Retirement Readiness: Understanding Your Service Time

Here is your complete guide to service time — how you earn it, what it gets you, and how it ensures you're saving what you need for your future retirement.

Story by Rebecca L. Bennett

For many people, retirement can seem like a far-off, unreachable destination. In a recent study, 62% of Gen Z workers reported they had to hit the brakes on saving for retirement over the past six months, and nearly half pulled from their savings to cover expenses.

By working for a TCDRS employer, you’re automatically saving for your future with every paycheck, helping ensure the money will be there when you need it. You’re also building service time, which plays an important role in when you can retire and what benefits may be available to you.

You can build service time steadily over your career. Here’s how it works: 

How to Earn Service Time

The most straightforward way to earn service time is by working for your TCDRS-participating employer. You earn one month of service time for each month you make a TCDRS deposit, no matter how many paychecks you receive.

However, there are three other ways to earn service time:

• Proportionate Service: You can add service time you earned in an eligible Texas retirement system to your TCDRS account. This service time would count toward vesting and retirement eligibility.

• Multiple TCDRS Accounts: If you’ve worked for multiple TCDRS employers, you can combine service time to meet eligibility requirements for retirement, disability and the Survivor Benefit, even from closed accounts.

• Military Service: Once you are vested, you can receive up to five years of service for active duty time served in the U.S. military before you became a TCDRS member and count that service time toward your retirement eligibility.

Service Time Counts Toward Milestones

 Service time helps you reach key account milestones. Here are three important ones to keep in mind: 

• Survivor Benefit: Once you’ve earned 4 years of TCDRS service time with a participating employer, your beneficiary becomes eligible for the Survivor Benefit. If you pass away before you retire, they have the option of receiving a lifetime monthly payment from your account.

• Vesting: With TCDRS, “vesting” means you’ve earned enough service time to receive a lifetime monthly benefit when you become eligible and choose to retire. The amount of service time needed to reach vesting is determined by your employer, either 5, 8 or 10 years.

• Retirement Eligibility: Once you’re vested, you must meet your employer’s retirement eligibility requirements. You’re eligible for retirement at age 60, but your employer may have eligibility requirements that allow you to retire earlier.

If you aren’t sure which leg of the journey you’re on, you can sign in to your online account to see your status on your Account Summary page.

Have more questions about earning service time? Check out our FAQs or schedule a free, one-on-one TCDRS Online Counseling appointment, where one of our friendly representatives can give you the full run-down of all things service time.

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