The team of professionals at Arbor Capital Management have well over a decade of experience assisting State of Alaska employees make the transition into retirement. We possess a thorough understanding of State of Alaska PERS, SBS and Deferred Compensation programs and can explain the details of these programs and how they will work together after your retirement. Whether it’s regular retirement or the RIP program, we can help you evaluate your options.

At Arbor Capital Management we can create a detailed analysis and comprehensive written report of your personal retirement situation and future monthly benefits. This analysis includes a year by year “lifetime yearly income expectancy projection”. This projection can easily be customized to determine anticipated income for varying degrees of market risk and desired yearly income levels. We have the ability to combine your retirement with your spouse’s retirement as well as account for outside income sources. For many State of Alaska Employees this is a first opportunity to see “The Big Picture” of what they might expect for monthly income after retirement from all of their retirement income sources combined. We do not charge for providing this retirement analysis.

We have found over the years the SBS retirement options available to State of Alaska employees are often easily misunderstood. For instance, many employees understand they can have their SBS savings distributed after retirement without the 10% penalty associated with IRA type accounts. However, selecting this option also means your assets cannot remain in those SBS investments (such as Target Term Trusts ect.) they were invested in before retirement distributions were initiated. If you take distributions from your SBS before age 59 ˝ and wish to avoid the 10% penalty, the State requires you to roll your retirement assets into a lifetime retirement annuity offered by an insurance company. This option effectively “locks in” your rate of return for the remainder of you and your spouse’s lifetimes (provided you have chosen the survivor option). This election may not be in your best interest, especially when you consider estate planning and beneficiary issues, or the ability to change investments to meet changing interest rates, market conditions, and lifestyle changes.

We can show you how to keep your hard earned SBS assets invested in a diverse selection of professionally managed investments including individual stocks, government bonds, CD’s and mutual funds. In addition we can show you a better way to receive income from your SBS before age 59 ˝ that will avoid the 10% IRS penalty but maintain your investing freedom. Ask us to explain the details of this option to you.

If you are approaching retirement from the State of Alaska, take the time to call us and start the planning process and analysis of your retirement needs well before your retirement date. We have the best planning tools available and the experience to ensure you understand all your options. Your Arbor Capital Management personal advisor’s expertise will enable you to make truly informed decisions as you retire