Teachers face very specific challenges in saving for retirement.
The vast majority of school districts do not participate in Social Security, so most school district employees must depend on the Texas Teacher Retirement System (TRS) pension fund and their own savings as their main sources of retirement income.
Since the Texas TRS was not designed to fully fund retirement, and does not provide cost-of-living increases, it's critical to save as much as possible on your own.
The Value of Investing for Teachers, and the other resources on this For Teachers section of our investor education material, are intended to help you achieve a comfortable retirement while avoiding costly, inappropriate investments or sinking your money into an outright fraudulent scheme.
Value of Investing is a self-paced primer on the basics of investing, written specifically for school district employees. It starts with the question "Why Invest?" and goes on to explain how to invest and the core principles that should underlie investment decisions, with an emphasis on cost, investing for retirement, and avoiding scams.
The presentation also tells you how to maximize the potential sources of retirement income for teachers.
Whether you're beginning your first teaching job or are nearing the end of your time in the classroom, it's the right time to think about investing for retirement.