What are the TRS payment options?
TRS of Texas offers the standard annuity, which pays the most but ends at your death, and 5 optional annuities. Options One, Five, Two pay a survivor 100%, 75% or 50% of your check for life. Options Three and Four guarantee 60 or 120 monthly payments. Each option trims your own check a little.
After you die, your beneficiary gets 100%, 75% or 50% of your payment for life. The cut depends on both your ages. One beneficiary only. If they die first, you go back up to the standard amount.
Paid for your life, with 60 or 120 monthly payments guaranteed. If you die before then, your beneficiary gets the rest. Only your age matters.
Example: a $2,500.00 standard annuity
Member retiring at 61, beneficiary aged 59, using the handbook's factor tables.
Bars start at zero, so the differences are small on purpose: options cost a few percent, not half. The handbook's tables show ages 55 to 65 in two-year steps; TRS works out your exact factor when you apply. See this example in the calculator, then change the dates to your own.
Factor table: beneficiary the same age as you
| Your age | Option One100% survivor | Option Five75% survivor | Option Two50% survivor | Option Three60 months | Option Four120 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | 93.90% | 95.36% | 96.86% | 99.83% | 99.37% |
| 57 | 93.19% | 94.80% | 96.47% | 99.80% | 99.24% |
| 59 | 92.38% | 94.17% | 96.04% | 99.76% | 99.05% |
| 61 | 91.45% | 93.45% | 95.54% | 99.69% | 98.79% |
| 63 | 90.39% | 92.61% | 94.95% | 99.59% | 98.41% |
| 65 | 89.22% | 91.69% | 94.30% | 99.46% | 97.90% |
A younger beneficiary means a bigger cut for the joint-and-survivor options; an older one, a smaller cut. Guaranteed-period factors depend on your age only.
Rules to know before you choose
- There are five optional service retirement annuities. They reduce the monthly benefit you get during your life so a beneficiary can get money after your death; the payments to you and your beneficiary equal the actuarial equivalent of a standard annuity paid only to you. The reduction is in addition to any early-age reduction.TRS Benefits Handbook (Sept. 2025), p. 33, Optional Service Retirement Annuities
- For Options One, Two and Five you may name only one beneficiary: a person, or an irrevocable trust with one person as its beneficiary. For Options Three and Four you may name a single beneficiary or joint beneficiaries.TRS Benefits Handbook (Sept. 2025), pp. 34, 36, Joint and Survivor Annuity; Guaranteed Period Annuity
- If your Option One, Two or Five beneficiary dies before you, notify TRS. Your benefit goes up to the standard annuity amount starting the month after the beneficiary's death.TRS Benefits Handbook (Sept. 2025), p. 33, Joint and Survivor Annuity
- For a non-spouse beneficiary younger than you, TRS uses an adjusted age difference: (your age minus the beneficiary's age) minus (70 minus your age). You can't choose Option One if it is more than 10 years, or Option Five if it is more than 19 years.TRS Benefits Handbook (Sept. 2025), p. 34, Calculation for Adjusted Age Difference
- Option Three is not available to a member retiring at age 104 or older, and Option Four is not available at age 93 or older.TRS Benefits Handbook (Sept. 2025), p. 36, Options Three and Four
The age-difference rule only limits a non-spouse beneficiary who is younger than you. At 60 with a beneficiary of 45, the adjusted difference is (60 − 45) − (70 − 60) = 5 years: Option One and Option Five are both allowed. At 60 with a beneficiary of 30, the adjusted difference is (60 − 30) − (70 − 60) = 20 years: neither Option One nor Option Five is allowed.
The minimum standard annuity of $150 a month (Handbook p. 33) is also reduced if you choose an option. Retiring early? Option factors apply on top of the cut in the early retirement reduction table.
Can you change your option after you retire?
Only in a few ways, so pick carefully. Your payment plan forms come in your retirement packet; see when to retire for the deadlines.
- After retirement you can switch from Option One, Two or Five to the standard annuity on form TRS 572, starting with the payment after the month TRS gets the form. The change can't be reversed, and if your beneficiary was your spouse you also need their notarized consent (TRS 571) or a court order.TRS Benefits Handbook (Sept. 2025), p. 46, Postretirement Change in Retirement Payment Plan
- You can change an Option One, Two or Five beneficiary only once, with conditions, and the new beneficiary is paid for the shorter of the original beneficiary's remaining life expectancy or the new beneficiary's life. Option Three or Four beneficiaries can be changed any time during the guaranteed period on form TRS 30D.TRS Benefits Handbook (Sept. 2025), p. 45, Postretirement Change in Beneficiary
- If you take the standard annuity and marry after retiring, you can switch to Option One, Two or Five for your spouse before your second wedding anniversary. The change takes effect two years after you file it, and both of you must survive until then.TRS Benefits Handbook (Sept. 2025), p. 44, Marriage After Retirement
What your family gets also depends on the death benefits TRS pays apart from your option. See TRS death and survivor benefits.
Source: TRS Benefits Handbook, September 2025, pp. 33-36, 44-46. Last reviewed .