STRS Ohio Retirement Checklist for 2026
Quick answer: A complete STRS Ohio retirement checklist for 2026 includes nine coordinated decisions: confirming service credit, reviewing retirement eligibility, requesting pension estimates, comparing payment options, evaluating healthcare coverage, coordinating Medicare enrollment, planning tax withholding, organizing personal savings and investment withdrawals, and updating beneficiary designations. For Columbus-area teachers, administrators, and education professionals, this work should begin 12-24 months before the target retirement date because most of these decisions are difficult or impossible to reverse once retirement paperwork is filed.
Key Takeaways
- STRS Ohio retirement planning involves nine coordinated decisions, not just choosing a retirement date.
- Service credit and final average salary together determine your pension — both deserve careful review before setting a retirement date.
- STRS Ohio requires all medical plan participants to enroll in Medicare at age 65 or earlier if eligible, with Part B required for all enrollees.
- The pension payment option you select is generally difficult to change after retirement, which makes the decision worth deliberate analysis.
- STRS pension income is taxable at the federal level and generally subject to Ohio income tax.
- Beneficiary designations on STRS, 403(b), 457, and IRA accounts override your will, making them one of the highest-leverage estate planning items.
Table of Contents
- What STRS Ohio Employees Should Do Before Retiring
- Confirming Your STRS Retirement Eligibility
- Reviewing Your STRS Pension Estimate
- Choosing Your STRS Payment Option
- STRS Ohio Health Care in Retirement
- Medicare Coordination for STRS Retirees
- Tax Planning Before Retirement
- Investment and Cash Flow Decisions
- Estate Planning and Beneficiaries
- Frequently Asked Questions
What STRS Ohio Employees Should Do Before Retiring
STRS Ohio retirement isn't a single decision — it's a coordinated set of nine connected decisions that affect each other. The retirement date you choose affects your pension amount. The payment option you elect affects your spouse's lifetime income. Healthcare and Medicare elections shape your monthly budget for the next twenty or thirty years. Tax withholding affects your monthly cash flow.
The right way to approach 2026 STRS retirement planning is to treat it as a coordinated project that starts 12-24 months before your target date. This article is part of our broader guide to OPERS and STRS retirement planning in Columbus, which explains how all of these decisions fit together.
For Columbus-area teachers, school administrators, and education professionals — whether you're working in Columbus City Schools, Dublin City Schools, Westerville City Schools, Upper Arlington, Hilliard, Olentangy, or any Central Ohio district — coordinated STRS planning takes on local dimensions too. Healthcare networks, cost-of-living, and Ohio-specific tax rules all factor into the right answer.
STRS Ohio provides benefit estimate calculators and retirement planning resources that members can use when evaluating a future retirement date. STRS identifies its benefit estimate calculator as a tool to estimate a service retirement benefit based on account information and a selected retirement date. The calculator is a starting point — but the planning work around the estimate is what shapes the actual retirement outcome.
Confirming Your STRS Retirement Eligibility
You should confirm your STRS retirement eligibility before making any other retirement decision. Eligibility rules depend on your age, service credit, and retirement plan, and they directly affect when your benefits may begin and at what level.
Please verify with STRS Ohio directly: your specific eligibility window, whether the most recent State Teachers Retirement Board decisions on eligibility requirements affect your situation, and whether any changes have been announced since the publication of this article. STRS rules can change, and individual eligibility is best confirmed with STRS Ohio.
Retirement timing affects several connected areas:
- Your pension benefit amount
- Your healthcare coverage options
- Your tax strategy and bracket
- Your spouse's planning and any survivor benefits
- Your ability to continue saving in 403(b), 457, or other accounts
- Your overall long-term income plan
The questions worth working through before choosing a retirement date: How many years of service credit do I have, and is any additional credit available for purchase? Am I eligible for an unreduced benefit at my target date? What does retiring one year later actually change? How does my final average salary affect the calculation? Will an early retirement reduce my lifetime income meaningfully? How does retirement timing affect my healthcare eligibility?
For Columbus-area educators, a one-year difference in retirement timing can meaningfully affect pension income, healthcare costs, and overall cash flow — which is why this question deserves attention well before the decision feels final.
Reviewing Your STRS Pension Estimate
Your STRS pension estimate is the foundation of your retirement income plan. Before retiring, review more than just the headline monthly number.
A complete review of your STRS estimate should include:
- Your projected monthly benefit at your target retirement date
- How that benefit changes if you retire one or two years earlier or later
- The service credit assumptions used in the calculation
- Survivor benefit amounts under each payment option
- Pre-tax versus after-tax monthly income (federal and Ohio)
- The reduction in cash flow from healthcare premiums
A pension estimate should be evaluated alongside your full household financial picture — spouse income, Social Security (if applicable), 403(b) and 457 balances, IRA and Roth IRA balances, mortgage and debt payments, projected healthcare costs, cash reserves, and long-term care considerations.
The most important question isn't "what is my STRS pension?" It's "how much dependable after-tax monthly income will I have once everything is combined?" The answer involves the pension plus other sources minus taxes minus healthcare premiums minus other reductions. That figure is what actually funds your retirement.
Choosing Your STRS Payment Option
Your STRS payment option determines how your pension is paid during your lifetime and what happens after your death. It's one of the most consequential retirement decisions you'll make, and it's generally difficult to change after retirement begins.
The trade-off is straightforward in concept: a single-life option pays the highest monthly benefit but ends when you die. Joint-survivor options pay a reduced monthly benefit but continue payments to a surviving spouse or beneficiary at a percentage of your benefit.
There is no universal best choice. The right STRS payment option depends on your income needs, your family situation, your health, your spouse's other income sources, your other assets, and your legacy goals.
The questions to work through:
- Does your spouse depend on your pension income to maintain their standard of living?
- Do you need the highest monthly income, or do you have other sources that reduce that need?
- Is survivor income protection more valuable to you than maximum monthly income?
- Do you have other assets — investments, life insurance, real estate — that could support a surviving spouse without continued pension income?
- How does your health, and your spouse's health, factor into the choice?
- How does this election interact with your overall estate plan?
A higher single-life payment looks more attractive on its own. Whether it's the right choice depends on the full context — particularly for households where one spouse's pension is the primary income source.
If you and a spouse are in different pension systems (one in STRS, one in OPERS, for example), the analysis becomes more complex. For OPERS-side coordination, see our OPERS Retirement Checklist for 2026.
STRS Ohio Health Care in Retirement
Healthcare is one of the largest retirement expenses for many STRS retirees. STRS Ohio offers a health care program for eligible benefit recipients. The 2026 STRS Ohio Health Care Program Guide describes medical plans that include hospital, medical, and prescription drug coverage.
Before retirement, the questions to answer:
- Am I eligible for STRS health care coverage based on service credit and other criteria?
- What will my monthly premium be under each plan option?
- Is my spouse eligible for STRS-sponsored coverage?
- What prescription drug coverage is included?
- What are my expected out-of-pocket costs in a typical year?
- Will my preferred doctors, hospitals, and specialists be in-network?
- How does Medicare integration change my coverage and costs?
For Columbus-area teachers and administrators, network coverage matters. Verify that the Central Ohio hospitals and specialists you'd use — OhioHealth, Mount Carmel, OSU Wexner Medical Center, Nationwide Children's if relevant — are accessible under the plan you select.
Healthcare costs should be built into your retirement income projection before you retire, not figured out after retirement paperwork is filed. We cover STRS healthcare in much more depth in a dedicated guide on STRS Ohio health care in retirement (coming soon in this series).
Medicare Coordination for STRS Retirees
Medicare coordination is critical for STRS retirees, particularly because STRS makes Medicare enrollment a requirement for medical plan participants.
STRS Ohio states that all medical plan participants are required to enroll in Medicare at age 65 or earlier if eligible, and Medicare Part B is required for all enrollees.
The practical Medicare checklist for STRS retirees:
- Confirm when you'll be eligible for Medicare based on age and work history
- Enroll in Medicare Part A when eligible (typically premium-free at 65 if you or a spouse paid Medicare taxes)
- Enroll in Medicare Part B as required for STRS medical plan participation
- Review STRS Medicare plan options and how they coordinate with original Medicare
- Compare premiums and out-of-pocket costs across plan options
- Review prescription drug coverage and how it interacts with Part D
- Confirm provider access for your preferred Central Ohio physicians and hospitals
- Coordinate spouse coverage if your spouse is eligible for separate or STRS-linked coverage
For Columbus-area educators approaching age 65, this enrollment work isn't optional — it's a prerequisite to participating in STRS medical coverage.
Tax Planning Before Retirement
STRS pension income is taxable at the federal level as ordinary income, and retirement income included in federal adjusted gross income is generally subject to Ohio income tax as well.
Before retiring, the areas to review:
- Federal tax withholding on your STRS pension
- Ohio income tax withholding
- 403(b) and 457 plan withdrawal timing and tax treatment
- Traditional and Roth IRA strategy
- Social Security claiming and its tax interaction with pension income (if you qualify based on covered employment)
- Medicare IRMAA thresholds, which can be triggered by higher income
- Capital gains and dividend income from taxable accounts
For many STRS retirees, the pension creates a stable income foundation — but it can also reduce flexibility if taxes aren't planned carefully. A higher fixed pension stream means less ability to manage income levels year to year for tax bracket or IRMAA purposes.
A coordinated pre-retirement tax plan might include adjusting pension withholding, timing 403(b) and 457 withdrawals strategically, evaluating Roth conversions in lower-income years, managing taxable income carefully before Required Minimum Distributions begin, and coordinating any Social Security claiming with pension income.
We cover the specifics of Ohio public pension taxation in a dedicated guide on how OPERS and STRS pensions are taxed in Ohio (coming soon in this series).
Investment and Cash Flow Decisions
Your STRS pension may cover a meaningful share of your retirement expenses, but investment planning still matters. You likely have other accounts — 403(b), 457, traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, taxable brokerage accounts, cash reserves, and bank savings — that need a coordinated strategy.
The questions to work through before retiring:
- Will my STRS pension cover my fixed monthly expenses?
- How much additional income do I need from investments and other accounts?
- Which accounts should I withdraw from first, and why?
- How much cash should I hold for short-term needs and emergencies?
- Should I reduce portfolio risk after retirement?
- How will inflation affect my spending power over 20-30 years?
- Should I delay withdrawals from certain accounts to manage taxes or growth?
A strong retirement income plan coordinates your STRS pension with personal savings, taxes, healthcare costs, and estate considerations. Each piece informs the others — IRA withdrawal timing affects tax brackets, which affects Medicare IRMAA tier, which affects healthcare costs, which affects how much income you need from the portfolio.
Estate Planning and Beneficiaries
Before retiring, STRS employees should review beneficiary designations and estate documents. This matters more than many members realize because most retirement assets transfer outside of your will.
The pre-retirement estate planning checklist:
- Review STRS beneficiary designations
- Review 403(b), 457, IRA, and Roth IRA beneficiaries
- Review life insurance beneficiaries
- Confirm transfer-on-death designations on bank and brokerage accounts
- Review joint account ownership
- Update powers of attorney for financial and healthcare decisions
- Update advance healthcare directives
- Consider whether a trust is appropriate for your situation
Your estate plan should coordinate with your STRS payment option. If your spouse depends on your pension income to maintain their standard of living, your survivor benefit election may be one of the most important estate planning decisions you make — even though it's filed with STRS rather than with an attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should STRS Ohio employees start planning for retirement? STRS Ohio employees should begin meaningful planning 12-24 months before their target retirement date. This window allows time to verify service credit, evaluate eligibility and pension estimates, compare payment options, model healthcare and Medicare costs, coordinate tax strategy, and update beneficiaries before retirement paperwork is filed.
How do I estimate my STRS Ohio retirement benefit? STRS Ohio provides retirement planning resources and a benefit estimate calculator that allows members to estimate a service retirement benefit based on account information and a selected retirement date. The calculator is a starting point — your actual benefit and the surrounding planning decisions deserve more detailed review with STRS and with a qualified advisor.
Do STRS retirees need Medicare? STRS Ohio requires all medical plan participants to enroll in Medicare at age 65 or earlier if eligible, and Medicare Part B is required for all enrollees. Medicare enrollment is a prerequisite for STRS medical plan participation at eligibility.
Does STRS Ohio offer health care in retirement? STRS Ohio offers health care coverage for eligible benefit recipients. The 2026 STRS Ohio Health Care Program Guide describes medical plans that include hospital, medical, and prescription drug coverage.
Can I change my STRS payment option after I retire? STRS payment options are generally difficult or impossible to change after retirement. Consult STRS Ohio directly for the specific rules that apply to your plan and situation. The difficulty of changing this election is one reason it deserves careful analysis well in advance of your retirement date.
Are STRS pensions taxed in Ohio? Yes. STRS pension income is generally included in federal adjusted gross income and subject to both federal and Ohio income tax. Ohio offers a modest retirement income credit for qualifying income, though it phases out at higher income levels.
Should STRS Ohio employees work with a financial advisor? Many STRS employees benefit from working with an advisor who can coordinate pension decisions, survivor benefit elections, healthcare and Medicare planning, tax strategy, investments, and estate considerations. The biggest value typically comes from coordinated planning well before the retirement date.
Build Your STRS Plan Before You Retire
If you're an STRS Ohio member in Columbus, Ohio preparing for retirement in 2026, your checklist should include retirement eligibility confirmation, pension estimate review, payment option analysis, survivor benefit planning, STRS healthcare review, Medicare coordination, tax withholding strategy, investment and 403(b) or 457 withdrawal planning, and beneficiary and estate planning updates.
The best retirement decisions are coordinated. Your pension, healthcare, taxes, investments, and estate plan should all work together — because each one affects the others.
At Blue Advisors, we help Columbus-area STRS members work through these decisions in the months before retirement. For the full picture of how these pieces fit together, start with our comprehensive guide to OPERS and STRS retirement planning in Columbus.
Schedule a conversation: If you're an STRS Ohio member in Columbus, Ohio thinking through your 2026 retirement plan, you can book an introductory call here: calendly.com/jimblue/blue-advisors-meeting.
By James Blue, Fee-Only Advisor | Blue Advisors
James Blue is the founder of Blue Advisors, a fee-only registered investment advisory firm based in Columbus, Ohio, serving public employees, teachers, retirees, and busy professionals across Central Ohio and nationally.
This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. The views expressed are those of the author as of the date published and are subject to change without notice. Blue Advisors is a fee-only registered investment advisory firm. Advisory services are offered only pursuant to a written advisory agreement and to clients in the State of Ohio, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and other jurisdictions where Blue Advisors is properly registered or exempt from registration. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Information about STRS Ohio and Medicare is based on publicly available statements from those organizations as of the publication date and may change. Readers should consult STRS Ohio, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and their financial advisor, tax professional, or attorney before making financial decisions.