For decades, retirement was a simple set-it-and-forget-it deal: Work. Retire. Cash the checks.
As today's California Public Employees' Retirement System retirement fair illustrates, retiring comfortably has become a lifelong pursuit involving your own savings, lots of math and careful planning that never ends.
"There's a lot of stuff to learn," said Ron Kraft of Cal-PERS' Customer Service and Education Division.
The retirement fair, which continues today at the Sacramento Convention Center, is part of CalPERS' renewed emphasis on educating its members about everything from personal finance and medical benefits to figuring out how much money they'll get once they leave public service.
Visitors to the event, held on the Convention Center's third floor, will see about a dozen information booths staffed by CalPERS benefits experts and vendors such as Kaiser Permanente and Blue Shield of California. Down the middle of the room, fund employees can help members with online research and enrollment at one of seven computer kiosks.
The retirement fair is one of 23 that CalPERS is hosting around the state this year through November.
A little more than one-third of the 240,000 workers employed by the state will reach 55 within the next five years, at which point they can opt to retire. Half of the state's managers and supervisors can retire by 2013.
CalPERS faces a tsunami of questions from retiring workers, especially because "a lot of people wait until the last minute" to ask about their retirement benefits, Kraft said.
And although state worker retirement is "pretty good," Kraft said, it still varies from person to person, depending on things such as years of service and the formula used to determine the retirement payout.
"We tell people, 'You ought to save a little yourself,' " Kraft said.
Sonja Kennedy, a state Board of Equalization worker who was at the fair on Friday morning, is heeding that advice.
"Nothing is certain," Kennedy said as she headed for one of several personal finance and benefits workshops CalPERS was sponsoring throughout the day. "That's why I'm diversifying my investments."
Kennedy was one of the estimated 2,000 CalPERS members who attended the fair on Friday. Anther 600 or so will attend today, the fund estimates.
Call The Bee's Jon Ortiz, (916) 321-1043.
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