MTRS Pension and Present Value Calculator

This page contains two calculators: 1) a free, online calculator that allows you to estimate your future Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System (MTRS) annual benefits, and 2) an actuarial present value pension calculator that allows you to calculate TODAY’S value of your future stream of MTRS pension benefit payments. Present value calculations are often used for division of marital assets in divorce.

You can check a box lower on this page to indicate the type of calculation you would like to do.

Free MTRS Pension Benefit Calculator

This Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System calculator gives you an estimate of your MTRS pension retirement benefits based on the information you input about your salary, years of service, and retirement age and date. It also takes into account whether you are a RetirementPlus participant or a military veteran. The formulas in the calculator are drawn from the MTRS “Estimating your MTRS retirement benefits” worksheet, and should give the same results as that worksheet. The MTRS Worksheet emphasizes that these formulas give approximations or estimations of retirement benefits. Actual retirement benefits will be determined by MTRS at the time of retirement.

You may find this calculator easier to use than the MTRS Worksheet, because the MTRS Worksheet:

a) does not allow you to see and compare, on the same page, pension benefits with and without purchased service,

b) clears all your entries after giving you results, so you can’t correct or change a single field, and

c) has VERY confusing instructions for entering the data required to calculate Option C benefits.

The calculator on this page works only for MTRS members with membership dates before April 2, 2012. It will not give the correct results for members with membership dates after April 2, 212 (“Tier 2” members), who have different “retirement percentages”, and it will not produce estimates for disability, termination, or MA “Special Spousal” benefits.

You can learn more about MTRS retirement at the state site. https://mtrs.state.ma.us/

MTRS Pension Present Value Calculator

This present value calculator provides the present value of Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System (MTRS) pensions in one step. Couples who are divorcing are often required to document the present value of their pensions in order to achieve a fair division of the couple’s financial assets. Present value calculations translate the predicted value of a future stream of pension payments into the equivalent lump sum cash value that they would have today.

This PV calculator accounts for both mortality (rates at which people survive each year and collect more pension benefits) and interest rates, making thousands of calculations in a split second. You can see a sample pension present value report by clicking here. The report produced by this site shows, year-by-year, how interest and mortality discounting interact with pension benefits and cost of living adjustments. Actuaries, financial planners, and accountants generally charge $175-$300 to provide a present value.

This MTRS calculator uses the GATT interest rates and calculation methodology. The IRC method gives the lowest present values. If you would like to do a calculation with the IRC method or the PBGC method, you should use the present value calculator on the homepage of this site.

You do not need to calculate your projected, future benefits for your MTRS pension. This calculator does it for you, using formulas drawn directly from the “Estimating your MTRS retirement benefits” worksheet. You simply need to enter information about years of service, age, salary, and projected retirement date. The calculator is designed to be used for  division of assets in divorce, so you will also have the opportunity to enter your marriage date and the time periods when you accrued pension credits (“years of service”). The calculator will provide with you a “coverture ratio”–the proportion of your pension credits accumulated while you were married–and will calculate the dollar amount of the total present value that is “marital”, i.e., the part of the present value that belongs to the marriage. Generally, the marital portion of the pension is considered to belong jointly to the pension participant and non-participant spouse.

This calculator  has the standard MTRS cost-of-living-adjustment (“COLA”) built into it: 3% of the first $13,000 of your pension each year, starting in the July benefit payments after you have been retired for 1 full year. (If you retire June 31, you wait 1 full year for the first application of COLA; if you retire July 1, you wait 2 full years before you receive a COLA.)

This calculator works for individuals who entered MTRS BEFORE April 2, 2012.

You must make one entry in the calculator that may be confusing. For question #C.8., you must enter the number of years and months of creditable service that you have TODAY. Even though you enter a planned retirement date in the future (e.g., age 60, 62, 65, etc.), for question #C.8 you must enter the years and months of creditable service you have RIGHT NOW. This is because the calculator determines a PRESENT value of the pension, based only on years of service you have earned until now. (This idea is difficult because we usually use these calculators to estimate our monthly benefits based on the number of years of service we will have in the future, at retirement, not the number of years we have TODAY, pre-retirement.)

This calculator does not work with Internet Explorer–please use a different browser.

Choose the type of calculation you would like to do:

I would like to calculate my estimated future MTRS pension benefits (free calculation)
I would like to calculate the PRESENT VALUE of my MTRS pension ($35, after confirming inputs)
  Disclaimer. Before filling out the form, check this box to indicate that you understand and agree with the disclaimer below.

The information contained within this website is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for obtaining professional legal or accounting advice. ValueYourPension.com is not associated with any lawyer, actuary, or accountant, and it does not provide legal or accounting advice. The results provided by this calculator are calculations that depend on assumptions about future interest rates, cost of living adjustments, and life expectancies as well as other numbers you enter into this calculator.

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Yes No

Please report any bugs to me and please pass along suggestions on how to make it more comprehensive or user-friendly: [email protected]

To make changes, simply scroll up and make changes, then press "Calculate now" again.
 
Estimate for retirement date of:
 
With years of service, which you entered for Question 5
With an additional years of service that might be purchased in the future, which you entered for Question 6

Option A

 
 
Your retirement age factor:
x Years of creditable serviceCreditable service is time that you have worked as a teacher, administrator or other Massachusetts public employee, and for which you have paid or transferred retirement contributions to the MTRS. Creditable service also includes Peace Corps service and certain military service. Generally, part-time service is pro-rated.:
% of salary average:
+ Retirement Plus %, if applicableIf you are participating in RetirementPlus, and you have 30 or more years of creditable service--at least 20 of which are teaching service with the MTRS or the Boston Retirement System--you receive an additional 2% for each full year of creditable service over 24 years.:
Allowable % of salary average:
x 3-year salary average:
Option A annual allowance:
+ Veteran's bonusIf you are a wartime veteran, $15 for each year of teaching service (up to a maximum of $300) is added to your annual retirement allowance.:
Estimated Option A annual allowance:

Option B

Estimated Option A annual allowance:
x 99% (appr. 1% less than Option A)The Option B allowance is approximately one percent less than the Option A amount. This option's payments are slightly less because Option B provides for a possible one-time, lump-sum survivor benefit.The Option B survivor benefit is a lump-sum payment of the balance, if any, remaining in your annuity savings account at the time of your death. During your retirement, the balance in your annuity savings account decreases by an amount equal to the annuity portion of your retirement allowance. In most cases, the annuity account will be depleted after 11 years.:
Estimated Option B annual allowance:

Option C

If you wish to see your estimated benefit for Option C, enter your beneficiary’s birthdate at Question 8, above.
Estimated Option A annual allowance:
x Option C factor:
Option C annual allowance:
+ Veteran Bonus:
Estimated Option C annual allowance:
x 2/3 (annual survivor portion):
Estimated annual member-survivor benefit:


  Disclaimer. Before filling out the form, check this box to indicate that you understand and agree with the disclaimer below.

The information contained within this website is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for obtaining professional legal or accounting advice. ValueYourPension.com is not associated with any lawyer, actuary, or accountant, and it does not provide legal or accounting advice. The results provided by this calculator are calculations that depend on assumptions about future interest rates, cost of living adjustments, and life expectancies as well as other numbers you enter into this calculator.

A. Optional information for .pdf report

B. Required information for coverture ratio ("marital portion") calculation

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Yes No

Questions 3) and 4) are designed to gather information about when you earned or purchased pension credits, in order to calculate what percent of your pension credits were earned during marriage. You can enter up to six different periods of work and indicate for each what percent of pension credit you were receiving ("Percent of full-time credit earning"). For many pensions, the amount of pension credit you earn is prorated for part-time work. Thus, if you work 80% time, you might earn 80% of the normal pension credit for that period of work.

Only enter work periods when you were earning pension credits. For example, if you have worked 40% time and working 40% time does not earn pension credits from your employer, do not include this work period here.

You can enter pension credits (typically "years of service") that you have purchased under 4).










  Allow me to enter more periods of work













C. Required information for MTRS benefit calculation and present value calculation

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Yes No



Please report any bugs to me and please pass along suggestions on how to make the calculators more comprehensive or user-friendly: [email protected]

Below is the information you have input and the corresponding monthly and annual pension benefit amounts. To make changes, simply scroll up and make changes, then press "Confirm my inputs" again.
Years of participation in pension:
Years of marriage during pension participation:
Projected age at retirement:
Mortality Table:
Predicted COLA:

Average Annual Salary:

Your retirement age factor:
x Years of creditable service:
% of salary average:
+ Retirement Plus %, if applicable:
Allowable % of salary average:
x 3-year salary average:
Option A annual allowance:
+ Veteran's bonus:
Estimated Option A annual allowance:

To make any changes to what you have input, simply scroll up, make changes, and click the CONFIRM MY INPUTS button again.

Age Year Basic annual pension payment before any cost of living adjust (COLA), if any Cost of living adjustment (COLA), if any
Please pay with A) a coupon code or B) through PayPal
A present value pension valuation and report costs $35. The next best price on the web for an instant present value calculation is $175. You can pay with a credit card or PayPal. If the calculator does not work properly for you, email me for a full refund.

A) To pay with a coupon code:

    i) Enter your coupon code
    ii) Click the blue “APPLY” button
    iii) Click the large green button “GIVE ME THE PRESENT VALUE”.

B) If you do not have a coupon code, i) purchase the number of calculations you desire through PayPal, and then ii) click the large green button “GIVE ME THE PRESENT VALUE”:

Paypal can take up to a minute to process your payment. If the button "These inputs are correct. Give me the present value" does not respond, please wait and then try again.
Results
Present value of pension as of :
Marital portion of present value of pension:
Coverture ratio (percent of the pension participation time during which you were married):
Years of participation in pension:
Years of marriage during pension participation:
Projected age at retirement:
Mortality Table:
Predicted COLA:

Average Annual Salary:

Your retirement age factor:
x Years of creditable service:
% of salary average:
+ Retirement Plus %, if applicable:
Allowable % of salary average:
x 3-year salary average:
Option A annual allowance:
+ Veteran's bonus:
Estimated Option A annual allowance:


Age Year during which Age starts Partial Year Gross Annual Benefit Dollar value of annual COLA in Gross Annual Benefit Interest discount rate Probability of Surviving each year Present Value of Annual Benefit