All California Community College faculty must be enrolled into the CalSTRS Defined Benefit Program upon being hired full-time (unless you were already a member of the CalPERS retirement system). This retirement program requires you to contribute just over 10% of your salary to the CalSTRS fund in return for a guaranteed pension for life upon retirement. The pension is determined by a formula, using just three factors: your years of service, an age factor, and your final compensation.
There are two benefit structures within the Defined Benefit Program, depending on whether you started contributing before or after January 1, 2013. If you joined before, you are in the “2% at 60” plan and if after, it is the “2% at 62” plan. These two plans have slightly different benefits and slightly different contribution rates, but both guarantee you a strong retirement pension.
Remember, as educators, retirement is an earned benefit, contributed to by you, SMC, and the state of California. It is a form of deferred compensation that is protected by the California constitution. You've earned it and it will be there for you when you retire.
The first thing you should do is look up your own personal retirement reports on the following site: myCalSTRS: https://www.calstrs.com/mycalstrs. It’s never too early to learn about your retirement benefits.
If you worked as a part-time faculty member in the California Community College system, you may have been enrolled into CalSTRS Cash Balance (CB) program. You will see this when you log into your account at myCalSTRS and open the “View Your Retirement Progress Reports” tab. For most faculty members, it is beneficial to consolidate this account into your Defined Benefit account. Talk to a CalSTRS benefits specialist if you think this applies to you.
You may be able to purchase more “service credit” toward your retirement, and this is always less expensive to do when you are younger.
As a member of the Defined Benefit Program, you do not contribute to Social Security and, in addition, any Social Security benefits you might have earned through other employment (your own or that of your spouse) may be reduced substantially when you start receiving your CalSTRS pension.
