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Prepare for Your Retirement

Note: If you are applying for a disability retirement, please disregard the instructions below, review our Disability Retirement Fact Sheet, and contact the Call Center immediately to schedule an appointment.

Attend a Webinar, Review Fact Sheets, & Use Your Benefit Estimate Calculator

Before you schedule a retirement counseling appointment, we highly recommend that you attend one of our retirement webinars. The webinars will give you a broader understanding of your pension plan and prepare you to discuss the more complicated details of your retirement at your counseling appointment. All currently scheduled webinars can be found on the calendar located towards the bottom of the home page. There will generally be at least three webinars per month. (Note: If you are a Port or Airport Member, there may not be any webinars specific to your plan tier. In this case, please go ahead and proceed with scheduling a counseling appointment.)

If you are unable to join a live webinar prior to your counseling appointment for any reason, please contact SDCERS’ Communications Manager, Jessica Taylor – JMTaylor at sdcers.org.

Please also be sure to review the relevant fact sheets under Learn About… The fact sheets likely to be most helpful at this stage include Retirement Benefit Options, DROP, Death Benefits, and Reciprocity. Also, before you submit a retirement application, please utilize the Benefit Estimate Calculator on your Member Portal account to run estimates under various hypothetical retirement scenarios. See our Benefit Estimate Calculator Guide for assistance.

How to Begin the Retirement or DROP Entry Process

We encourage you to start your retirement or DROP entry process 3-4 months before your target retirement or DROP entry date. To begin the retirement application process, please log in to your Member Portal, click on “Online Applications” or “DROP Retirement Application,” and then complete the appropriate electronic application. If you have any issues submitting your application, contact the Call Center during regular business hours. Please note that the online application is not your final application – you can make changes during your counseling appointment. 

You will not be obligated to commit to a retirement or DROP entry date at the end of the appointment. However, if you just want to see benefit estimate amounts, please utilize the Benefit Estimate Calculator on your Member Portal account, where you can run unlimited benefit estimates under various hypothetical scenarios. You do not need a counseling appointment solely to review benefit estimates.

Once you have submitted the online application, an SDCERS representative will contact you to schedule your counseling appointment. We recommend scheduling your appointment to take place 4-8 weeks before your target retirement or DROP entry date. (Remember that if you are entering DROP, your DROP entry date must be on the first day of a pay period.) You may meet with a counselor virtually or in person at our downtown offices during regular business hours.

Please be sure to schedule and attend a counseling appointment BEFORE terminating employment in order to avoid potential unintended consequences, such as losing days of pay, breaking reciprocity, or affecting your health reimbursement plan. If your situation is urgent, please contact the Call Center immediately to explain your circumstances and we will do what we can to help.

IMPORTANT: You must proactively file an application for retirement in order to begin receiving payments. Your retirement date cannot be earlier than the date of your final application. If you apply for retirement after becoming eligible, your effective retirement date will not be retroactive to the date you first became eligible.

The Call Center is open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. – noon and 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. PST. Please contact us at (619) 525-3600 during our open hours if you need assistance.

Prepare for Your Counseling Appointment

After you have attended a webinar (if possible) and scheduled a counseling appointment, review the information below corresponding to your appointment type and be sure to bring the relevant documents/information with you to your appointment.

Service Retirement Appointments

  • Consider which retirement benefit option you might want to choose – please review your Retirement Benefit Options prior to your appointment. 
    • (Note: If you are planning to select Maximum Benefit (Single), you cannot be legally married or in a domestic partnership on the day you service retire. If you select this benefit option and you are married or in a domestic partnership, you may be required to pay back a portion of your pension benefits and/or have your monthly pension benefit reduced.)
  • Divorce documents (if applicable) – note that if your divorce proceedings are ongoing and SDCERS has been joined or received a Notice of Adverse Interest, you WILL NOT be able to retire until SDCERS either receives a finalized Domestic Relations Order or is legally dismissed from the proceedings. See the Divorce & Community Property page for more information.
  • Recent paycheck from your plan sponsor (City, Port, or Airport) – for active members only
  • Proof of marriage (if you are married) – please provide a copy of your official government-issued marriage certificate
  • Proof of domestic partnership (if you are in a registered domestic partnership) – please provide a copy of your Certificate of Registration of Domestic Partnership or a certified copy of the Declaration of Domestic Partnership
  • Continuance beneficiary’s proof of birth, if applicable (e.g., copy of their valid driver’s license or birth certificate)
  • Direct deposit information (routing # and account #) for the bank you’d like your pension payments deposited into 
  • Decide how you’d like your taxes to be withheld from your pension check
  • Your completed Certificate of Termination
  • If you have reciprocity – contact the reciprocal retirement system to find out what you need to do in order to begin the retirement process there. Remember that your service retirement date must be the same date as your retirement from the reciprocal agency! (See our Reciprocity Fact Sheet for more information.)

DROP Entry Appointments

  • Consider which retirement benefit option you might want to choose – please review your Retirement Benefit Options prior to your appointment. 
    • (Note: If you are planning to select Maximum Benefit (Single), you cannot be legally married or in a domestic partnership on the day you enter DROP. If you select this benefit option and you are married or in a domestic partnership, you may be required to pay back a portion of your pension benefits and/or have your monthly pension benefit reduced.)
  • Divorce documents (if applicable) – note that if your divorce proceedings are ongoing and SDCERS has been joined or received a Notice of Adverse Interest, you WILL NOT be able to enter DROP until SDCERS either receives a finalized Domestic Relations Order or is legally dismissed from the proceedings. See the Divorce & Community Property page for more information.
  • Recent paycheck from your plan sponsor (City, Port, or Airport)
  • Proof of marriage (if you are married) – please provide a copy of your official government-issued marriage certificate
  • Proof of domestic partnership (if you are in a registered domestic partnership) – please provide a copy of your Certificate of Registration of Domestic Partnership or a certified copy of the Declaration of Domestic Partnership
  • Continuance beneficiary’s proof of birth, if applicable (e.g., copy of their valid driver’s license or birth certificate)
    • (Note: If you are planning to select Maximum Benefit (Single), you cannot be legally married or in a domestic partnership on the day you enter DROP. If you select this benefit option and you are married or in a domestic partnership, you may be required to pay back a portion of your pension benefits and/or have your monthly pension benefit reduced.)

DROP Exit Appointments

  • Direct deposit information (routing # and account #) for the bank you’d like your pension payments deposited into 
  • Decide how you’d like your taxes to be withheld from your pension check
  • Consider how you’d like to receive your DROP account (see this article for more information)
  • Your completed Certificate of Termination
  • If you have reciprocity – contact the reciprocal retirement system to find out what you need to do in order to begin the retirement process there. Remember that your DROP retirement date must be the same date as your retirement from the reciprocal agency! (See our Reciprocity Fact Sheet for more information.)

WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER Retirement

Most members receive their first pension payment 8 or more weeks after their retirement date. The reason it can take 8 weeks (or longer) for you to receive your first payment is because SDCERS cannot set up your payment account until we receive the final transmittal from your plan sponsor reflecting your last paycheck. However, this timeline may vary depending on timing and your specific circumstances. The following list provides some examples of various factors that could cause your first pension payment to be delayed:

  • If you have reciprocity, your first payment may be delayed if SDCERS is waiting for information or documentation from the reciprocal agency.
  • If we are waiting on paperwork or documentation from you or from your employer (e.g., copy of marriage certificate, Certification of Termination form, etc.), then your first payment may be delayed.
  • If you have a Domestic Relations Order (“DRO”) on file from a divorce, which requires your pension benefit to be divided, then your first payment may be delayed.
  • If you enter DROP in June, your DROP account set up will likely take longer than 8 weeks due to the generally higher volumes of DROP entries and retirements during this time.
  • If you are deferred vested (meaning you terminated employment with your plan sponsor before retiring) and you do not have reciprocity, your first payment may be sooner than 8 weeks.

Your first pension payment will be retroactive to your initial retirement date. After that, each month’s pension payment will be paid to you via direct deposit on the last business day of each month.

After you have received your first payment, you can use your Member Portal account to update your:

  • Tax withholding preferences
  • Direct deposit information
  • Beneficiary designations
  • Contact information (i.e., address, phone number)

You can also access current and past 1099-R forms and generate a Proof of Retirement Earnings document via your Member Portal account, which you may need to procure a mortgage or other loan in the future.

City Members: Note that you must wait until you have received your first pension payment before contacting the City of San Diego Retiree Health Service Center regarding City-sponsored retiree health plans or certain City-sponsored retiree health reimbursement plans.