The terms you'll see in letters from IPERS (the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System), in its handbook and on this site, each in a sentence or two, with its source.
These are the words you'll meet in IPERS letters and on these pages. To put them to work, open IPERS's Steve example in the calculator, or start with the formula and the Rule of 88.
The total contributions in your account (or your employer's) plus interest. By law the interest is 1 percentage point above the one-year certificate of deposit rate.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 59, Glossary (Accumulated Contributions)More on this →Someone who has contributed to IPERS during the current calendar year and hasn't applied for a benefit or a refund. If you stop working in January, you're still active through December 31.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 59, Glossary (Active Member)A lump sum (or another payment form) worth the same as lifetime monthly payments, figured with IPERS's actuarial tables.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 59, Glossary (Actuarial Equivalent)More on this →The wage part of the benefit formula. For benefits starting after June 2012 it's your highest five years of covered wages, or your highest three years as of June 30, 2012, if that's higher.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 59, Glossary (Average Salary); p. 41, Average SalaryMore on this →The period in which you end IPERS-covered employment, file your application and show that you are entitled to benefits, before returning to a covered employer.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 59, GlossaryMore on this →Buying back service you were refunded. Buy-in: any other approved service purchase. Buy-up: converting Regular service to Special Service.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 59, GlossaryMore on this →A full year IPERS builds from your partial last year, when you stop working partway through a calendar year, to help figure your average salary.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 59, Glossary (Computed Year); p. 42More on this →The person you name under Option 4 or 6 to receive lifetime monthly payments after your death.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 59, GlossaryMore on this →The pay your employer reports to IPERS for an IPERS-covered job. Your contributions are a percentage of it.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 59, Glossary (Covered Wages)A pension that uses a formula to guarantee a set benefit. IPERS's formula uses your age, years of service and covered wages.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 59, Glossary (Defined Benefit Plan)Benefits for eligible members of any age with a qualified disability. They aren't reduced for early retirement.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 60, Glossary (Disability Benefits)More on this →A once-a-year lump sum meant to help with inflation, such as the November dividend for members who retired by June 30, 1990.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 60, Glossary (Dividend); p. 50, November DividendMore on this →Starting benefits before normal retirement age, other than on disability. The benefit is permanently reduced.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 60, Glossary (Early Retirement)More on this →The first month you receive a monthly benefit, usually the month after you stop working. You must live into that month.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 60, GlossaryMore on this →Someone who has left covered employment, hasn't contributed during the calendar year, and hasn't applied for a benefit or a refund.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 60, Glossary (Inactive Member)The category your IPERS job puts you in. There are three: Regular, Sheriffs/Deputy Sheriffs and Protection Occupations. School employees are Regular members.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 60, Glossary (Membership Group); p. 6, Membership GroupsMore on this →The value of your years of service, written as a percentage in the benefit formula.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 60, GlossaryMore on this →When you can start benefits with no early-retirement reduction: age 65, age 62 with 20 years, or the Rule of 88.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 60, Glossary (Normal Retirement Age); p. 35, Normal Retirement AgeMore on this →IPERS's formula amount, paid for life. When you die, your beneficiary gets whatever is left of your contributions plus interest after the payments you received.
Member Handbook (2025), pp. 38-39, Option Choices; p. 43More on this →Your IPERS contributions, which your employer pays on your behalf so they come out before federal and Iowa income tax.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 60, Glossary (Pretax Contributions); p. 12More on this →A court order in a divorce that says how IPERS pension assets are divided between a member and a former spouse.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 61, Glossary (Qualified Domestic Relations Order)When federal tax law (IRC 401(a)(9)) requires members 72½ or older to start receiving IPERS benefits.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 61, Glossary (Required Beginning Date)Applying for and starting to receive benefits. Leaving your job without doing that isn't retirement for IPERS, and neither is taking a refund.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 61, Glossary (Retirement)With 20 or more years of service, you can retire at 62 with no early-retirement reduction.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 61, GlossaryMore on this →You reach normal retirement age when you are 55 or older and your age at your last birthday plus your years of service equal 88 or more, in your first month of benefits.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 61, Glossary (Rule of 88)More on this →A member who has a right to IPERS benefits and can, for example, buy service. Regular members vest with 7 years of service, or at 65 while working in covered employment.
Member Handbook (2025), p. 61, Glossary (Vested Member); p. 17More on this →Source: IPERS Member Handbook, Updated July 2025, pp. 6, 12, 17, 35, 38-39, 41, 42, 43, 50, 59, 60, 61. Last reviewed .