In addition to a monthly pension payment, when you retire you will receive benefits to help ease the transition, keep pace with inflation, and provide for your spouse or a second adult beneficiary when you die. These include:
- Cost of living increases
In many years, CPF voluntarily increases benefits to ensure that as a retiree, your purchasing power remains constant or grows over time. These increases are partly determined by inflation and have a cumulative impact on a pension. - Christmas benefit—13th check
Each December, all retired clergy on the pension rolls receive an additional benefit of $25 times the number of years of credited service up to 40 years. Eligible surviving spouses receive an extra payment of $20 per year times their spouse's years of credited service, and surviving dependent children may receive an amount equal to the monthly benefit they receive. - Resettlement benefit
To help clergy move when they retire, CPF provides a lump sum resettlement benefit to retiring clergy who have earned at least 18 months of credited service in the two years before retirement. The benefit equals 12 times your monthly retirement benefit to a maximum of $20,000. At a minimum, this benefit is $100 for each year of credited service up to 20 years. - Life insurance
If you are eligible, you will receive a life insurance benefit equal to two times your highest average compensation plus $5,000, with a maximum value of $30,000 and a minimum value of $10,000. This benefit is provided to all clergy who retire directly from active service or who have earned at least 25 years of credited service.