Ohio Police & Fire Pension (OP&F)

Being a first responder means constantly dealing with the unexpected. You’re having a nice, calm day one minute; the next, you’re off to a call with lights and sirens blaring, adrenaline-pumping, and senses on high alert.

Emergency workers are surely a group of professionals who deserves the ability to step aside and enjoy the pension and benefits due to them as part of an agreement made many years earlier, after working years full of sacrifice and risk.

However, the compensation these public service workers were promised is facing pressure from many directions. Firefighters and police officers facing the end of their careers have spent decades working hard and deserve to enjoy the compensation they’re due upon retirement. It’s important for these men and women to take steps on their own to maximize what they have; firefighters and police officers, specifically, understand that being prepared for the unexpected can avert disaster.

If you’re currently at the end of your career as an emergency worker, you can expect to receive the most benefits in retirement as promised. But as we all know, there are no ironclad guarantees in life. It is fortunate that any new cutbacks are likely to be geared toward those with the most lead time to adjust; those expecting to retire soon will be less affected than those who still have years or decades of work to look forward to. The majority of this chapter summarizes potential pension changes and how you can adapt your plans to compensate, right now.

While there aren’t as many options as can be found in OPERS and STRS, there are still many things you can do to help set yourself and your family up for success, including strategies around maximizing contributions, taking full advantage of the deferred retirement option plan (DROP), expanding your investment options, life and health insurance strategies, and much more.