Early PERS retirees avoided 2% hit to pensions

That’s the take from OPB reporter Steve Law, in the RG:

For those affected, it’s roughly a 2 percent hit. The PERS actuary calculated that a typical 55-year-old retiring Dec. 1 on Money Match would avert a 1.9 percent reduction in his or her pension that takes effect starting with 2014 retirees. A 65-year-old in the same boat would avert a 2.3 percent reduction. But those employees could make up much or all of those losses merely by working several months longer.

The legislature had considered, but did not implement, changes that could have let to huge hits for “in-active” members such as the faculty who switched from PERS to the ORP in 1996. That uncertainly led to a least a few early UO retirements. These much smaller cuts are due to small changes in the death-tables and a cut in the assumed earnings rate for annuities.