Kevin Kroskey's Ohio Faculty Advisor

(The text below is reprinted from the news release by STRS on 09/20/2013.) STRS Ohio Finance Staff Details New Pension Reporting Rules At the September meeting of the State Teachers Retirement Board, STRS Ohio’s Finance Department reviewed with the board how new Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) rules will impact the way pension funds report unfunded pension liabilities in published financial statements beginning later this fiscal year. One of the more significant changes affects the discount rate used by pension funds with projected cash flows that are not sufficient to pay all projected future benefits. STRS Ohio currently uses a 7.75% discount rate (the assumed rate of return on investments). Many public pension plan administrators across the United States use discount rates in the 7.5%–8% range because that has been the typical historic average return for long-term investors with asset allocations primarily invested in stocks. If plan assets are not sufficient t...

(FROM the STRS Ohio eUPDATE) STRS Ohio launched its new responsive website today to improve members' access to information about their pension fund on multiple devices. While the site's web address remains   www.strsoh.org , the site will now "detect" how members are connecting to it and display content appropriately on their smart phone, tablet or desktop computer. The updated site also has been restructured to guide members to information related to the two key phases of teaching: "During Your Career" and "Receiving Benefits." Members can still access the "Personal Account Information" area by entering their username and password in the fields in the upper right-hand corner on the home page or by clicking "Login" in the same spot on any other page. Additional site enhancements include: • Interactive maps that show meeting and seminar locations that when clicked, link to a larger map that allow members to get driving ...