On Wednesday, July 22, City of Austin employees and retirees gathered at Austin Energy HQ for the 2026 COAERS Member Summit. This year's theme, Empowering Retirement Readiness, guided a full day of educational sessions, expert conversations, and connections with community resource partners.

The summit brought members together across every career stage, from those just beginning their City service to retirees already drawing their pension benefit. Over the course of the day, COAERS experts and invited partners covered the many pieces that make up a secure retirement, from understanding your COAERS benefit to planning for life well beyond your final day of work.

What members explored

The day opened with Retirement Readiness: Understanding Your Lifetime Benefit, a foundational look at how the COAERS pension works, covering service credit, contributions, vesting, and how benefits are calculated. Members brought questions that come up at every stage of a career, and COAERS staff walked through the answers.

From there, sessions dug into the decisions that shape a retirement:

• Demystifying Service Purchase unpacked what service credit is, the types of purchases that may be available including sick leave purchase, and the timing and cost considerations worth understanding before making a decision.
• Empowering Retirement with Deferred Compensation, presented by Empower, showed how deferred compensation can complement the pension benefit as part of a broader retirement income strategy.
• Navigating Aging, Caregiving, and Community Resources, presented by the Area Agency on Aging, widened the lens beyond income to the realities of aging transitions and caregiving, and the community resources available to help members plan ahead.
• Building Financial Longevity brought the pieces together, connecting pension, personal savings, healthcare, and caregiving considerations into a longer view of retirement stability.

Members also heard a State of the Pension Fund update, a high-level look at the funding, investments, and administration of the retirement system. The day closed with a Leadership Q&A, where COAERS leadership and subject matter experts took questions spanning benefits, investments, operations, and retirement planning.

Connecting with resource partners

Beyond the sessions, attendees connected with organizations offering support in financial wellness, aging services, education, and community resources, a reminder that planning for retirement draws on a whole network of support.

How to Watch the Member Summit Session

Couldn't attend, or want to revisit a session? All sessions from the 2026 Member Summit are now available to watch on the COAERS YouTube channel. From understanding your lifetime benefit to the State of the Pension Fund update, you can watch at your own pace and return to the topics that matter most to you.

Watch the full Member Summit playlist at [CONFIRM: YouTube playlist URL].

Thank you for joining us

Thank you to every member who attended and to the partners and presenters who made the day possible. Events like the Member Summit reflect our ongoing commitment to keeping you informed and confident about your retirement. We look forward to seeing you at future COAERS events. To stay up to date, visit the events calendar at coaers.org.