Title. Staying Connected. Missouri LAGERS. A secure retirement for all L A S I

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1 Staying Connected Pictured from left: Kyle Townsend, Matt Ellis Grand River Ambulance District SOU S I L A S RI M Title GER Missouri LAGERS A secure retirement for all

2 Contact Us 701 West Main St., PO Box 1665 Jefferson City, MO (Local) Fax: Follow Us! Table of Contents Your Annual Statement What Can I Expect as I Near Retirement? Annual Meeting Update, 50 Years of Retirement Security You Can Take Your Benefit With You 2018 Pre-Retirement Seminars Meet Your New Director, Bob Wilson Your Annual Statement Your member annual statement will be available by March 31st! To view the statement, you must log in to your mylagers account. Don t have a mylagers account? Sign up today by visiting and click on the green Member Login button.

3 What Can I Expect As I near retirement eligibility? Although you are no longer working in a LAGERS covered position, as a vested member, you still have a future benefit payable once you reach retirement eligibility. Once you are within a few months of your early retirement age (General 55, Police & Fire 50), you will receive the following from LAGERS: A packet from LAGERS with your early and normal retirement eligibility dates. Benefit estimates that will include both your early retirement date and your normal retirement date projected. An Application for Retirement You have some options: Apply for your benefit. You can begin your monthly benefit on or after your earliest eligibility date, but you will receive a reduction to your benefit. The earlier you draw your benefit, the larger the reduction will be. Delay your retirement. If you do not wish to take a reduction to your monthly benefit, you can wait until you reach your full normal retirement age. If you choose to delay your retirement, you will receive a second packet from LAGERS a few months before your normal retirement age. Keep in mind, if you are no longer working in a LAGERS covered position, there is no incentive in delaying your payment beyond your normal retirement age. For example, if your normal retirement age is 60 and you wait until 62 to draw your benefit, you will have missed out on 2 years of payments that you cannot recoup. Annual Meeting Update call dr. tomorrow Celebrating 50 Years of Retirement Security In October, employer and member representatives from many of LAGERS member employers converged to attend the LAGERS 50th Annual Meeting. At the 50th Annual Meeting, attendees heard updates about their system s strong financial status, learned more about their system through educational sessions, and participated in the election of the system s Board of Trustees. At this year s Annual Meeting, there were two Board of Trustees vacancies. The Member Delegates re-elected Arby Todd as a Member Trustee for a four-year term ending December 31, The Employer Delegates reelected J. Robert Ashcroft as an Employer Trustee for a four-year term ending December 31, 2021.

4 You Can Take Your Benefit With You! One of the greatest misconceptions when it comes to your LAGERS benefit is that in order to be eligible for a monthly benefit, you must stay with your employer until you retire. The truth is, your benefit is more portable than you may think, and regardless of whether you plan to be a career-long local government employee in Missouri, or if you have plans to move on in the future, you have lots of different options when it comes to taking your LAGERS benefit with you! I m planning to return to a LAGERS employer in the future. When returning to LAGERS covered employment, there s not much you need to do when it comes to your LAGERS benefit. Your new employer will simply complete an enrollment for you. If you are returning to LAGERS covered employment with a different employer, the benefit calculations from each employer will be done separately. I ve left the LAGERS system, but I don t know if I will ever return to LAGERS covered employment. If you left the LAGERS system, but might return in the future, you can simply leave your LAGERS benefit untouched. If you reemploy in the future, you will simply pick back up where you left off. While you are between LAGERS employers, you can participate in whatever retirement plan your employer offers, and it can work in tandem with LAGERS upon retirement. If your employer does not offer a retirement plan, and it is a public employer in the state of Missouri, you can purchase that time towards your LAGERS benefit if you reemploy with the LAGERS system in the future! Read this blog post and many others at blog.molagers.org I m leaving the LAGERS system, and don t plan to ever work for another LAGERS employer. While some public workers will remain in public service in Missouri for their entire careers, others choose at some point to move on, whether it be out of state or simply out of the public sector. When this happens, there are several options when it comes to an accrued LAGERS benefit. If you have less than ten years of LAGERS service credit and you are more than 10 years from your normal retirement age (General 60, Police & Fire 55), you can apply for a lump sum payout of your benefit. You can roll this payment into any new qualified retirement plan at your new employer, or you can simply take the payment directly. This is a great option for members who have smaller benefit accruals in LAGERS and wish to completely transfer their benefit into a new plan. Keep in mind, by taking the lump sum you are exhausting your benefit and you will not be able reinstate the service credit. You also have the option to simply let your LAGERS benefit sit with LAGERS and begin your monthly benefit at retirement age in addition to any other retirement benefits you earn at future employers. If you do not qualify for the previously mentioned lump sum and have not reached early retirement (General 55, Police & Fire 50), you can elect to receive a refund of only your 4% member contributions (if any were made). If you take a refund of those contributions, you forfeit those months of service as well as the benefit related to the forfeited service. Just remember, there are many options that provide flexibility in how you choose to take your LAGERS benefit with you. If you have any questions about your options, please do not hesitate to give our office a call.

5 Pre-Retirement Seminars The 2018 Pre-Retirement Seminar Schedule is below. Pre-Retirement Seminars are a beneficial tool for your retirement planning needs. Why Should I Attend? If you are nearing retirement, you will find a LAGERS Pre-Retirement Seminar to be helpful when considering your plans for retirement. Even though you are a deferred LAGERS member, seminars will provide you with a great educational opportunity to learn more about your LAGERS system, selecting payment options, the retirement process and much more! Seminars are free to attend, and our fullday seminars include Social Security and Medicare presentations. Registration You can find registration information and agendas on the LAGERS website: Kansas City Metropolitan Area March 21, 2018 March 22, 2018 July 19, 2018 September 26, 2018 September 27, 2018 Central Missouri April 18, 2018 May 10, 2018 June 28, 2018 September 5, 2018 October 4, 2018 November 8, 2018 December 6, 2018 St. Louis Metropolitan Area March 1, 2018 May 24, 2018 August 7, 2018 August 8, 2018 Springfield, MO April 5, 2018 September 12, 2018 September 13, 2018 Joplin, MO April 4, 2018 Cape Girardeau, MO June 7, 2018 August 23, 2018 Poplar Bluff, MO June 6, 2018 Hannibal, MO May 17, 2018 St. Joseph, MO June 21, 2018 August 15, 2018

6 Meet Your New Director Bob Wilson was appointed by the LAGERS Board of Trustees as Executive Secretary effective July 1st. Bob began his career at LAGERS as Public Relations Coordinator in the summer of This was a new position created by the Board of Trustees to work directly in the field to better serve LAGERS members and employers, and be a bridge between the membership and LAGERS board and staff. Throughout his career, Bob has continued to expand educational services with his roles as Manager of Member Services, then eventually Assistant Executive Secretary, Member Services. Bring respect back...to all of us A great deal of Bob s focus was also in working with legislators, helping them understand the importance of public service. His passion for those he serves has brought our membership front and center for our board and staff. We clearly see our members and appreciate the vital work they do. Bob has also become a champion and voice all across the country for communicating the value of public service in securing our communities. His dedication to growing the partnership of employees, employers and communities will be even more effective in his expanded new role. A little about Bob, in his own words: I grew up the youngest of 5 boys on a farm on the east side of Kansas. Okay, farm is an overstatement. My mom and dad bought 160 acres of brush, thorns and trees; but had a vision and a small but captive work force! Contrary to popular belief, Kansas is not all flat, rolling prairies. To this day I still have a deep resentment for locust trees. The 7 of us raised everything you can think of - cows, sheep, chickens; crops (mostly hay before the advent of big round bales). I was blessed with such a great, humble upbringing. I was taught to appreciate the simple things which are really the base for everything else: the value of hard work, planning, determination, self-reliance, working together, creativity, and self-pride. Every day we would check the list on the refrigerator to see what Mom had assigned each of us in addition to our normal chores. It was then up to us to figure out the best way to get it done. We worked hard and fast knowing that when we were done we were free to fish, hunt, bike or whatever we wanted so long as it was done right. If it wasn t, well, that was yet another lesson I learned well. I worked my way through school putting up hay and working for the Douglas County (KS) Public Works Department. It was a great experience. I mowed roadsides, flagged traffic, raked asphalt, put in culverts, drove dump trucks and did anything else the full timers asked me to do. I learned so much mostly how hard those jobs are to do day in and day out. I also learned how much they all cared about their communities. I got an up close look at all that goes in to making it all happen. I really got to SEE THEM. Good people working hard. I finished school with a degree in business management.

7 LAGERS by the Numbers New Employers in As most folks, I dipped my toe in several arenas, but nothing really brought it home until I came to LAGERS. And the rest, as they say, is history. I m entering my 24th year! Looking back I have to say that I was so lucky. My parents taught me that if you care and have pride in what you re doing and work hard anyone can do anything. THAT S why I love what I do. I get to see that from our members every day. Interestingly, some have asked me, Now that you re the Director, what are your goals and vision for LAGERS going forward? Those that know me know the answer. This has been my mission we ve been working toward for a long time: bring respect back to all of us. I truly believe the missing ingredient is restoring pride in ourselves, our coworkers, the work we do and our communities. We are all in this together. There are no sides. We all want the same thing respect. I pledge to work every day, as hard as I can, to bring that back. To all of us. A Great Tool for You! A great financial planning tool at your disposal is your mylagers account. Your mylagers account gives you the ability to update your personal information, change beneficiaries, estimate your future benefit, apply for your benefit and more. To access your account go to LAGERS Pre-Funding Percentage 94.8 % LAGERS Investment Return % As of June 30, 2017 Annual Dollars Paid to Retirees Last Year $283 Million

8 Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System 701 West Main St., PO Box 1665, Jefferson City, MO Staying Connected Member Annual Statements are available on mylagers. Is your address up to date? Make sure your address is updated by logging in to your mylagers account.