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Definitions, formulas, and primary sources behind every PensionForge projection.
2026 Special Session E · adjourned May 29 · 3 active entries
Getting started
The terms, plan structures, and account types that everything else builds on.
Average Final Compensation
The salary average that builds your FRS pension — highest fiscal years, what pay counts (overtime, annual leave) and what doesn't, and the banked-time rule.
AFC CalculatorFRS plan options
Pension Plan vs Investment Plan — what goes in, when you vest, how DROP fits, and the fund menu.
Plan Election ExplorerAccount types
457(b), Roth IRA, and Traditional IRA — limits, tax treatment, and the public safety officer penalty exemption.
457(b) growthHealth Insurance Subsidy (HIS)
A separate monthly benefit on top of your FRS pension — eligibility, the $7.50-per-year formula, applying with Form HIS-1, and the appropriation caveat.
Social Security & the WEP/GPO repeal
What the 2025 repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset means for FRS members, and how to verify your benefit at ssa.gov/myaccount.
Social Security estimatorYour St. Cloud plan, explained
The benefit formula and service-period rates, AFC, retirement eligibility, DROP, the 1% COLA, vesting, and contributions — sourced from the Summary Plan Description.
The Share Plan
Your Chapter 175/185 premium-tax share account — where the money comes from, why future allocations can’t be projected, and what this tool does with the balance you enter.
Key decision points
The rules at each major decision in your career — and what the options are.
DROP explained
A walkthrough of the Deferred Retirement Option Program for FRS members, including how COLA accrues during DROP.
DROP modelingBenefit payment options
The four FRS pension payout options — what each one means for your monthly benefit and your survivor's.
Early retirement
The 5% per year reduction, the deferred alternative, and what happens when you separate before vesting.
Pension benefitLeaving FRS before retirement
The 2nd Election to the Investment Plan, the contribution refund, and your options when you separate before normal retirement.
Purchasing service credit
Buying back FRS time — what service you can purchase, the cost formula, whether FRS accepts payment plans, and paying by rollover from a 457(b) or 403(b).
Pension benefitSocial Security and your St. Cloud pension
This job pays into Social Security — how the benefit layers onto your pension, what the "Social Security Option" on an actuary estimate is, and what the 2025 WEP/GPO repeal means.
Social Security estimatorThe payment form behind your numbers
Every amount here is the plan’s normal form — 10 years certain and life. What that means, what the optional forms are, and why actuary-converted forms aren’t modeled.