COLAs

I don't understand if mosers is profiting so well why do the retirees only get 1.5% raise. It seems like the pot gets bigger and why not pass it out. The cost of living goes up an up but the retirees are going backwards. I have been retired 14 years and only get 21% increase and Mosers does about 7.5% thats 147% increase. It looks a little lopsided. I know it's a complicated process. Like the ones that took the back drop you handed them a bonus that i never saw because I choose to retire and give a job to younger adults instead of letting them not work and the back droppers working filling that spot. 

The way that MOSERS is set up, neither staff nor Board Members can decide to increase cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) or monthly retirement benefits. It is all based on state statute and it all factors into the overall funding structure of the retirement system.

COLAs are calculated according to state statute (104.010.14 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri), which stipulates that the CPI used to calculate COLAs must be the “CPI-U (Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers). For most general state employees, the COLA is based on 80% of the percentage increase in the average CPI from one year to the next. COLAs are intended to help you cope with the rising cost of goods and services that you buy.  You can see a detailed explanation of how the 2018 COLA was calculated in January 2018.

Your benefit is calculated using the formula: Final Average Pay x Credited Service x Multiplier = Monthly Base Benefit. Benefit amounts vary for each retiree based on their individual pay and service history. Funding to pay benefits comes from three sources:

1. Contributions from Employers, as a percentage of employee payroll
2. Contributions from Employees first employed in a benefit-eligible position on or after January 1, 2011
3. Investment Returns

The purpose of investing trust fund assets is to provide a funding source that helps pay the cost of the benefits. Over that past 20 years, 61% of the assets in the MOSERS Trust Fund have come from investment returns. If it weren’t for the income from investments, the cost to the state and to members would be significantly higher. When calculating how much the state will have to contribute going forward, our external actuaries make assumptions on various economic and demographic factors. One is how much we can expect to earn from investment income. That assumption for FY18, which ended June 30, 2018, was 7.5%.

BackDROP isn’t a bonus. It is an benefit payment option available at retirement if an employee works at least two years beyond their normal retirement eligibility date. It allows such members to get a lump-sum payment in addition to their monthly benefit. However, none of their pay or service credit during their BackDROP period counts toward their monthly benefit. So, generally speaking, their monthly benefit is less if they elect BackDROP than it would have been had they not taken BackDROP.

Thank you for your question and for your service to the State of Missouri.