Once you meet age and service requirements and you’ve applied for retirement, you will receive a guaranteed monthly benefit for your lifetime. Your benefit is based on your years of service credit and the pay you’ve earned. Payments are guaranteed by the State of Washington.
The one-percent defined benefit formula used to calculate your retirement is:
1% x service credit years x average final compensationIf you worked full time every month for 15 years and your average pay for your highest consecutive five years was $4,000, your benefit would be $600.
1% x 15 service credit years x $4,000 average final compensation = $600 monthly retirement benefit