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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

Popular posts from this blog

October Board News

The text below is reprinted from the news release by STRS on 10/18/2013. You'll note the pension funding ratio improved to 66% but is still well below where it needs to be even after strong recent market returns and pension changes. Teachers don't be surprised if additional future changes in the form of benefit reductions of some form are required.  --- Annual Actuarial Valuation Shows Improvement in STRS Ohio Funding; Consultant Provides Guidance on Funding Policy   At its October meeting, the State Teachers Retirement Board received a report of the annual pension valuation results from its actuarial consultant, Segal Consulting. The report provides a “snapshot” of the actuarial position of the retirement fund as of July 1, 2013. This is the first valuation completed using the new benefit structure resulting from the passage of pension reform legislation last fall. Segal’s report this year shows the funding period for the pension fund decrea...

Comments on Proposed Changes to State Teacher's Retirement System

As seen from the full post of the STRS announcement , STRS finally came out with their proposed changes to the pension plan. These changes will be presented to the Ohio Retirement Study Council next week in conjunction with the other state pension systems for public employees. These other state pension systems face similar issues as STRS and change within these other pension systems is likely not far behind. It's important to note that state law must actually be changed before these proposed changes can actually be put into force, so there is still considerable length to this process of change. Change in some form is eminent. Private, non-government pension systems have been vanishing over the last decades because in part because as our life expectancy has continually increased over time, the pensions have had to be paid longer than expected. Pensions put an open-ended liability on the shoulders of the private companies and these pensions and healthcare benefits provided to both e...

STRS Ohio February Board News

Board Reviews Recommendations From Experience Study, Weighs Impact on Financial Condition   At the February meeting of the State Teachers Retirement Board, staff summarized the results of the experience study recently completed by the board’s actuarial consultant, Segal Consulting. An experience study is completed every five years to help the system make accurate economic and demographic assumptions used to measure the financial condition of the pension fund. The economic assumptions include the rates of inflation, salary increases, overall payroll growth and the investment return on assets. Demographic assumptions include the number of retirements, disability inceptions, withdrawals from the system and deaths among active members and benefit recipients. The results of the study showed that STRS Ohio should consider adjustments in several key areas that will have an overall negative impact on the system’s funding status. Segal’s recommendations included: lowering STRS Ohio’s...