A BRIEF HISTORY OF OUR WISCONSIN RETIREMENT SYSTEM

I have just checked WREA.net (Wisconsin Retired Educators Association) website and learned some interesting things about the history of our Wisconsin Retirement System.

Did you know?

In 1950 there were more than 85 public pension funds in Wisconsin and most of them were poorly funded?
In the early 1950s, the average monthly annuity for a retired teacher was $35?
In 1966, Wisconsin and Tennessee had the two worst public pension funds in the nation?
Wisconsin now has one of the best retirement systems in the country?
The Wisconsin Retirement System is well-funded at roughly 99.9%?
That we have an automatic dividend process tied to investment returns?
Any increases to pensions work like compound interest?
That in other states, increases must be approved by the legislature or are tied to cost of living increases and are usually capped at 3%?
There was a raid on your pension fund in 1987?
That the Wisconsin Retirement System is very complicated and your pension is as unique as you are?
That until 2000, Wisconsin annuitants had seen tremendous increases in their annuities, averaging about 6% a year in the fixed fund and about 5% a year in the variable fund?
That there are continual threats to the pension fund and WREA monitors and opposes them?
That WREA puts retires first?

That throughout WREAs 50-plus history, we have always worked to support retiree interests? Check out the WREA.net website for more information.

It is necessary to keep watch over our Wisconsin Retirement System.