Retirement insights from a Colorado PERA perspective

A distant view shows a mountainous landscape with sloping peaks, green trees in the foreground, and a cloudy sky above.

The Colorado PERA Board of Trustees met in Denver on Friday, November&nbsp;21 for its final regularly scheduled meeting of the year.&nbsp;



Trustees voted to approve PERA’s 2026 operating budget, set the interest rate for member accounts,&nbsp;discussed the upcoming legislative session, and more.&nbsp;Additional&nbsp;details, including meeting materials and a recording of the livestream,&nbsp;are available on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.copera.org/about/board-and-leadership/board-meeting-archive" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Board Meeting Archive</a>&nbsp;page.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Investment consultant decision&nbsp;</h2>



Earlier this year, the Board directed staff to&nbsp;request proposals from investment consulting firms as part of its regular review of third-party service providers.&nbsp;The Board’s Investment Committee interviewed three firms and&nbsp;the full Board&nbsp;<a href="https://www.copera.org/news/pera-board-retains-aon-as-investment-consultant" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">voted to retain&nbsp;Aon</a>,&nbsp;its&nbsp;current investment consultant.&nbsp;



The Board&nbsp;is responsible for&nbsp;overseeing PERA’s investment program and&nbsp;utilizes&nbsp;an investment consultant to provide research, analysis, and advice in areas such as investment strategy, asset allocation, and fund performance. The investment consultant also conducts periodic&nbsp;<a href="https://www.copera.org/pera-on-the-issues/asset-liability-study-a-guide-to-building-a-strategic-portfolio" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">asset/liability analysis</a>&nbsp;that informs PERA’s strategic asset allocation, performance benchmarks, and assumed rate of return.&nbsp;



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Strategic plan update&nbsp;</h2>



PERA CEO/Executive Director Andrew Roth and&nbsp;Director of Strategy Annalise Anderson&nbsp;provided an update to the&nbsp;Board on the organization’s three-year strategic plan.&nbsp;As the first year under the plan winds down, Roth and Anderson said they expect to&nbsp;complete 100% of the&nbsp;plan’s&nbsp;measures and targets for 2025.&nbsp;



One of the main goals included in the plan is improving the customer and stakeholder experience, and&nbsp;Roth&nbsp;detailed&nbsp;much of&nbsp;the work he’s done over the past year, including meeting with lawmakers,&nbsp;holding&nbsp;in-person&nbsp;<a href="https://copera.org/about/pera-town-hall" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Town Halls</a>&nbsp;to connect with members and retirees&nbsp;in Fort Collins and Pueblo, and increasing outreach to PERA-affiliated employers.&nbsp;



Leaders will&nbsp;begin working on an implementation plan for year&nbsp;two&nbsp;to help guide&nbsp;staff’s work&nbsp;throughout 2026, with regular updates continuing at future Board meetings.&nbsp;



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Upcoming legislative session&nbsp;</h2>



Director of Public and Government Affairs Michael Steppat joined Roth to&nbsp;discuss the 2026 legislative session and some of the issues they expect&nbsp;state&nbsp;lawmakers to tackle.&nbsp;



Similar to&nbsp;the 2025 session, legislators&nbsp;will face the challenging task of cutting&nbsp;hundreds of millions in&nbsp;state&nbsp;spending to pass a balanced budget.&nbsp;While that&nbsp;won’t&nbsp;happen until the spring, Gov. Jared&nbsp;Polis&nbsp;has already&nbsp;submitted&nbsp;his proposed budget. The governor’s proposal&nbsp;calls for privatizing the state’s&nbsp;worker compensation insurance provider, Pinnacol Assurance, and reducing the&nbsp;amortization equalization disbursement (AED), a contribution that employers make to PERA, for employers in the State Division.&nbsp;



If Pinnacol were to become a private entity, it would have to disaffiliate from PERA and&nbsp;pay its&nbsp;portion&nbsp;of DB Plan liabilities, which are estimated to be&nbsp;approximately $300 million.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The proposed 1% reduction in the&nbsp;AED is estimated to reduce contributions to PERA by about $40 million over the next two years, adding up to about $180 million by the time PERA reaches full funding in 2048.&nbsp;



Steppat and Roth also discussed two legislative proposals that, if introduced and passed, could help&nbsp;reduce the likelihood of triggering automatic adjustments to PERA contributions and retiree annual increases in future years under the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.copera.org/automatic-adjustment-provision" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Automatic Adjustment Provision</a>.&nbsp;Those proposals include providing PERA flexibility to&nbsp;allocate&nbsp;the&nbsp;State’s annual $225 million direct distribution&nbsp;to whichever division trust funds&nbsp;would help minimize the likelihood of&nbsp;triggering automatic&nbsp;adjustments and&nbsp;reallocating a&nbsp;portion&nbsp;of employers’ health care trust fund contributions to help pay off&nbsp;pension&nbsp;liabilities.&nbsp;



The 2026 legislative session begins&nbsp;on January 14, and&nbsp;PERA On&nbsp;The&nbsp;Issues&nbsp;will be closely tracking all PERA-related bills throughout the session.&nbsp;



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">2026 Board election&nbsp;</h2>



Two seats on the Board will be up for election in 2026: A School Division seat and a State Division seat to be filled by an employee of an institution of higher education.&nbsp;



Candidacy for the two open seats will open in early January, and active members in the School and State divisions will receive ballots in May.&nbsp;



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Member contribution interest rate&nbsp;</h2>



Each November, the Board&nbsp;is responsible for&nbsp;setting&nbsp;the interest rate that applies to PERA DB Plan accounts for the upcoming year.&nbsp;If a PERA member <a href="https://copera.org/welcome-pera-members/life-and-job-changes/leaving-employment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">leaves PERA-covered employment</a> and requests a refund of their&nbsp;DB Plan&nbsp;account, they receive their contributions, the interest earned on that balance&nbsp;(compounded annually), and any applicable employer match. If that member keeps their account with PERA, the balance will continue to&nbsp;accrue&nbsp;interest&nbsp;and the member has multiple options upon reaching retirement eligibility, including choosing a lifetime monthly benefit.&nbsp;



The Board’s policy evaluates the interest rate as a&nbsp;component&nbsp;of members’ overall retirement benefit. After discussing the issue, Trustees voted to keep the interest rate at 3 percent for 2026.&nbsp;



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">2026 actuarial audit&nbsp;</h2>



In 2026, the Board will&nbsp;hire an outside firm to conduct its periodic actuarial audit.&nbsp;Such audits have been part of the Board’s governance practices since the 1980s, with audits taking place every four or five years. With the passage of Senate&nbsp;Bill 28 in 2025, the Board is now required by law to conduct actuarial audits every four years. The last audit took place in 2022.&nbsp;



The&nbsp;goal&nbsp;of the actuarial audit is to&nbsp;receive an independent assessment of PERA’s actuarial methods and assumptions&nbsp;and&nbsp;attempt&nbsp;to&nbsp;replicate the&nbsp;calculations of the Board’s&nbsp;actuarial&nbsp;consultant, Segal.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Staff will conduct a search for a third-party&nbsp;firm to conduct the audit in early 2026, with results expected by the Board’s November 2026 meeting.&nbsp;



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">2026 meeting dates&nbsp;</h2>



The Board concluded its business with a look at&nbsp;2026’s meeting calendar. The following Board meetings are scheduled for the year:&nbsp;



<ul>
<li>January 23&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<ul>
<li>March 20&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<ul>
<li>June 25&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<ul>
<li>September 23-26 (planning session and meeting)&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<ul>
<li>November 20&nbsp;</li>
</ul>







For more information on Board meetings, including recordings and meeting materials, visit&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.copera.org/about/board-and-leadership" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Board and Leadership</a>&nbsp;page.&nbsp;

PERA Board Approves Interest Rate, Discusses Upcoming Legislative Session at November 2025 Meeting

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.copera.org/about/board-and-leadership" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Colorado PERA Board of Trustees</a>&nbsp;met in Colorado Springs for its annual September planning session that concluded with a Board meeting on Friday, Sept. 19.



The multi-day planning session is a valuable opportunity for Trustees to engage in more in-depth conversations and planning activities than a typical one-day meeting allows. Below is a summary of some of the highlights and important actions the Board took.



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Actuarial modeling</h2>



A common activity for the Board during its annual planning session is actuarial modeling. System Actuary Koren Holden, Actuary Bill Detweiler, and the Board’s actuarial consultant, Segal, joined the Trustees to discuss theoretical scenarios and how they might affect the funding of the PERA Defined Benefit Plan. For example, if the investment portfolio experienced losses in future years, or state employment dropped significantly, those events could negatively impact the plan’s progress toward reaching full funding.



This process helps the Board assess the financial health of the trust funds and gauge the possibility of falling behind and triggering the Automatic Adjustment Provision, which automatically raises member and employer contributions and lowers retiree benefit increases based on the plan’s funding progress.



As of December 31, 2024, PERA remains on track to reach full funding, and adjustments are not needed this year or next year.



The Board also discussed the possibility of pursuing legislation that could help reduce the possibility of triggering automatic adjustments in coming years, as outlined in their presentation on a recent study about the Automatic Adjustment Provision and related impacts. We expect to have more information on any proposed bills closer to the start of the next legislative session in January.



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Strategic plan update</h2>



Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director Andrew Roth and Director of Strategy Annalise Yahne provided an update on staff progress toward implementing PERA’s <a href="https://content.copera.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/strategic-plan.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">three-year strategic plan</a>. The plan is a roadmap to strengthen the organization through stronger relationships with members and stakeholders, continued focus on funding, and modernizing technology.



Roth and Yahne walked through what the organization has accomplished so far this year, including building a dashboard to track progress, meeting with various member groups and other stakeholders, and completing a significant amount of groundwork for PERA’s long-term modernization project.



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">CEM Benchmarking report</h2>



The PERA Board receives a report every year from CEM Benchmarking that scores PERA on the quality and cost of services we provide to members and compares those factors to other public pension plans.



PERA earned a service score of 87 for 2024, compared to the peer median score of 81. CEM calculated PERA’s total administrative cost per member at $63, below the peer average of $71. Overall, the CEM report finds PERA provides a higher level of service at lower cost than the average pension plan.



CEM gave PERA particularly high scores in areas such as the accessibility of online services, speed of processing retirements, communications to members approaching retirement, and call wait times.



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Health care update</h2>



Chief Benefits Officer Patrick Lane and Director of Insurance Jessica Linart discussed the PERACare health benefits program and the state of the health care market. The conversation covered legislative and regulatory changes at the federal level and other challenges that have affected plan premiums over the past decade.



PERACare staff review plan offerings every few years and plan to solicit bids from insurance companies for plan year 2027. Staff sent retirees a survey earlier this year, and the responses from that survey will help inform the selection process.



For more information on 2026 PERACare open enrollment, visit <a href="http://copera.org/peracare-open-enrollment-2026" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" class="broken_link">copera.org/peracare-open-enrollment-2026.</a>



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Market and portfolio update</h2>



Chief Investment Officer/Chief Operating Officer Amy C. McGarrity provided an update on conditions in the financial markets and the overall economy. McGarrity said while it’s been a strong year for public financial markets, there’s still a good deal of uncertainty due to factors such as volatility in the technology sector and the growth of artificial intelligence, geopolitical uncertainties, inflation, and tariffs and trade policy.



On interest rates, McGarrity said there is growing consensus it’s likely the Federal Reserve will cut rates again this year after a slight decrease earlier in September.



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">PERA benefit statistics</h2>



Lane again joined the Board to provide an update on business operations such as retirement processing and customer service interactions. He shared the following statistics, which provide a window into the volume of transactions PERA staff have processed so far in 2025:



<ul>
<li>5,419 new retirements across all five PERA divisions</li>



<li>2,404 individual counseling sessions with members nearing retirement</li>



<li>1,501 service credit purchases</li>



<li>135,300 phone calls to the Customer Service team</li>



<li>6:53 average call time</li>



<li>21,495 secure email interactions with members</li>
</ul>



<h2 style="color:#000000;" class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Upcoming Board meetings</h2>



The Board’s last regularly scheduled meeting of 2025 is Friday, November 21.



The Board also approved its meeting schedule for 2026:



<ul>
<li>January 23</li>



<li>March 20</li>



<li>June 18</li>



<li>September 23-25 (planning session and meeting)</li>



<li>November 20</li>
</ul>







Details on upcoming Board meetings and materials from past meetings <a href="https://copera.org/about/board-and-leadership/board-meetings" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">are available online</a>.

Recapping the PERA Board’s 2025 Planning Session

In this story:



<ul>
<li>Four PERA Trustees were reelected to the Board</li>



<li>The Board will also gain a new Trustee, Ashley M. Smith</li>



<li>The 2020 Annual Report was approved and released by the Board</li>



<li>Investment returns topped 17% last year, exceeding the fund’s benchmark</li>



<li>The Annual Report announced that the automatic adjustment provision will go into effect in 2022</li>
</ul>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity"/>



PERA’s Board met on June 18. The meeting included the announcement of results from the recent Board election as well as the approval and release of the 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (Annual Report).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Board Election Results</h2>



Four PERA Trustees have been reelected to PERA’s Board. PERA’s Board announced the following results at their meeting on June 18:



<ul>
<li>Suzanne E. Kubec was reelected to represent the State Division</li>



<li>Tina Mueh and Marcus A. Pennell were reelected to represent the School Division</li>



<li>Julie Friedemann was reelected to represent retirees in the School, Local Government, and Judicial Division</li>
</ul>



Each Trustee was elected to serve a four-year term, ending in June 2025.



In addition to the above results, Ashley M. Smith was appointed to represent the State Division. Smith fills the seat vacated by Dave Hall’s departure from the Board.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Annual Report Released</h2>



Every year, the Board releases a report that summarizes PERA’s investment performance, funded status and membership information for the year before. The Annual Report the Board released last week covers the 2020 calendar year.



The Annual Report showed that PERA had a strong investment year, returning 17.4%, net of fees. This beat the fund’s benchmark of 14.1%. The total fund was valued at $58.3 billion, up from $51.7 billion at the end of 2019.



The Annual Report also announced that the automatic adjustment provision will go into effect in July 2022. While 2020’s investment returns were positive, it is one of many factors used to calculate a plan’s funded status. Changes to PERA’s actuarial assumptions and the impact of the pandemic on PERA’s membership increased PERA’s liabilities.



You can read more about the <a href="https://www.copera.org/2020-annual-report" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Annual Report</a> here.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Other Updates</h2>



<ul>
<li>The Board elected Suzanne E. Kubec to serve as Vice Chair, filling the seat vacated by David Hall following his departure from the Board. </li>



<li>The following updated membership statistics were shared with the Board:</li>
</ul>

Recap of the PERA Board’s June 2021 Meeting

Colorado PERA’s Board of Trustees met virtually on Friday, November 20. The Board elected a new Chairman and Vice-Chairman and voted to maintain the 3% interest rate for member accounts, among other agenda items.



PERA Board Officer Elections



Colorado PERA’s Board of Trustees elected <a href="https://content.copera.org/estate-plans-why-you-need-one-and-where-to-start/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marcus Pen</a><a href="https://www.copera.org/board-members/marcus-a-pennell" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">n</a><a href="https://content.copera.org/estate-plans-why-you-need-one-and-where-to-start/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ell</a> to be the Board’s next Chairman. Pennell, a physics teacher in Jefferson County Public Schools, is currently the Board’s Vice Chairman.



The outgoing Chairman, <a href="https://www.copera.org/board-members/timothy-m-obrien" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Timothy M. O’Brien</a>, has been a PERA Board member since 2011. O&#8217;Brien has been the Denver City Auditor since 2015 and was the Colorado State Auditor from 1984 to 1995.



The Board elected David Hall Vice Chairman, filling the seat vacated by Pennell. Hall is a Sergeant with the Colorado State Patrol.



Pennell and Hall assume their new leadership roles in January 2021.



Member Interest Rate



For many PERA retirees, account balances don’t play a significant role in their retirements. For example, account balances do not determine the amount of most PERA monthly benefits. In fact, most retirees receive the balance of their account through benefit payments about five years into retirement.



But account balances do play a more important role for some PERA members. For these members, the interest added to their account increases the value of being a PERA member. At the meeting, the Board voted to maintain the 3% interest rate that member accounts earn.



The following scenarios show how the interest rate on member accounts can affect PERA members:



<ul>
<li>Refunds | Some PERA members choose to refund their account when they leave employment in lieu of a monthly benefit in retirement. Members who refund their account receive their contributions plus interest. In some cases, they also receive a match.</li>



<li>Retiring with less than 5 years of service | PERA members who do not have five years of service credit are still eligible to receive a monthly benefit in retirement. However, this benefit is not calculated using the familiar formula that includes service credit, age, and highest average salary. Instead, the money purchase calculation determines the amount. This calculation does use a member&#8217;s account balance along with life expectancy at the time of retirement.</li>



<li>Moving to a job outside of PERA | Not every PERA member remains in public employment for their entire career. Those who leave before retirement age can leave their account at PERA and still receive a monthly benefit when they become eligible later in life. One potential downside: the purchasing power of a static highest average salary decreases over time—the result of inflation. To help offset this phenomenon, PERA calculates what the benefit is using the money purchase calculation, described above. The retiree receives the larger of the two calculations.</li>



<li>Survivor benefits | Survivor benefits provide income for qualified survivors if a PERA member dies before retirement. If a member dies but does not have any qualified survivors, the account balance goes to the named beneficiaries the member chose.</li>
</ul>



Other Agenda Items



During the meeting, the Board adopted new mission and vision statements, which are covered in <a href="https://www.copera.org/recap-of-the-pera-boards-november-2021-meeting" class="broken_link">another</a> PERA On The Issues story. They also reviewed and adopted updated actuarial assumptions, which will be covered in a future PERA On The Issues newsletter.

Tag Archives:

PERA Board Approves Interest Rate, Discusses Upcoming Legislative Session at November 2025 Meeting

Recapping the PERA Board’s 2025 Planning Session

Recap of the PERA Board’s June 2021 Meeting

PERA Board Meeting Recap: Trustees Elect New Chairman

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