Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1349911
Retired Retired As always, WEA-Retired thanks each of our active staff for all you do every day for your students, school, and education. Our gratitude is even deeper, considering the COVID-19 situation and protocols under which you are working. We also thank our retired members for what you are doing in your communities during this difficult time. May you all stay safe and do your best to take care of yourselves. In the month of February, the WEA-Retired Board worked diligently to support WEA's statewide postcard writing campaign, which focused on the need for new revenue streams for Wyoming education (see page 14). Our Board members spearheaded our involvement in this campaign by recruiting help from fellow WEA-R members, active educators, our friends, business owners, school board members, and spouses. Together, we wrote nearly 1,200 postcards to Wyoming legislators! The WEA-R Board thanks everyone for their time and effort in supporting what we hope will be a successful outreach campaign to Wyoming lawmakers! In addition to seeking to positively impact education funding, we want our lawmakers to know that Wyoming constituents are watching and are aware of what is happening at the statehouse. If you care to learn how WEA-R advocates for education, please contact me. If you want to know more about current legislation, whom to contact, and/or how to reach them, or help in further developing your message, please don't hesitate to contact me for that information as well. If you are reading this article as an education retiree or soon- to-be-retired educator, please remember that when we retire from our position, we need not retire from our profession. In addition to working to advance education funding, WEA-R has also been providing seminars for education employees who have not yet joined us in retirement. WEA-R's Pre-Retirement Seminars focus on how to proactively plan for a healthy retirement. Because of COVID-19, we're now offering these seminars virtually and have enjoyed unprecedented attendance at our last two. We g enerally have done these seminars regionally, but because of the convenience of a digital offering, they will be available statewide. If you're interested in being placed on a notification list for the next available seminar, please let me know. Last but certainly not least, as an active member of the Wyoming Coalition for a Healthy Retirement (WCHR), WEA-R continues our work to secure additional benefits for Wyoming retirees. This session, the Coalition worked with lawmakers to prepare legislation for an Unanticipated Gains Endowment Fund for Wyoming Retirement System (WRS) beneficiaries. This endowment would have created a mechanism to provide additional financial benefits to retirees before the fund reaches 100% funding, as is the present law. If this proposed legislation had been enacted, funds would not come from the general budget but from gains realized by WRS investments. WRS has an amazing investment team with investment returns expected to average at least 7% per year, and to gradually grow the corpus to reach 100% funding. This concept would have siphoned off investment gains when they far exceed expectations (more than 10%) and what is required to keep the WRS corpus healthy. Unfortunately, this bill failed to be introduced (see page 5). But we are glad that the legislation has been drafted and we're already taking our next steps toward this goal. In closing, let's all try to spend more time thinking about the good things in our lives and not the worries that can easily creep in because of this pandemic and the issues and problems it has brought. Vicki Swenson President WEA-R vicki@wyoming.com "Age is only a number, a cipher for our records. A man can't retire his experience. He must use it. Experience achieves more with less energy." Greetings WEA, In Appreciation, Vicki Swenson President WEA-R From left: WEA-R member Diane Holte and WEA-R President Vicki Swenson write postcards to Wyoming Legislators. February 2021. - Bernard Banuch "Worry is like a rocking chair: It gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere." - Erma Brombeck 26