FRS Planning

The FRS Pension Plan: the arithmetic, and the permanent choices.

A benefit paid for life, calculated from a formula rather than a balance. The formula is simple. The elections around it are permanent.

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The formula

Years of creditable service × percentage value × average final compensation.

Class	Per year
Regular Class	1.60%, stepping to 1.63%, 1.65%, 1.68% at later normal retirement ages
Special Risk Class	3.00% for Special Risk service on and after October 1, 1974

Average final compensation is your highest 5 fiscal years if you enrolled before July 1, 2011, your highest 8 if on or after.

Under a five-year average a strong final stretch pulls the number up hard. Under eight it is diluted. Same career, different answer.

The three terms in the statute. Only the middle one depends on your class, and only the last one depends on when you enrolled.

Special Risk service is not total service

Special Risk is a position classification. Only years worked in a Special Risk position accrue at 3.00%. Years in a Regular Class position accrue at 1.60%.

But there are two separate questions here, and they get collapsed constantly:

What rate does the year accrue at? Only Special Risk positions earn 3.00%.

Does the year count toward your Special Risk normal retirement date? Sometimes yes, even when it accrued at 1.60%. Under Rule 60S-1.0054, a Special Risk member reassigned for training, career development, or to fill a critical agency need may qualify for the Special Risk Administrative Support Class, which counts toward the 25-year normal retirement date without paying the higher rate.

It requires an application to the Division of Retirement and employer verification. It is not automatic, and members who never applied may be sitting on service that could have counted.

The 25-year pathway requires 25 years of Special Risk Class service, not 25 years of creditable service.

Vesting and normal retirement

Enrolled	Vested	Regular Class	Special Risk
Before July 1, 2011	6 years	62 with 6 years, or 30 years any age	55 with 6 years Special Risk, or 25 years Special Risk any age, or 52 with 25 years plus military
On or after July 1, 2011	8 years	65 with 8 years, or 33 years any age	55 if vested, or 25 years

That last cell changed. SB 7024 restored 55-or-25 for post-2011 Special Risk members effective July 1, 2023. Material published before mid-2023 still shows the later dates, and much of it is still online.

Retiring early carries a permanent 5% reduction per year: permanent meaning for life, not until you reach normal retirement age.

COLA

3% × (service earned before July 1, 2011 ÷ total service).

Service on or after July 1, 2011 earns no COLA. A member with 20 years, 10 of them pre-2011, gets 1.5%. A member whose whole career is post-2011 gets nothing: the same pension in year one and year twenty-five.

New for Special Risk. Chapter 2026-235, effective July 1, 2026, creates a minimum 1.5% COLA for eligible Special Risk retirees whose effective retirement date is on or after July 1, 2011 and who have been retired at least five years. They receive the greater of the formula above or 1.5%.

Eligibility by tier: at least 72 months of Special Risk service if enrolled before July 1, 2011, at least 96 months if on or after.

The five-year wait is the part being misread. It is not 1.5% from your retirement date. It starts at your fifth anniversary.

The four payout options

	Pays
Option 1	Highest monthly amount. Ends at your death. Nothing continues.
Option 2	Reduced. Guaranteed 10 years total; beneficiary receives the balance of that period.
Option 3	Reduced. Same benefit continues to your joint annuitant for life.
Option 4	Higher while you are both living, reducing to two-thirds for whoever survives.

Irrevocable once your benefit begins. Not difficult to change: irrevocable, including if your spouse's health changes or you reconsider.

Option 1 pays the most and leaves a surviving spouse nothing. Option 3 pays less for as long as you live and pays the survivor for as long as they live. Neither is right in the abstract, and we will not rank them. We will put your household's numbers side by side: what you both get now, what the survivor gets after, and what else exists on their side of the ledger.

Entering DROP? This election happens at DROP entry, on Form FRS-11o filed with the DP-11. Not eight years later. See DROP.

Questions

Questions we hear most.

How is my benefit calculated?

Years of creditable service × percentage value × average final compensation. Regular Class 1.60%, Special Risk 3.00%. Average final compensation is your highest 5 or 8 fiscal years by enrollment date.

Does all my service count as Special Risk?

Only years in a Special Risk position accrue at 3.00%. Some non-Special-Risk service may still count toward your normal retirement date. See Law Enforcement.

When am I vested?

Six years if enrolled before July 1, 2011. Eight if on or after.

Can I change my payout option after retiring?

No. Irrevocable once the benefit begins.

Do I get a COLA?

It depends how much of your service predates July 2011. From July 1, 2026, eligible Special Risk retirees who have been retired five years receive at least 1.5%.

Pension Plan or Investment Plan?

Depends on service, timeline, resources, and how you weigh guaranteed income against control. We will not pick. See Investment Plan.

Important

This page is educational and is not individualized advice. Benowitz Wealth Management is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Florida Retirement System, the Florida Division of Retirement, or the State Board of Administration of Florida. Confirm the figures that apply to your own record at MyFRS.com or with the Division of Retirement.

The payout election is permanent. Worth modeling before the paperwork is due.

Independent, fee-only retirement planning for Florida’s public employees, built around your FRS benefit and everything you’ve built on the side.

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