Be Aware and Prepare can help you make smart decisions about your financial future. Regardless of how we define retirement awareness, PEBA believes it’s important to plan for a secure financial future and think about what life will be like after you quit working. We encourage you to use these resources and act now to help secure your financial future.

Retirement Starts Now

Retirement Starts Now is targeted toward helping employees in the middle of their careers understand what steps they need to take to prepare for retirement. When you are a long way from being eligible to retire, it is difficult to understand the importance of taking action to save and invest so you can have a secure financial future. On average, PEBA’s defined benefit retirement plans provide about 50% of your active employment income. At best, Social Security may provide up to 40%. While this may seem enough at first glance, there are a lot of other variables to consider. You may view the full presentation on our YouTube channel.  

Retirement presentation

Get Set for Retirement

Get Set for Retirement is targeted toward employees who are within a few years of retirement eligibility. The presentations provide an overview of the benefits you can expect to receive from your PEBA-administered retirement plan and other issues you should consider as you approach retirement, like eligibility for retiree insurance and Medicare.

Videos and resources

Check out our Be Aware and Prepare videos on PEBA TV.   Video topics include identifying and closing your income gap, creating a budget, expecting the unexpected and more. You can also download a budget worksheet   to help you take action now.

Retiree insurance eligibility

Eligibility for retiree group insurance is not the same as eligibility for retirement. Determining retiree insurance eligibility is complicated, and only PEBA can make that determination. It is very important to contact PEBA before making final arrangements for retirement. As an active employee, your employer pays part of the cost of your health and dental insurance. When you retire, several factors determine if you pay all or part of your insurance premiums. These factors include your years of earned service credit, the type of agency from which you retire and the date you were hired into an insurance-eligible position. Learn more about retiree insurance eligibility under the Retiree insurance section on our Navigating Your Benefits page.

Schedule an appointment

PEBA offers appointments for one-hour phone consultations and one-hour video consultations. You can schedule an appointment online. Learn more at peba.sc.gov/visit-us.