If you are a California public employee or retiree covered by CalPERS, your pension, health benefits, dental coverage, Social Security, savings, taxes, and other financial resources can all affect your retirement.

Understanding each benefit separately is important. Understanding how they work together can be even more important.  With more than 23 years of financial planning experience, I help individuals and families evaluate their retirement resources and develop a practical strategy for turning those resources into reliable retirement income.

My approach is not limited to asking, “How much will my CalPERS pension be?”

I help you consider the bigger question:

“How can I use my CalPERS benefits and all my other financial resources to create the retirement I want?”

CalPERS provides a defined-benefit pension for eligible members. Unlike an individual investment account whose value depends primarily on the balance accumulated, a CalPERS service retirement benefit is generally calculated using a formula.

CalPERS identifies the basic calculation as:

Service Credit × Benefit Factor × Final Compensation = Unmodified Allowance

Your service credit represents your qualifying years of CalPERS-covered employment. Your benefit factor is generally determined by your retirement formula and age at retirement. Final compensation is based on your qualifying compensation according to the provisions applicable to your membership and employer.  Because each of these factors can affect your lifetime pension, the timing of retirement can be an important financial decision.

CalPERS retirement benefits are governed primarily by California's Public Employees' Retirement Law, contained in the California Government Code. CalPERS rules, your employer's contract, your membership classification, your date of membership, and other circumstances can affect the benefits available to you.  My planning process helps you understand how these provisions may affect your overall retirement strategy.

For many CalPERS members, choosing a retirement date should involve more than simply reaching an eligible retirement age.

Your retirement decision can involve questions such as:

• How much service credit will I have?
• What is my retirement formula?
• What benefit factor applies at my retirement age?
• Would working several additional months increase my benefit factor?
• What compensation period will CalPERS use?
• How much monthly income will my pension provide?
• How will my pension coordinate with Social Security?
• How much income will I need beyond my pension?
• How will taxes affect my retirement income?
• What happens financially if I retire earlier or later?

CalPERS publishes benefit-factor charts showing how the applicable percentage can change based on age and the retirement formula. Because the pension calculation combines service credit, benefit factor, and final compensation, even relatively small differences can affect lifetime retirement income.  The objective is not necessarily to work as long as possible.

The objective is to understand your choices before making an important and potentially permanent retirement decision.

Another important decision involves how your pension will be paid. Depending on your circumstances, CalPERS provides retirement payment options that can affect both your monthly pension and the benefits that may continue to another person after your death.  For example, a member may need to evaluate the difference between receiving the maximum available monthly allowance and selecting an option that provides continuing income to an eligible beneficiary.  

These decisions can affect:

Your Monthly Income

A survivor or beneficiary option may reduce the amount you receive during your lifetime.

Your Spouse or Beneficiary

Certain payment options can provide continuing income after your death.

Your Overall Estate and Retirement Plan

The appropriate choice may depend upon your spouse's income, life insurance, savings, health, age, debts, housing expenses, and other financial resources.  My role is to help you examine these choices within your overall financial picture, rather than viewing the pension decision in isolation.

CalPERS also has specific provisions governing beneficiaries, survivor continuance, and death benefits.

These provisions can differ depending upon whether you are an active employee or retiree, your employer, your membership category, your retirement option, and your eligible survivors.

For state and school members, CalPERS explains that survivor continuance is provided by law when eligibility requirements are satisfied. Public agency availability can depend upon the employer's contract with CalPERS.

Your beneficiary decisions should therefore be coordinated with other parts of your financial plan, including:

• Life insurance
• Retirement accounts
• Bank and investment accounts
• Estate planning
• Your spouse's retirement income
• Your mortgage and other debts
• Your family's future income needs

A pension election is only one part of protecting your family's financial future.

Healthcare can become one of the largest expenses in retirement.  CalPERS administers health coverage under California's Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act (PEMHCA).

Eligibility for retiree health coverage is separate from simply qualifying to receive a pension.

CalPERS currently identifies several requirements that generally must be satisfied for eligible retirees to continue CalPERS health coverage, including requirements concerning retirement timing, receipt of a monthly retirement allowance, eligibility for health coverage when separating from employment, and whether the former employer participates in the CalPERS health program.

For this reason, healthcare should be reviewed before you retire, not after.

I help clients consider questions such as:

• Will I qualify to continue health coverage after retirement?
• What will my health insurance cost?
• How much will my former employer contribute?
• When will Medicare become involved?
• Should healthcare expenses be incorporated into my retirement budget?
• How might premiums change my required retirement income?
• What coverage may be available for my spouse and eligible dependents?

CalPERS offers Basic and Medicare health plan options, although availability and costs depend on factors such as employer participation, residence, eligibility, and plan selection.

For retirees approaching age 65, understanding the relationship between CalPERS health coverage and Medicare becomes especially important.  Medicare eligibility can affect the health plans available to you and how your retirement healthcare coverage operates.

Planning ahead can help you understand:

• Medicare Parts A and B
• CalPERS Medicare health plans
• Premiums
• Employer contributions
• Spousal coverage
• Prescription coverage
• Healthcare expenses that should be included in your retirement budget

Healthcare planning should be integrated with your income planning so that you understand how much money you actually need to retire comfortably.

Dental benefits should also be reviewed as part of your retirement planning.

For California state retirees, the state-sponsored dental program is administered by the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR). CalPERS maintains dental enrollment records for state retirees, processes retiree dental enrollments, and transmits eligibility information to the appropriate dental plans.

Eligibility and available plans can depend on your employment and retirement status.

When preparing for retirement, I encourage clients to evaluate dental coverage together with medical insurance rather than treating these expenses as an afterthought.

One of the most common mistakes a public employee can make is assuming:

“I have CalPERS, so my retirement is taken care of.”

A pension can provide an extremely valuable foundation, but your pension does not automatically tell you whether your total retirement income will be sufficient.

I help you look beyond the pension estimate.

We can evaluate:

What monthly retirement income can you reasonably expect?

If you qualify, how should Social Security fit into your retirement income strategy?

How should these resources supplement your pension?

How much additional monthly income can your assets provide?

Will you enter retirement with a mortgage? Should eliminating debt become a priority?

What portion of your retirement budget should be reserved for health, dental, Medicare and other medical expenses?

How much of your gross retirement income will actually be available for spending?

Will your income remain sufficient 10, 20, or 30 years into retirement?

How do your spouse's pension, Social Security, savings, and healthcare benefits affect the household plan?

My financial planning process focuses on helping you see the entire picture.

We can review:

1. Your Expected CalPERS Pension

We examine your CalPERS information, estimated retirement benefit, retirement formula, service credit and anticipated retirement age.

2. Your Desired Retirement Date

We compare your expected resources with your desired retirement timeline.

3. Your Retirement Expenses

We estimate how much monthly income you will actually need.

4. Your Other Retirement Resources

We incorporate Social Security, savings, retirement accounts, insurance and other assets.

5. Your Health and Dental Benefits

We evaluate expected healthcare costs and how they fit into your retirement budget.

6. Your Debts

We determine whether reducing or eliminating major debts before retirement could strengthen your cash flow.

7. Your Survivor Planning

We consider how your pension election and other financial resources may affect your spouse or family.

8. Your Long-Term Cash Flow

Finally, we bring everything together into an easy-to-understand retirement strategy.

I have spent more than 23+ years helping individuals and families make better financial decisions.

My philosophy is simple: Your pension is an important benefit—but it is only one piece of your financial life.

Retirement planning requires understanding how your pension, Social Security, healthcare, taxes, savings, debts, housing expenses, and family needs work together.

Rather than focusing on selling investments, my goal is to help you develop a practical financial strategy designed around the resources you already have.

I believe good financial planning should help answer three questions:

What do I have?

What will I need?

What should I do next?

Before selecting your retirement date, consider reviewing your entire financial picture.

A well-planned retirement can help you understand not only what CalPERS may provide, but also how to make the most of your pension, health benefits, savings and other financial resources throughout retirement.

Art De La Rosa, Financial Planner
23+ Years of Experience
In-Person & Remote Services

West Covina, CA 

I can help you develop a personalized retirement plan that coordinates your CalPERS benefits with the rest of your financial life.

Schedule Your Free 1-Hour Retirement Planning Consultation

Wealthy Dollar and Art De La Rosa are not affiliated with, endorsed by, employed by, or sponsored by the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the State of California, or CalHR.

Information presented on this page is for general educational and financial-planning purposes and should not be considered an official determination of CalPERS eligibility or benefits, legal advice, tax advice, or a substitute for information provided by CalPERS, CalHR, your employer, or other appropriate government agencies.

CalPERS laws, regulations, employer contracts, bargaining agreements, benefit provisions, contribution requirements, healthcare rules and individual circumstances may change. Members should verify their individual benefits and eligibility directly through CalPERS and their employer before making retirement or benefit elections.