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.

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.

We want to assure our members and beneficiaries that they receive a defined/guaranteed pension benefit from FCERA that is calculated based on age, years of service, final highest average salary, retirement tier, and a member chosen survivor benefit option at the time of retirement… regardless of investment market fluctuations.

 

We worry, so you don’t have to, however, we understand your concerns.  Volatility in the markets is to be expected.  The fact that the markets have been very consistent over the last several years has caused us to forget this fundamental characteristic.  If you have your own assets for which you are responsible, now isn’t a bad time to consider your savings and investing time horizons, and to re-evaluate your personal risk tolerance.  If you need assistance, speak to a financial advisor for assistance with your personal assets.  FCERA does not offer any financial advice or referral services. We provide guaranteed pensions.

From the Retirement Administrator (Head of Investments):

 

First, thank you for your desire to work with FCERA. We are a great organization to work with once you get to know us. But! Please be advised that if you use an automated mass-email approach, an off-the-shelf marketing piece, or a scripted generic outreach message, it won’t be well received, and you will need to put in more effort. You will get from us about as much time an energy as you put into us.

 

The best way to approach a new prospect, let alone FCERA, is to do your homework, especially if you want to be successful at establishing new relationship. We don’t reply to most canned messages, and we don’t take voice or video calls, although we will see you in person with joy.

 

At FCERA, we rely on our consultants for manager underwriting and sourcing. Aksia handles private credit on a discretionary basis, Hamilton Lane handles private equity on a discretionary basis, and NEPC handles everything else on a non-discretionary basis, but NEPC is still responsible for manager sourcing and initial underwriting. Staff aren’t rewarded for new manager engagement efforts, and despite what any consultants might have told you, we do not tell our consultants who to look at. They tell us who they are looking at.

 

Our asset allocation and manager lineup are on our website in our quarterly performance reports, as is our Investment Policy (under Governance). If you peruse our publicly available agenda materials, you will discover our consultant contacts and will find out whether your firm’s solutions have a place with FCERA saving time and avoiding dead ends.

 

We have no doubt that the firm you are representing is wonderful, but we need you to do your homework so you can make sure you are bringing us solutions and not problems.

 

Thank you for your patience and persistence reading the above. Hopefully, it tempers your resolve and makes your future outreach and relationships stronger.

 

If our paths cross on the conference circuit, we can spend some time together.

 

Best of luck!