A message from ORS Director Phil Stoddard

Hi. I'm Phil Stoddard, director of the state of Michigan's Office of Retirement Services. As a division of the state's Department of Management and Budget, we administer retirement plans for Michigan's state and public school employees, judges, and state police.

Maybe you're just entering the workforce, maybe you're in the middle of your career, or maybe you've been enjoying your retirement for years. No matter what stage of life you're in, we're here to support your retirement-related needs.

On this website, you'll find a wealth of information and resources to help you make sound retirement decisions. Most of the site is structured according to your needs at various life stages—early, mid, and late career, ready to retire, after you retire. I encourage you to fully explore the website, and to take advantage of all the tools and links you find.

And come back often. Watch for our exciting new feature called miAccount, where you can log in to a secure section of the website to take care of personal transactions like a beneficiary update or to change your pension tax withholding. You can also use miAccount to monitor personal information like your wage and service credit totals.

At the Office of Retirement Services, we care about your secure financial future and will do all we can to help you. But you are responsible for building up a nest egg big enough to support yourself, and perhaps your family, in retirement.

Learning about your employer-sponsored plan is one way to take responsibility, but you need to be proactive in other ways. A successful retirement is like a three-legged stool. You can't depend on just your employer-sponsored plan any more than you can rely solely on savings and investments or social security for financial security in your later years. To offer the best chance for success, you need all three. Maybe you'll even add a fourth leg to that stool by working part-time or full-time after you retire.

Regardless of your life stage, have a retirement goal and a plan to meet that goal. Follow your plan. Revisit it regularly and adjust it whenever your circumstances—financial or personal—change.

A happy and healthy retirement is our wish for all of our valued customers. Please let us know how we can improve our services to you. Click the Contact Us link at the top of this page, or click on Website Feedback at the bottom.

Thank you.

Phil Stoddard,
Director, Office of Retirement Services