Retirement planning looks different in every decade.

Start your 403(b) even small, open a Roth IRA while your income is lowest, and understand what pension tier you are in. Compound interest is doing the work right now whether you are paying attention or not.

Max your 403(b), track your years toward the 25-year pension threshold, do a fee audit on what you are paying your 403(b) provider, and get life insurance while you are young and healthy.

Model out your pension scenarios, get serious about fees in your 403(b), and think about pension maximization now. The time to get insurable is before you need it, not after.

Catch-up contributions unlock at 50. Super catch-up from 60 to 63. Start serious pension election modeling. The Roth conversion window you have been building toward is here.

The pension election, the DBS account decision, Social Security coordination, and sequence of return risk. These are no longer abstract. They are decisions you are about to make, and most of them are irreversible.

RMDs begin at 73 or 75, longevity risk is the primary concern, and if you have pre-tax accounts to pass on to your children, the estate planning around those matters more than most people realize.

Service Credit × Age Factor × Final Compensation, broken down piece by piece.

2% at 60 vs. 2% at 62 — the January 1, 2013 line that determines your formula.

Minimum eligibility versus your full age factor — they are not the same question.

School-year timing, sick leave conversion, and COLA effective dates all matter.

Leaving contributions on deposit versus taking a refund — and what it costs you.

Separate limits, separate fee environments, and one has an early-withdrawal rule the other doesn't.

Not automatically — but K-12 vendor lists are usually stacked with high-fee versions.

There's no universal answer — here's the process for evaluating your own vendor list.

Contract exchanges versus rollovers — and why it depends on whether you still work there.

A three-year window before retirement worth knowing how to use.

The Social Security Fairness Act changed the math for CalSTRS-covered teachers. Here's what to check.

A step-by-step framework, organized by how far out you are from your retirement date.

Your pension is a great start, not a full plan. How to turn your pension, Social Security, 403(b), and 457(b) into one coordinated income strategy.