Vested Deferred Retirement

NHRS is a defined benefit plan, which offers its eligible members a lifetime pension. Retirement benefits are determined by a formula which considers two variables: a member’s salary (“Average Final Compensation”) and a member’s service (“Creditable Service”). Although members and their employers make regular contributions to NHRS, those contributions are not variables in determining the actual defined benefit.

Eligibility for Vested Deferred Retirement

Even if a member’s active NHRS membership ends prior to eligibility for Service Retirement, the member may be entitled to a Vested Deferred Retirement pension from NHRS in the future under the following conditions:

• The member has a minimum of 10 years of Creditable Service when the member terminates active membership; AND
• The member does not withdraw his/her accumulated contributions from NHRS. (A member’s accumulated contributions are equal to the sum of all mandatory NHRS contributions deducted from a member’s compensation, any additional contributions and any contributions made by a member for purchases of service credit, plus credited interest.) 

Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) generally requires that a participant in an employer-sponsored retirement plan – including NHRS – must commence receiving a benefit when he or she reaches a certain age. For more information, see: Required Minimum Distribution (RMD).