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PERS Fund/investments

How PERS is funded

Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) benefits are paid from the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (OPERF). The OPERF is managed by the Oregon State Treasury under the direction of the Oregon Investment Council.

The OPERF has three sources of income:

  1. Investment earnings (the largest source of PERS funding).
  2. Employer contributions (employer contribution rate x the subject salary earned by each qualifying employee).
  3. Member contributions (mostly from the Member Redirect Program).

OPERF investment returns are posted monthly on the Treasury website. Annual investment returns are posted to the various fund accounts and reserves every spring (see “Earnings Crediting” below).

More detail about PERS funding is outlined in the PERS Funding Policy (PDF) (September 2025).

Earnings crediting

Annual earnings crediting is the process of distributing earnings from the previous calendar year to the various accounts and reserves within the Oregon PERS Fund (OPERF). The amount of earnings that may be credited to each account and reserve are set by law.* The amount credited to member accounts is different than the amount earned by PERS Fund investments. This is due to administrative expenses and reserving requirements provided in statutes, administrative rules, and PERS Board actions.    

The amount added to each account and reserve is its earnings-crediting rate multiplied by its total balance as of December 31. Go to the Annual Earnings Crediting webpage to see earnings rates per calendar year.    

The earnings are added to (or deducted from) each account and reserve in the spring.   

PERS accounts and reserves

  • Tier One Regular Accounts.
  • Tier One Rate Guarantee Reserve.
    • This reserve is used to credit the assumed rate on Tier One Regular accounts in years when the fund earns below the assumed rate and to hold excess earnings from the years when the fund earns more than the assumed rate (currently 6.9%).
  • Tier Two Regular Accounts.
  • Member Variable Accounts.
  • Employer Reserves.
    • Funds from these reserves are moved to the Benefits-in-Force Reserve when a benefit is due to a member.
  • Benefits-in-Force Reserve.
    • This reserve is used to pay retired members’ benefits and annuities. It is funded by earnings and fund transfers from member accounts and employer reserves associated with retirements processed during a calendar year.
  • Individual Account Program (IAP).
  • Employee Pension Stability Accounts (EPSA).
  • Employer side accounts.
    • Side account earnings rates for lump sums on deposit vary depending on when the deposit was made within the calendar year and are not affected by board reserving or crediting decisions.

Preliminary earnings rates for each PERS reserve are published each February or March in the employer newsletter. Final earnings crediting rates are published in the April or May edition of the employer newsletter. Employer newsletter webpage.    

*PERS year-to-date factors and annual earnings crediting rates are used to credit a pro-rata distribution of available year-to-date earnings or annual calendar-year earnings. PERS earnings factors, both year-to-date and annual, do not measure return on investment and do not represent actual gross or net investment returns. These year-to-date factors and annual earnings crediting rates have been reduced administrative expenses and should not be used as a measure of investment returns for those same time periods.    

Prior-year earnings (for employers)

 

By law, PERS-participating employers must pay the earnings due on any qualifying employee wages and/or contributions that are not paid by the end of the year. A year ends officially on March 5 of the following year.  

Prior-year earnings (PYE) may be generated by: 

  • Making changes to a previously posted record that result in owing more contributions.
  • Changing “non-qualifying” to “qualifying” status for employee service in a prior year, either prompted by a PERS staff member’s review or by request from the employer.
  • Failing to correct and repost a suspended record before year-end.
  • Failing to post a report or pay an invoice by year-end.

More information

For information on how PYE is invoiced, go to employer guide 26, Understanding Your Statement, “Tab 2: Employer Statement,” subsection “Charges That Do Not Have an Invoice.” Employers can also contact their ESC account representative with questions about PYE invoicing.  

For links to actuarial and financial tools and resources for employers (such as actuarial valuations, GASB statements, and Employer Rate Projection Tool), go to the Actuarial and Financial Reporting Resources for Employers webpage.  

‘Invested for You’ Oregon PERS-Treasury webinars

 

To learn about the PERS pension investment strategy and performance, watch the Oregon PERS and Oregon State Treasury joint webinar series “Invested For You.”    

Twice a year, PERS and Treasury hold one virtual session for PERS-participating employers and partners and one session for PERS members, retirees, and anyone else interested in how PERS benefits are funded. Each session concludes with a question-and-answer section.    

Future sessions

Dates, times, and registration information for future sessions will be sent in PERS newsletters and emails. Make sure you are on a PERS email list by going to the PERS Email Updates webpage. Enter your email address to sign in.    

  • June 3, 2026, employer and partner session — 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Pacific
  • June 5, 2026, member and retiree session — 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Pacific

Past sessions