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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

STRS Ohio June Board News

Retirement Board Approves Health Care Premiums For 2018; Approximately 80% of Enrollees Will See No Premium Increase At the June meeting of the State Teachers Retirement Board, the board approved 2018 premiums for all plans offered through the STRS Ohio Health Care Program. A complete list of these premiums is posted on the system’s website , or can be obtained by calling STRS Ohio’s Member Services Center toll-free at 888‑227‑7877. Additional information about the 2018 Health Care Program will be provided in upcoming newsletters and on the STRS Ohio website. In late October, all plan enrollees will receive personalized health care plan information in preparation for the fall open-enrollment period that extends from Nov. 1‑21, 2017. When determining premiums, the Retirement Board and STRS Ohio staff consider the claims experience of plan enrollees, annual health care cost trend rates and administrative expenses for the program. Factors that proved favorable for 2018 rate setti...

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...

January Board News

( The text below is reprinted from the news release by STRS.) Board Discusses Options to Reduce Amortization Period for the Pension Fund During the State Teachers Retirement Board’s annual retreat, board members reviewed several options to reduce the retirement system’s funding period. Ohio law requires the statewide retirement systems to amortize unfunded liabilities over a period of not more than 30 years, otherwise they must submit a board-approved plan to the Legislature to reduce the funding period to 30 years. STRS Ohio’s current funding period is 40.2 years. Pension reform laws passed in 2012 reduced STRS Ohio’s accrued liabilities by $15.7 billion and improved the system’s funded ratio to 66.3% from 56.0%. These reforms also reduced the retirement system’s funding period from infinity — but have not yet resulted in a 30-year amortization period. The board-approved plan to reach the 30-year target is due to the Ohio Legislature Feb. 21. During the funding discu...