OPERS Retirement Mistakes to Avoid

Missing the Service Credit Purchase Deadline

Every purchasable service credit — military time, refunded OPERS contributions, out-of-state public service, leaves of absence — must be fully paid before your retirement effective date. Not filed. Not in a payment plan. Fully paid.

This trips up more members than any other rule. You find three years of uncredited military service during your T-6 estimate review, start the purchase paperwork, and discover the cost is $14,000. Payroll deductions at $400/month won't clear the balance before your planned retirement date, and the lump-sum payment requires money you were counting on for the income gap.

Start the service credit audit at T-12 months. Request a purchase cost statement early. If the number is large, decide immediately whether the service credit justifies delaying retirement or paying a lump sum.

Forgetting Spousal Consent

Under ORC 145.46, the statutory default for married members is a Joint Life Plan paying your spouse at least 50% survivor benefits. Notarized spousal consent is required if you elect Single Life, a Joint Life Plan below 50% or naming a non-spouse, or a Multiple Life Plan that allocates less than 50% survivor protection to your spouse.

The mistake isn't that members don't know about the rule — it's that they file the application without the notarized signature, OPERS rejects the election, and the default 50% Joint Life Plan locks in while they scramble to get the consent notarized and refile. That default plan pays less than Single Life but more than many members expect to receive. If the refile arrives after the first check is issued, the window to change plans may have closed.

Get the spousal conversation and notary appointment done before you fill out the application.

Underestimating the Income Gap

Your last paycheck from your public employer arrives on your normal pay date. Your first OPERS pension check arrives approximately eight business days after OPERS receives all valid documentation from you and your employer, or your retirement effective date, whichever is later. That employer certification doesn't go out until your final payroll is processed — which can be two to four weeks after your last day.

Add it up: there's typically a two-to-six-week gap with no income from either source. If you elected a PLOP, that lump sum is not released earlier than 90 days after your first monthly check. Members who assumed the PLOP would cover the gap discover it's actually four to five months away.

Build a cash reserve equal to two months of expenses before your retirement date. The OPERS first retirement check timeline breaks down the exact processing sequence.

Filing the PLOP Election Without Modeling the COLA Impact

The Partial Lump-Sum Option Payment gives you a lump sum worth 6 to 36 times your unreduced monthly Single Life benefit. In exchange, your monthly pension drops permanently. That part is obvious.

What isn't obvious: OPERS calculates cost-of-living adjustments as a percentage of your reduced initial base benefit, not your original unreduced amount. A 3% COLA on a $2,800 monthly benefit adds $84/month. A 3% COLA on a PLOP-reduced benefit of $1,900 adds only $57/month. That $27/month difference adds up across later payments; the COLA is calculated on the initial base and does not compound.

The PLOP can still make sense — especially if you roll it into a tax-deferred account and earn returns that outpace OPERS's COLA cap. But model both scenarios before you check the box.

Ignoring an Active Division of Property Order

If you've been divorced and a Division of Property Order (DPO) is on file with OPERS, it restricts your plan of payment options. The DPO may require you to name your former spouse as a Joint Life Plan beneficiary at a specific percentage, or it may mandate that a portion of each monthly check goes directly to them.

The mistake is filing the retirement application without first confirming what the DPO requires. OPERS Legal reviews every application against existing DPOs, and a conflict between your election and the court order delays processing. In some cases, OPERS defaults you to the plan that satisfies the DPO rather than the one you chose.

Request your DPO status from OPERS Legal at T-6 months. If the order needs to be modified because of changed circumstances, you need time to go through domestic relations court before your target retirement date.

Not Verifying Health Care Eligibility

OPERS retiree health care eligibility depends on age, transition group, total service, and qualifying health care service credit. At age 65 or older, the threshold is 20 years of qualifying health care service credit. At ages 60–64, members need 20 health care years plus 30 total service years in Group A, 31 in Group B, or 32 in Group C. Under age 60, the thresholds are 30 health care years for Group A; 32, or 31 at age 52, for Group B; and 32 plus age 55 for Group C. Some types of purchased service credit don't count toward the health care threshold.

Members who retire at 58 with 25 years of pension credit but only 18 years of health care credit do not meet the pre-Medicare HRA threshold. They also remain short of the 20-year health care service threshold at age 65 unless they earn additional qualifying credit. Individual health insurance for a 58-year-old in Ohio runs $600–$900/month before subsidies.

Check your qualifying health care service credit on your OPERS online account or request a written statement. OPERS counts contributing service, eligible service in another Ohio retirement system, military time that interrupted public service under USERRA, unreported public service, and restored OPERS service toward health care eligibility. Confirm whether a proposed service purchase qualifies before paying for it.

The OPERS Retirement Guide walks through each of these decisions with worksheets for modeling plan of payment, PLOP, and health care scenarios.

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