Can I access my state pension (PERS) without losing Social Security survivor benefits to WEP/GPO?

the gpo sucks!!! my sister got hit with this same thing after retiring from FL schools. she lost like 60% of her SS when she took her pension. its total BS bc u earned both!! but i think ur stuck unfortunately

Unfortunately, the GPO (Government Pension Offset) will reduce your Social Security survivor benefits by approximately 2/3 of your government pension amount if you start receiving your CalPERS pension. This is different from the WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) which affects your own Social Security retirement benefits. A few things to consider: 1. Calculate exactly how much you would lose - if your survivor benefit is significantly higher than 2/3 of your monthly PERS payment, you might still receive some SS. 2. If you can take a lump sum distribution instead of monthly payments, this *might* help in some situations, but the SSA may still calculate an equivalent monthly amount. 3. Some people choose to take their pension and accept the reduced SS if the total monthly income ends up higher. 4. The GPO rules apply differently depending on when you worked and if you paid Social Security taxes during your government employment. I would recommend speaking with both CalPERS and SSA representatives to get exact calculations before making any decisions.

I went through something similar with my TRS pension from Texas and SS widow benefits. Have you considered taking your PERS as a partial lump sum and leaving some as monthly payments? That's what I ended up doing - took 60% as lump sum for immediate needs (new roof and medical bills too!) and kept the rest as a smaller monthly amount which meant the GPO didn't completely wipe out my survivor check.

The whole WEP/GPO thing makes me FURIOUS!!! I worked 22 years for my city AND paid into SS at second job for 30+ years and lost almost ALL my own SS benefits. This system PUNISHES public servants who dedicated their careers to helping others. I've written my congressperson MULTIPLE times. There's been bills to repeal these unfair provisions for YEARS but they never pass!!!

One thing nobody's mentioned yet - if you need to access your CalPERS funds for immediate expenses but want to minimize the GPO impact, you might want to look into taking a loan against your pension rather than withdrawing it. Not all state pension systems allow this, but some do. This way you access funds without technically "receiving" pension payments that trigger GPO. Also, have you checked if any of your state employment included Social Security tax withholding? In some cases, if you have 30+ years of substantial earnings under Social Security, you can be exempt from WEP (though GPO would still apply to survivor benefits).

I spent 2 weeks trying to get ahold of someone at SSA about this EXACT same issue with my Illinois pension!!!!! Impossible to get through and when I finally did the person couldn't explain how they calculate the offset. Had to call back 5 more times! If you need to talk to someone at Social Security quickly, try using Claimyr.com - got me connected to an agent in 20 minutes after spending days trying. They have a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU and it really saved me so much frustration. The SSA agent I talked to was actually super helpful and ran calculations showing exactly how much I'd lose with different pension options.

Here's another approach to consider: If you're financially able, you could wait on taking your CalPERS pension until you absolutely need it. The GPO only applies when you're actually receiving the government pension. This might not be ideal if you need funds now, but it's an option to preserve your full survivor benefits temporarily. Also, when you do decide to take your pension, make sure to contact Social Security BEFORE you apply for CalPERS benefits so you can get an accurate calculation of how your benefits will change. If you don't report the pension, and they find out later (which they will), you could end up with an overpayment situation that you'd have to repay.

Have you looked into seeing if there's any way to roll your PERS into an IRA? I have a friend who worked for Missouri government and she said she was able to do something like that which somehow avoided the GPO. Not sure if it would work the same with CalPERS though.

im so confused about all this pension stuff my wife gets her teacher pension and still has her ss but maybe thats bcuz she was a teacher in tennessee? do different states have different rules about this gpo thing??