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Nashville, TN – RetireReadyTN has received a 2022 Excellence and Innovation Award from Pensions & Investments for its initiative to help public employees and teachers maximize their retirement readiness.

The Tennessee Department of Treasury, under the leadership of Treasurer David H. Lillard, Jr., works to protect the retirement of state and higher education employees, K-12 public school teachers, and the employees of more than 600 participating local governments. RetireReadyTN is the State’s retirement program, combining the strengths of a defined benefit pension provided by the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS), deferred compensation 401(k), and 457(b) plans, and retirement readiness education.

RetireReadyTN was selected for the financial investment publication’s annual award for implementing a strategic plan in partnership with its recordkeeper, Empower Retirement, to increase the number of public employees and teachers meeting one-on-one with a RetireReadyTN Plan Advisor and conducting comprehensive retirement readiness reviews. Since there are 200,000 plan participants and 16 Plan Advisors, RetireReadyTN created a strategy to target public employees and teachers who could be at risk of not meeting their financial needs in retirement. The campaign targets to members who may not be saving enough to replace income when they retire, or who are invested too conservatively or too aggressively based on the number of years until retirement. 

“We thank Pensions & Investments for recognizing the focused efforts of RetireReadyTN to ensure quality, customized investment education is provided to Tennessee’s teachers and public employees, allowing them to achieve personalized retirement security needs,” Treasurer Lillard said.

“Ensuring members are on track for a successful retirement is at the core of everything we do,” said Ashley Nabors, Assistant Treasurer of the Financial Empowerment Division. “By leveraging comprehensive plan data and key indicators of retirement readiness, we can tailor our communication and outreach strategies to specifically target individuals who may not be on track to meet their goals. So far, we are seeing tremendous results. We are driving more retirement readiness meetings with the members who need it most.”

Hunter Bethea, Director of the Deferred Compensation Plans, accepted this award on behalf of RetireReadyTN and the Tennessee Department of Treasury as part of the Pensions & Investments Defined Contribution West Conference. Sponsored with the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association, P&I recognized eight plans committed to improving retirement outcomes for their participants.  

The 112^th Tennessee General Assembly appropriated a historic one-time additional contribution of $250 million to the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS) State and Higher Education plan. The largest single contribution in the history of TCRS, this appropriation will further bolster the pension and help lower future recurring contributions.

The Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS) has once again been recognized nationally as one of the best-funded state pension programs in the country. In a recent report, Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit focused on non-partisan government research, listed Tennessee, along with New York and South Dakota, as best prepared to fulfill pension promises made to public employees.

The Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS) finished the 2020 fiscal year with 4.94% investment return. The portfolio earned nearly 10% in the last quarter of fiscal year 2020, rebounding from a low in March and exceeding earnings of peer state pension systems, despite an ongoing economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, The Pew Charitable Trusts published research that ranked the Tennessee as one of the best funded state pension programs in the country. A non-profit focused on non-partisan government research, Pew Charitable Trusts listed Tennessee, along with Wisconsin, South Dakota, and New York as best prepared to fulfil pension promises made to public employees.