New Items Added to Toolkit

Public pensions are always a hot news topic, but what’s reported isn’t always accurate or complete. That’s why we developed the Pension Education Toolkit. It’s designed to deepen understanding of pensions, particularly the importance of defined benefit public pension plans like the one administered by NYSTRS.

Two new items were recently added to this important reference resource:

• Why Pensions Matter: The History of Defined Benefit Pension Plans in the USA (2017). This report from the National Public Pension Coalition concludes that providing workers with a secure and dignified pension is good for everyone – including taxpayers and the economy.
• Understanding Public Pensions: A Guide for Elected Officials (2017). Produced by AARP and the Center for State & Local Government Excellence, this report explains the important role elected officials play in building or maintaining sustainable, cost-effective retirement systems.

The Toolkit features a variety of research from national organizations like the National Institute on Retirement Research, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, and the National Association of State Retirement Administrators.

In addition, the Toolkit contains a wealth of information specific to NYSTRS. The Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR), for example, uses graphs, charts and other visuals to tell the NYSTRS story. The Pension Dollar is a single-page visual that shows over the past 20 years 86% of NYSTRS’ income was derived from investment earnings and member contributions.

Navigate to the Toolkit from the “I’m looking for…” tab found at the top of all NYSTRS.org pages.