There are three factors that determine if you can retire from the University of Nebraska:
- Normal retirement age at the University of Nebraska is 62. There is no service requirement for employees retiring at age 62 or older.
- Faculty or staff members between the ages of 55-62 with ten years of service may take ‘early’ retirement.
- An employee may request a disability retirement due to a physical or mental disability that prevents satisfactory work performance. There are no age or service requirements. Medical documentation is required.
To assist you in planning for retirement the following checklist has been created. Please note, this list is by no means exhaustive, but is intended to give you a general (financial) guide to help you in your retirement planning process.
Checklist for Retirement
Five years prior to retirement
- If you have a spouse or partner, it is important to include them in discussions and decisions involving your retirement.
- Go online to obtain your annual Personal Earning and Benefit Estimate Statement from Social Security. My Social Security: http://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/
- Contact any past employers you may have (including the military), to see if you qualify for any retirement income under their plans.
- Develop a network of peers that would be willing to discuss their retirement experience with you.
- Meet with your TIAA and/or Fidelity counselor for a one-on-one session to get an overview of your portfolio and options.
Three years prior to retirement
- Review your online Earning and Benefits Statement from Social Security
- Start to calculate your projected living expenses and compare that with anticipated income.
- Meet with your TIAA and/or Fidelity counselor for a one-on-one session to get an overview of your portfolio and options.
One year prior to retirement
- Double-check that you are still eligible for Social Security and Medicare benefits.
- Set up an appointment with your Fidelity and/or TIAA counselor to get more in-depth information on your portfolio and options.
- Decide during the benefits open enrollment period whether you need to change your plan. You cannot change your benefits simply because you retire (i.e., adding medical insurance at retirement).
- Attend the Pre-Retirement Seminar.
Six months prior to retirement
- Further discuss your retirement plans with family and a trusted financial advisor.
Three months prior to retirement
- Apply for Social Security 90 days before you plan on retiring.
- Managerial/Professionals need to notifying department heads or supervisors in writing that they plan on retiring.
Two months prior to retirement
- For help with Medicare supplements, a SHIIP representative is available to meet with you in the Benefits Office. Please call 402-472-2600 to set up an appointment. Learn more about the program: http://www.doi.ne.gov/shiip/
- Check your Firefly account to view the remaining amount in your health and/or dependent reimbursement accounts.
- Review the information from the University of Nebraska Step-by-Step for Retiring Employees guide. Our Benefits Office must receive your completed forms within 31 days of your retirement date.
One month prior to retirement
- Office/Staff personnel need to notify their department head in writing that they plan on retiring.
- Look at your paystub and cancel any deductions by calling the appropriate office (i.e., UN Foundation, campus recreation, credit union, athletic ticket offices, etc.)
- If you plan on keeping the university insurance (medical and/or dental) fill out the appropriate forms on the University of Nebraska Retirement Plans & Benefits site.
Two weeks prior to retirement
- Contact the Athletic Tickets office (402-472-3111) about keeping your tickets for athletic events (only possible if you have had them for 10+ consecutive years).
- Contact the Campus Recreation if you would like to keep your membership.
- Retirees may contact Parking and Transit Services for a permit refund, stop future payroll deduction or if they wish to continue parking on campus purchase a permit.
- Emeriti parking is also available through Parking Services.
- If you plan on rolling over or doing a cash withdrawal from your Fidelity and/or TIAA contact them directly.
Week of retirement
- Leave appropriate messages on any e-mail/voicemails alerting people of your retirement and a contact handling your responsibilities.
- Update Firefly of your address, telephone, and e-mail address. If you have personal e-mails in your university account, please consider moving them to your personal account.
- If you have any files stored in your cloud storage that you want to keep, move them to a personal account or save to an external device, such as a USB drive.
- Notify TIAA and/or Fidelity of any address changes. (TIAA 1-800-842-2776, Fidelity 1-800-343-0860)
- Contact TIAA and/or Fidelity about finalizing options for retirement income or rollover.
After Separation from the University
- Contact Benefits Office to obtain your retiree NCard application.
- When ready to access your retirement funds, turn in the University of Nebraska impact form to your campus Benefits Office.