Pension Sense blog | March 24, 2021

Earlier this month, CalSTRS released its seventh Sustainability Report covering the 2019-20 fiscal year. This report is prepared in accordance with Global Reporting Initiative Standards, the global best practices for corporate sustainability reporting.

One of the topics covered in our Sustainability Report is member retirement preparedness. Assisting our members with retirement preparedness is essential to our mission. As life expectancies increase, we continue to educate members about their defined benefit and supplemental savings options.

Here are our key findings on member retirement preparedness for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

• CalSTRS processed 11,706 service retirements and paid $15.9 billion in retirement, disability and survivor benefits and purchasing power supplemental payments.
• Members retired with an average of 24.3 years of service credit and a monthly member-only benefit of $4,614.
• The average member age at retirement was 63.3 years old.
• The average life expectancy of CalSTRS members continued to exceed the longevity of CalPERS and Social Security members. The average female CalSTRS member was expected to live to 91 years old, while the average male was expected to live to age 88.
• CalSTRS saw a 13% increase in the number of members over 100 years old, with 410 retirees over age 100 as of June 30, 2020.
• CalSTRS’ oldest service retiree reached 108.7 years old!

In the report, you can find more information on our suite of products and outreach efforts to help members prepare for retirement. While our physical offices remained closed, our benefits specialists are available for individual benefit planning sessions via telephone. To register for a session or ask a question, please call 800-228-5453, between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.