In our blog post titled "Who Funds The Fund?," we described APERS as a defined benefit plan and explained how it is funded through contributions from employers and members, which are then invested in a diverse portfolio.  This constitutes the APERS trust fund, which is the heart of the system.  So let’s look at how this fund is used.

APERS' two greatest responsibilities are paying the benefits it owes its members and managing the trust fund from which those payments are drawn. That trust fund relies on three sources of income: investment earnings, member contributions, and employer contributions.

The 92nd General Assembly closed its 2019 session with a few changes to Arkansas Retirement Law.  Most concern only small portions of APERS’ membership, but a couple are more far reaching. This is a brief rundown of the most important: 

Employer-sponsored retirement plans generally fall into two broad categories. APERS operates what is known as a “defined benefits” pension plan whereas most private retirement plans are “defined contribution” plans. The basic difference is what each plan promises its participants.