADING MARKETING EMAILS

The start of school also means that some members will see emails in their school inbox that sound like ATRS. These emails typically include your name and your school district’s name. They may have a subject that reads something like, “Annual Pension Review,” and they offer to schedule a meeting or phone call. 

These emails may have a disclaimer at the bottom that says they are not employees of the retirement system. But when a busy school employee glances at the email, it can be easy to mistake it as a message from ATRS. Please know that these emails have nothing to do with ATRS, they are sent by marketers trying to sell investment or insurance products, or worse, by scammers trying to steal your identity or money.

They get your email address from data brokers, who use Freedom of Information requests to collect names and email addresses of school district employees. By law, the districts have to provide them this information. That’s why these marketers target employees of public schools and public colleges and universities. And they do it all over the country.

Please understand that these marketers do not have your retirement or salary records. They cannot give you an official projection of your retirement benefits. The only way they can tell you anything about your retirement benefits is if you give them that information. 

ATRS will never contact you unsolicited to schedule a retirement consultation. We schedule those only when you reach out to us and ask for one. So, if you get an email about retirement, and you’re not sure if it is from ATRS, check the sending email address. Any email from ATRS will always come from an email address that ends in “.gov”. If an email address ends in “.com” or anything else, it is not from ATRS.

If any email doesn’t seem right, or if you are ready to talk about your retirement questions, you can reach our staff by emailing info@artrs.gov or calling (501) 682-1517. If you have a question or concern about the System, please reach out to me at the contact information below. I am always glad to talk to ATRS members and answer their questions.

Mark White
Executive Director, ATRS
MarkW@artrs.gov
Office: (501) 621-8853
Cell: (501) 541-2057