IPERS’ role is to manage and administer a pension plan for covered public employees. We strive to provide helpful information about your rights and options as an IPERS member.
Representatives of IPERS are not financial planners and IPERS benefits are only one part of your overall retirement savings. IPERS benefits were designed to supplement Social Security benefits and personal savings. IPERS benefits do not include a cost-of-living adjustment for most members.
To have enough money in retirement, you must also set aside personal savings. One cost-effective way to save for retirement is to use the taxdeferred savings vehicles offered by many public employers.
Two examples of these programs are:
- Tax-sheltered annuities (annuities qualified under IRC section 403[b]) offered to employees of many school districts.
- Deferred-compensation programs offered to other public employees.
For further information about programs your employer offers, contact your human resources
department. If you are an employee of the state, a participating school district, a community college, or an area education agency, you are eligible to participate in the supplemental retirement plans offered by the Iowa Retirement Investors’ Club (RIC). Visit https://das.iowa.gov/RIC or call RIC toll-free at 866-460-4692.
The advantage of tax-deferred savings vehicles over other types of investments (mutual funds, stocks and bonds, certificates of deposit and money market accounts) is that taxes on both contributions and earnings are deferred until you receive those funds. Your tax rate may be lower in retirement. The longer you have to invest (generally, the younger you are), the greater the advantage.