YOUR PENSION YOUR FUTURE

When you have decided on the day you’d like to retire, contact us up to 90 days prior at our office line (559) 457-0681 or by email [email protected].

You will be assigned to a Retirement Specialist, who will contact you to schedule a counseling session to go over your retirement options. Currently, we are only scheduling appointments for members who are within 90 days of their retirement date. Counseling sessions typically take 45 minutes to an hour. Retirement involves a lot of decisions, such as what option you will choose in retirement. Who will you list as your beneficiary? Is the Temporary Annuity Option right for you? The retirement specialist can help you with information regarding these questions, but they cannot make a decision for you. Your spouse, other family member, or financial planner is welcome to attend with you, however, we strongly discourage bringing children as it can be hard to focus on the information you are receiving. Some members decide to take a day to decide on an item like what option to choose in retirement. After the counseling session, the Retirement Specialist will give you a timeline of when to submit any remaining documents in order to process and distribute your monthly benefit check. Retirees are paid once a month on the last County of Fresno business day of the month.

If you believe that you are disabled, please look at our disability retirement section here.

 

 

Members can utilize the FCERA Member Portal to find out their estimated benefit amount.  The Benefit Calculator inside the member portal can help a member estimated monthly benefit amounts for various dates.

 

If you have an account, you can log into the portal or you can register for an account here:  Member Portal | Register

 

You can view more information about the FCERA Member Portal here: Creating a Member Portal Account

 

If you have any questions please contact our office.

As an FCERA retiree, you are entitled to a lifetime monthly benefit – that means you will get paid every month until you pass away. If you are the surviving beneficiary of an FCERA retiree, you may be entitled to a continuance of that benefit for the rest of your life.

Notify the FCERA office immediately by mail or in person using the Name and Address Change Form. For your protection, all requests for address changes must be made in writing and submitted by mail or drop off to our office. If you have health insurance or REFCO dues being deducted, you will need to contact these agencies to notify them of your change of address.

No, members do not need to notify FCERA when they terminate employment because FCERA is officially notified of changes in employment status via the payroll process. When FCERA receives this information, staff reviews the contribution history and service credit accrual for the affected members and provides them with a Disposition form and Instructions This form provides more detailed information regarding the options available to you.

Federal law allows up to six months to process a refund of contributions.  However, at FCERA, most refund checks are issued within 90 days of receipt of paperwork requesting the refund of contributions, providing that termination has occurred at the time of receipt.