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The Beginnings of Ohio Faculty Advisor

My name is Kevin Kroskey, and this is my first foray into blogging. I am a Registered Investment Advisor with a fee-only financial planning firm, which I own, called True Wealth Design. I also am a part-time instructor at Tri-C Corporate College near Cleveland where I teach Retirement Planning to financial professionals who are seeking their Certified Financial Planner(r) certification. Through my role and compensation as instructor I too am a participant in State Teacher's Retirement System (STRS). In my practice I work with several faculty members who are also participants in STRS as well as their families.

Through my related experiences as both a participant and practitioner I am confident that I can provide quality information to other faculty members on both the opportunties as well as the challenges they face in navigating their unique financial planning needs. And in my experience this is sorely needed. Thus the creation of this blog.

Some of the topics I intend to write about include:
  • Current issues facing STRS and it's participants
  • Optimizing benefits through STRS and other retirement plans available to faculty members
  • Choosing STRS pension options
  • The little known Ohio Deferred Compensation Plan (457 Plan)
  • Exhorbitant investment costs typically associated with 403(b) programs
Now since the content of this blog is solely educational in nature and not specific to any reader's situation, the standard disclaimers apply. In fact I will make a separate "DISCLAIMER" post just to be clear.

I truly look forward to having some fun in sharing my knowledge and creating a niche community for faculty members that have some commonality. Collectively I hope we can better teach the teachers about their financial planning! Your comments and questions are always welcome.

To Your Prosperity ~ Kevin Kroskey

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STRS April Board News Details

(The text below is reprinted from the news release by STRS on 4/16/2010.) PENSION LEGISLATION NOT LIKELY UNTIL FALL The bill that will contain proposed changes for all five Ohio pension systems, including STRS Ohio, still has not been introduced. Consequently, the Ohio Retirement Study Council (ORSC), which is the legislative oversight body for the five systems, has not provided an analysis. Because of the politics surrounding the November elections, it is becoming more and more unlikely a bill will be introduced before November. At the April 2010 State Teachers Retirement Board meeting, additional discussion was held regarding the alternative proposal for pension benefit changes presented earlier this year by the Healthcare & Pension Advocates for STRS (HPA). The HPA proposal calls for a longer phase-in of additional service required for full retirement benefits and provides for a different cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) than the plan approved by the Retirement Board last Se...

March Board News

(The text below is reprinted from the news release by STRS)   Solvency Period for Health Care Fund Drops to 15 Years; Board Exploring Options to Preserve Plan   At the March meeting of the State Teachers Retirement Board, Paul Snyder, deputy executive director — Finance and chief financial officer, presented results of Segal Consulting’s annual actuarial valuation of the Health Care Fund. The report shows the funded ratio for the Health Care Fund dropped to 63% from 74% last year. This means STRS Ohio has 63 cents on hand for every dollar needed to continue the current plan indefinitely. The valuation projects the Health Care Fund to remain solvent until 2031, a decrease of four years from last year’s valuation — and a decrease of 33 years from the 2014 valuation. The projected 15-year solvency period is an estimate ­— in actuarial terms, there is a 50% confidence level that the Health Care Fund has at least 15 years of solvency. Depending on the strength of financial...

STRS Ohio December Board News

CliftonLarsonAllen Completes Fiscal 2017 Annual Financial Statement Audit and Issues Clean Opinion At the December meeting of the State Teachers Retirement Board, CliftonLarsonAllen reported the results of its audit of the STRS Ohio financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017. The report showed that the retirement system’s financial statements were fairly stated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and that no material weaknesses in internal controls or instances of noncompliance were found. As a result, STRS Ohio received an unmodified opinion — also known as a “clean” opinion — which is the highest level of opinion that an organization can achieve. STRS Ohio’s financial statements are included in the 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report , which will be posted on the system’s website by Dec. 29, 2017. In addition to the financial statements, the report includes investment, actuarial and statistical information about STRS Ohio. This repor...