Retiring
Elliot Rich, 82, taught civil engineering at Utah State University, was the engineering department head for 10 years and was an associate dean for 5 to 6 years.
“The best job is teaching,” he said.
Now retired, Rich regularly visits people who are shut-ins, is very active in the community, skis five days a week in the winter and plays golf three days a week while weather permits.
“Now I’m a ski and golf bum,” Rich said. “I’m just a beat-up old, guy.”
Retirement has its benefits, he said.
“Oh yeah, skiing was never this good when I was taking kids skiing. Now I just go with my old rusty ziffer group,” Rich said.
Retirement has been really good to him. But for people who don’t have good health, it’s not good, he said.
There are two types of plans faculty and staff at USU may have through the Utah State Retirement System and the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement Equities Fund, said Clark London, director of USU Personnel.
TIAA-CREF is the largest pension system in the world with more than $3 billion in assets London said. They are based out of New York City.
“I tell people I had to retire to get an increase in salary. Financially, some have suffered with stock market falls, but some have their money in annuities instead of stock. Overall, it’s a very good retirement program,” said Ross Allen, president of the Emeritus Group.
The Emeritus Group is an organization of retired faculty and staff, Allen said. They have monthly meetings with speakers or programs. They support two students every year with a scholarship.
“We try to keep moving and keep alive. We try to participate in all the activities going on on-campus,” Allen said.
Many of the retired faculty and staff still living in Cache Valley continue to volunteer throughout the community, travel and stay involved, Allen said.
“It’s really quite a good retirement program. Of course everyone could use more money, but I think it’s probably as good as any retirement program for large groups,” Allen said.
As the age of baby boomers increases, there might be an increase in the average age of retirement, London said.
“There might be a push for people to stay longer. I have a hunch it will go up,” London said.
Federal law prohibits forced retirement, and Utah law also prohibits it based solely on age, London said. This means an employee could work as long as they were capable and wanted to work, he said.
“It’s a mixed bag you build, and that’s partly why we have the early retirement program,” London said.
The mandatory retirement used to be 65 until the late ’70s when this was eliminated, London said.
” [The early retirement program] is not designed to get rid of people. It lets them do other things and gives individuals options with more flexibility as they get older,” London said.
Some professors are allowed to come back to USU as professors emeritus, London said. They are still retired, but get some of the continued privileges of teaching.
“Most people that retire just retire and go,” London said.
The average age of employees at USU is upper 40s, London said. The average retirement age overall is about 63.
“We have excellent retirement plans,” London said. “They compete with some of the better ones in the country. This is not an area where any faculty or staff will have a complaint. That’s our primary goal.”
Copies of the retirement policies can be found at www.personnel.usu.edu.s