Retirement Benefits

When it comes to retirement planning, having options is important. CalOptima makes sure we offer employees a variety of plans so they can use what works.

CalOptima is part of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS). Instead of participating in Social Security, CalOptima employees contribute a percentage of their pre-tax earnings to their CalPERS account. CalOptima also contributes the same percentage of the employee’s regular earnings into this account. This is a defined benefit retirement plan based on the employee’s years of service, final/highest compensation and age at retirement. Regular, full-time employees become vested in the plan after five years of service.

We offer a supplemental retirement plan through the Public Agency Retirement System (PARS), a 401(a) tax-qualified multiple employer trust. CalOptima contributes to this plan on each employee’s behalf. All contributions are managed by John Hancock Retirement Services and automatically invested in a lifecycle mutual fund based on age. Lifecycle funds are professionally managed investments that adjust to become more conservative as retirement approaches. Or employees may select among 20 different mutual funds representing different investment sectors.

A voluntary 457(b) deferred compensation plan is offered. This plan is available to public agencies and similar to 401(k) plans in the private sector. The employee determines the amount of pre-tax pay to contribute via payroll deductions and then selects how the money will be invested.