It is highly unlikely that a part-timer’s retirement benefits from teaching will provide enough income for retirement.  Nonetheless, participating in some sort of retirement plan is usually better than participating in none at all.  To make informed decisions, part-timers should understand their retirement options, understand how their chosen retirement plan(s) work, be able to estimate their benefits from their plan(s), and understand what, if anything, they can do to increase their retirement benefits.  This primer will attempt to address those issues.  Special attention is given to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System Defined Benefit Program (CalSTRS DB) because a large number of part-timers are members of that retirement plan and because its benefit calculations are complex for part-timers.

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