FACT: MERS is a statewide company that manages investments and delivers retirement and employee benefit plans for over 980 municipal members from the western Upper Peninsula to Wayne County. Our six regional teams are dedicated to providing responsive, local service to all of our members.

FACT: MERS is not a state-run retirement system or a part of state government. We are an independent professional retirement services company operating on a not-for-profit basis governed by an elected board.

FACT: MERS offers a full range of customizable plans and services. We work in partnership with our members to develop the plan that best meets their unique needs. We listen to our members and constantly add new, updated products and tools.

FACT: Our members choose to be a part of MERS because we offer a superior value that meets their needs. Much like a private company, MERS has to compete for business in the market.

FACT: Each member’s retirement plan is maintained in a separate trust, which gives our members the benefits of pooling resources for investments while maintaining the integrity and individuality of each plan. Additionally, MERS has a successful track record of improving the financial health of our members’ retirement plans, including turning around and rehabilitating plans that are struggling financially when they enter MERS.

FACT: MERS is a collection of individual plans, each held in a separate trust with its own funded level.

FACT: The MERS is an independent, professional retirement services company that was created to administer the retirement plans for Michigan municipalities on a not-for-profit basis.

Our elected board is responsible for the administration of the system with fiduciary responsibility for the investment of assets and oversight. Pooling municipal assets for investment purposes provides benefits to members, including lower costs.

FACT: Since each municipality determines benefits and sets assumptions at the local level, it’s misleading to compare average funding levels. Moreover, MERS has a successful track record of improving the financial health of our member’s plans, including turning around and rehabilitating plans that are struggling financially when they enter MERS. This is why over 80% of Michigan pension plans have chosen to partner with MERS.

FACT: Underfunding occurs for many reasons including, historical benefit enhancements and the once in 100 year market downturn of 2008. In addition, as a voluntary system, many plans joined MERS underfunded.

To ensure assumptions are sound, we review our assumptions regularly and perform an Experience Study every five years. This best practice helps us ensure that each municipality’s plan assets are adequate to provide for the benefits that are expected to be paid and that each plan is making reasonable progress to achieve full funding.

FACT: Retirement plans operate over long-term time horizons, and MERS’ long-term investment returns exceed the 7.35% assumption that was set during the last Experience Study. However, in today’s ever-changing world, it is a best practice to review economic assumptions more frequently so that plans can make incremental changes on an ongoing basis. Based on feedback from employers, we worked with external accredited actuaries to develop a Dedicated Gains Policy that will allow us to systematically reduce the assumed investment rate of return in a way that mitigates the financial impact on our members.

FACT: We review all our assumptions, including mortality, every five years. In keeping with industry best-practices, MERS also uses a fully-generational mortality improvement assumption, which better positions plans for future life expectancy changes. In theory, a fully-generational assumption should need fewer significant adjustments in the future.

MERS is ahead of the curve in following industry standards for transparency, accountability and fiduciary responsibility. We were created to administer the retirement plans for Michigan municipalities on a not-for- profit basis and are governed by an elected board that doesn’t receive compensation. As the plan fiduciary, we put our members first and that’s why we are the choice for over 980 municipalities across Michigan.