UPDATE: 01/12/12 - REMINDER: Guidelines for Use of Leave to Attend a Retirement Seminar

UPDATE: May 3, 2011
The Office of Social Security Administration has advised APERS that they will not be presenting at our seminars this year.

UPDATE: May 3, 2011
The July - November Retirement Seminar dates, locations and registration is online. Click on the APERS Retirement Seminars link below for more information.

For a PDF version of the 2011 schedules click the link below.
APERS Seminar Schedule For February thru June 2011.
APERS Seminar Schedule For July thru November 2011.

WHY SHOULD I ATTEND A SEMINAR?
Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System will present a series of seminars for members at various locations throughout the State. Attending a retirement seminar is very important. As a member, you learn about your retirement system and the laws that govern it. You also learn when and what it takes to make you eligible for a benefit; as well as options that you have as you approach retirement.

Experienced staff from Public Employees Retirement and Social Security will present the information a member needs to help them make wise retirement decisions.

At our "APERS - The Entire Retirement Process", in addition to APERS staff and Social Security, there will be a representative from the legal field to discuss estate planning.

For those members that are with the School and State Divisions, the Employee Benefits Division will provide a representative (when economically feasible) to discuss insurance issues in retirement

The Counseling Staff of APERS will be presenting seminars for interested members during calendar year 2010 at various locations throughout the state. These programs will provide basic retirement information to include, but not be limited to, eligibility for membership, reciprocity, service credit, purchases of various types of service, vesting, benefits, options, DROP and PAW, as well as forms and deadlines.

 “Getting the Picture” (1/2 day presentations) Morning presentations will begin at 9:00 a.m. Afternoon presentations will begin at 1:00 p.m.  This seminar will provide basic information on retirement and the process of retiring.  In addition to APERS counseling personnel, there will be a representative from Social Security to discuss their benefits and eligibility.

“The Entire Retirement Process” (full day of presentations) will also begin at 9:00 a.m.    In addition to APERS and Social Security, this seminar will include a financial planner, and an attorney to discuss estate planning.  If available, the regional seminars will include a representative from the Employee Benefits Division (EBD) of the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) to address insurance issues for employees of the state and public school divisions of APERS.
(EBD will only be available at the Little Rock seminars)

ADDITIONAL SEMINARS
“Financial Planning” In 2011, we will again be sponsoring sessions featuring a financial planner.  This program will focus on investing for the future with explanations of available plans; and one segment will address primarily those persons in DROP or those who are eligible for PAW who will be considering different options for their distributions from these plans.  Both will be in Little Rock in 2011. ***There will not be an APERS retirement presentation at this seminar.****

“Women’s Seminar” We will have two seminars this year for women.  These will be all day meetings to focus on retirement and related issues for our female members.   *Please Note Seating is limited* Register early! Because of additional speakers, start time may be different. Please note the time on the registration form

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OTHER INFORMATION
If you are pre-registering for any of the 2011 sessions, please submit your form by the applicable deadline.  We do not furnish individual estimates at the seminars, but if you require a certificate of attendance, please make sure your registration form is marked accordingly.  Pre-registering is not required, but appreciated. 

The Counseling Staff encourages all members to attend the appropriate seminar for their own circumstances.  You will come away from the meeting with useful information about APERS, Social Security and other important components of your retirement.

Going Contributory Brochure		going contributory Act 140 of 2011 (HB 1158) opens a “window of opportunity” for current non-contributory members to select contributory service. A public employee hired prior to July 1, 2005 and who was an active member of APERS on July 1, 2005, shall have six (6) months from July 1, 2011, to elect coverage under the contributory provisions. The effective date of the contributory coverage shall be the first payroll period that is paid and reported for January 2012 and shall be prospective only. Click Here o download the Going Contributory Brochure
GOING CONTRIBUTORY ELECTION FORM Any election forms received by APERS between July 1 and December 31, 2011 that are properly filled out by both the member and the employer shall be deemed effective for January 2012 participation and shall be irrevocable. The Going Contributory election form can be downloaded here.

There are no more scheduled Going Contributory Seminars for 2011.

	APERS Employer Seminar information Coming Soon!
		Arkansas Public Employee Retirement System (APERS) will host employer training sessions around the state. The sessions will run from 9:00 am until 1 pm, with the intended audience being personnel staff that process hire paperwork and payroll staff that calculate/remit retirement matching and contributions, prepare/submit the monthly earnings and service reports.