Secure Illinois Retirements - State Employees' Retirement System of Illinois

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⁺ Disclaimer: The figures above are actuarial funded ratios, which are projected by financial experts that analyze a pension fund's value by its assets versus its obligations. The American Academy of Actuaries generally recommends a target of a 100% funded ratio for a pension fund to be considered financially healthy. These data have been sourced from the Illinois Department of Insurance and the respective pension funds' actuary reports.

This benefits calculator may be helpful to estimate your pension benefits.
You can also contact your pension fund for an accurate calculation and more information.

The only way to guarantee your pension is
safe is to have a fully funded retirement system

For decades, contributions into your fund have been diverted to pay for infrastructure projects, to fill gaps in the budget during hard times, and even to give you a raise.

This might have seemed like money well spent at the time—but diverting funds has put your retirement at risk.

Severe underfunding puts your pension system in jeopardy.

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Join the discussion

Join others like you to protect your pension and your future

Illinois state employees like you need to get together and work with elected officials to help craft resilient solutions to the public retirement shortfall, so the state won’t be forced to turn to desperate measures: slashing budgets, closing facilities, cutting services, and freezing new hires.

Secure Illinois Retirements doesn’t claim to have all the answers. We need your input and your help. We're providing a platform for public-sector workers to meet and chat with others like you who care about solving the debt.

Together, you can share ideas and help elected officials find sustainable solutions. You can also access resources about the Illinois retirement system: get details on legislation, elections, petitions, working groups, workshops, days of action, and more.

Join the discussion at Secure Illinois Retirements and find out what other public-sector employees are saying about the state's retirement funding dilemma.

Why is a fully funded pension system important?

Reasons to want a well-funded retirement system

A fully funded system generates income from investments and a smaller fraction of funding comes from employee contributions. If your system does not have any savings to invest, it has to rely solely on your contributions to continue making pension payments for retirees.

A poorly-funded system is always playing catch-up. Payments to future retirees will cost more because benefits keep rising, and during tough times, your system will not have the savings to cover its losses.

A well-funded retirement system means Illinois revenue can be used to pay for schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and public safety. If your system is underfunded, Illinois might raise taxes and fees to pay for other services.

A poorly-funded system makes pension funds vulnerable. Pensions payments may be affected.

Cautionary tales from around the U.S.

Detroit, MI

When Detroit filed for bankruptcy in 2013, its funded ratio of assets to liabilities was 69%, which is much higher than most jurisdictions in Illinois. Due to this underfunding and subsequent bankruptcy, public safety employees had their cost-of-living adjustment cut, and civil servants had their pensions reduced.

Central Falls, RI

When Central Falls declared bankruptcy in 2011, its funded ratio was 16.2%. Pensions were slashed by over 50% before the city agreed to 25% for the first five years.

Vallejo, CA

When Vallejo emerged from bankruptcy in 2011, its funded ratio was 66.4%. The town cut police and firefighter numbers and reduced health benefits so it could keep up with mandatory pension contributions.

Harvey, IL

Harvey laid off 18 firefighters, 13 police patrolmen, and five non-sworn employees in 2016, following an intercept of the city's revenue by its police pension fund. The pension obligations had left the city unable to meet running costs.

*Data is from the 2021 Illinois Department of Insurance Public Pension Biennial Report. Our site is updated quickly after each new report is released.