Episode transcript: [music intro] Jenny Welcome back to Fund Your Future with DRS. Well, it’s April of 2025 and we know that there’s been a lot of uncertainty recently about the stock market. So, we thought it’d be a good idea to do an episode about this. But even though the market is low, that…
Tag Archives: Retired
Episode 61 – Exploring economics with TikTok’s @EconChrisClarke
Episode transcript: [music intro] Jenny Welcome back to Fund Your Future with DRS. Today our guest is Chris Clarke, who’s an economics professor at Washington State University in Pullman. And he’s gained a bit of internet fame for making economics more approachable by posting videos on Instagram and TikTok. And if you want to follow…
COLA rates established for 2025
A cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is an annual adjustment applied to your retirement income to reflect changes in the economy (inflation). Most DRS retirement plans offer a COLA, but Plan 1 members in PERS and TRS only have a COLA if they selected it during retirement. View the 2025 COLA percentages by retirement date and plan.…
Episode 58 – Returning to work after retirement
Episode transcript: [music intro] Jenny Welcome back to Fund Your Future with DRS. Now, for a lot of people, retirement is a time to kind of sit back and enjoy, maybe sit on a beach or do some gardening or maybe some volunteering. But some people may even decide that they want to go back…
Retirees returning to work must wait 30 days
For a lot of people, retirement is a time to sit back and relax, or time to do some traveling. But some retirees like to stay busy by volunteering. They may even decide they want to go back to work after they retire. As a retiree, you can go back to work for a Department…
Accessing your 2024 1099-R form
Looking for your 1099-R form for tax purposes? You can access it by signing in to your retirement account and then selecting the 1099-R link from the main menu. From there you can view or print a copy. Hard copies of the form will be mailed by the end of January. For Plan 3 and DCP members,…
Episode 56 – Affordable staycations in Washington state
Episode transcript: [music intro] Jenny Welcome back to Fund Your Future with DRS. And on this podcast we like to talk a lot about pensions and government programs, but we also like to share money tips. And one of the things we wanted to talk about today was staycations in Washington, especially during those winter…
Episode 55 – ABLE savings plans for people with disabilities
Episode transcript: [music intro] Jenny Welcome back to Fund Your Future with DRS. Today we’re talking about kind of a new-ish type of savings plan for individuals with disabilities and their families called an ABLE savings plan. And it allows folks with disabilities to put away money without worrying about losing some of those disability…
Episode 54 – Pension plan funding with the WA state actuary
Episode transcript: [music intro] Seth Welcome back to Fund Your Future with DRS. Today we have the Washington State Actuary, Matt Smith, with us here to talk about the recent actuarial valuation report that his office released in August. Actuarial valuations are technical reports providing full disclosure of the financial and funding status of public…
1099-R tax form available by Jan. 31
Looking for your 1099-R form for tax purposes? By Jan. 31, you can access it by signing in to your retirement account and then selecting the 1099-R link from the main menu. From there you can view it or print a copy. Hard copies of the form will be mailed by the end of January. For Plan…
