Mid-career : Teachers Retirement Association (TRA)

Learn about your TRA benefits and retirement planning.

What is a TRA pension?

TRA is a defined-benefit pension plan, which differs from a 403(b) or 401(k) because you receive a predictable retirement benefit for your lifetime, not an account balance that you might outlive. With TRA:

Savings are automatic. During your teaching years, a percentage is deducted from every paycheck for your retirement.
It’s easy. Contributions from you and your employer are pooled with all state public pension fund assets. The State Board of Investment manages these assets so you don’t have to.
Contributions are pretax. This reduces your taxable income.
Job change? No worries. If you stay employed in city, county or state government in Minnesota, you can keep your contributions at TRA and continue to accrue public sector service credit toward your eventual pension under a Combined Service Annuity.

Contribution Rates

Date effective	Employer contribution rate	Employee deduction rate
7/1/2022	8.55%	7.5%
7/1/2023 and after	8.75%	7.75%

Service Credit

Service credit affects eligibility for benefits and benefit amount. Paid sick leave, vacation days and all required attendance days and hours (such as workshops) count toward service credit. TRA allows no more than one year of service during any fiscal year. Service credit for part-time teachers, extracurricular pay, retro pay, and summer pay is prorated.

Benefits and Options

LEAVES OF ABSENCE

There are several types, including sabbatical, medical, parental, family, extended, legislative, military. You may purchase service credit for the aforementioned leave types.

PART-TIME TEACHING

If you’re currently working full time (1.0 FTE) but plan to work part time, you may be eligible to purchase full-time service credit toward your pension if you meet eligibility requirements.

DISABILITY

Available to those with at least three years of service who become disabled.

SURVIVOR BENEFITS

Certain benefits are available to your survivor(s) if you die before retiring with the TRA pension plan.

REFUNDS

If you leave teaching, you may opt for a refund. The refund consists of all your employee contributions plus interest, compounded annually. Partial refunds are not permitted. Your employer’s matching contributions remain with TRA and are not included in the refund.

How to designate a beneficiary

Call us at 800-657-3669 or 651-296-2409 to request assistance with your beneficiary designation or to request a beneficiary form.

If you are married, request and complete a Pre-Retirement Death Benefits for Married Members form.

You and your spouse may jointly waive your spouse’s benefits so that any person, trust or organization will
receive a lump-sum death benefit equal to your accumulated deductions plus interest to the date of death.

If you are single, request and complete a Pre-Retirement Death Benefits for Single Members form.

To-do list for the mid-career teacher

Create a MyTRA account. Update your mailing and email addresses. Review your annual statement to see your accumulated service credit, contributions and employer deductions.
Name/update your beneficiary or beneficiaries so TRA knows who should receive the assets in the event of your death.