Protect Your Loved Ones: Check Your Beneficiary Designations

Planning ahead means more than thinking about retirement. It also means providing protection for your loved ones. Designating beneficiaries ensures that if something happens to you, the people you care about receive the benefits you’ve worked hard to earn.

Active (Working) Members

Even the newest members of PSRS/PEERS need to designate beneficiaries — long before retirement and even before vesting.

If you die before earning a retirement benefit, your beneficiary may receive a lump sum payment of your contributions plus interest. If you are vested, your beneficiary may be eligible for monthly benefit payments, now or later.

Keep in mind that life changes like marriage, divorce, birth, or adoption of a child automatically void your pre-retirement beneficiary designation. Unless you file a new beneficiary designation, Missouri law determines your beneficiaries when you pass away.

All active members can update their beneficiary designation at any time in Web Member Services.

Benefit Recipients

If you are a service or disability retiree, you named a beneficiary or beneficiaries at retirement. Options for naming beneficiaries at service retirement depend on the benefit plan selected.

If you are a service retiree who selected the Single Life benefit plan or a Term-Certain benefit plan, or if you receive disability benefits, you can update your beneficiary designation at any time in Web Member Services.

If you selected a Joint-and-Survivor benefit plan at retirement, you can change your beneficiary for monthly benefits only if you named your spouse and that spouse passes away or you divorce. If this occurs, contact our office for information and assistance.

The Joint-and-Survivor benefit plan also allows you to name a contingent beneficiary in case both you and your primary beneficiary have passed away. In this situation, the contingent beneficiary would receive any remaining contributions and interest in your membership, but no monthly benefit. You can update this beneficiary at any time in Web Member Services at https://wms.psrs-peers.org/Beneficiary.