DID YOU KNOW?
If you choose a survivorship option from PSERS (option 2 or 3 for example) to provide a survivorship benefit for your spouse, the survivor will not receive cost-of-living adjustments in their monthly pension check if COLA’s are granted along the way by the state legislature to members of PSERS receiving annuity payments. COLA’s simply do not extend to survivors.
So, if it takes nearly two times more money to live 20 years from now at a modest 3% inflation rate, how is your spouse going to survive? You might want to tackle that question before you retire as it might actually affect the retirement decisions you ultimately make.