Retiring from a public pension looks like one form on your system's website. In practice it is a sequence: an estimate you need to read correctly, service credit that must be bought before your date, a last day of work that sets your effective date, a payout-option election you usually cannot undo once the first payment arrives, and a retiree health window that closes on its own schedule. Get one step out of order and the first check comes late, comes smaller, or your coverage lapses.
Every system runs that sequence differently, and its rules change with your hire date: tiers, plans, classes and grandfathering dates decide your retirement age, your salary average and what your survivor receives. The handbook is written for every member at once. Each of our guides takes one system and walks through its own forms, deadlines and elections in the order you will meet them, with the questions to ask your system's counselor. Each one also reflects the 2025 Social Security Fairness Act, which repealed WEP and GPO, though many pension handbooks still describe the old offsets.
When a member or retiree dies, the family meets the same system from the other side: who to call, which benefit applies, what documents prove it, and which choices have deadlines. Our survivor guides map that claim step by step. Every guide is independent and is not affiliated with any retirement system. We do not give investment advice and we never tell you which option is best: we explain the trade-offs so you can decide with your eyes open.