Your retirement benefit is based on a formula, not your contributions. Your benefit is calculated using several factors at retirement: age, years of service credit and your final average compensation. Your monthly retirement benefit is not based on how much you contribute to SDCERA during your career.

Your retirement benefit is for your lifetime. When you retire, your benefit is paid to you every month for the rest of your life.

You may be able to leave a lifetime continuance to a beneficiary. At retirement, you will choose from different benefit options to determine what to leave to your beneficiary upon your death. Many of the options allow you to leave a lifetime continuance, depending on the type of beneficiary and the benefit option selected.

Your retirement benefit is paid to you on the last business day of the month. In retirement, your benefit will be directly deposited in your bank account on the last business day of the month.

Your retirement benefit can increase each year. SDCERA may provide a Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) each year to help keep up with the increasing cost to live. The COLA is determined annually based on the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in San Diego and, if approved, is first paid in April and is included with all future monthly payments.