The Library
The roadmap covers what almost everyone needs. This is for everything else — your specific situation, or a deeper dive into a topic you've already started.
What If...?
Pick the situation that sounds like yours. Most people only ever need one or two of these.
What If I Leave Before I'm Vested?
It depends on which vesting timeline you're asking about — your pension and your savings match work differently. (Full breakdown: What Does "Vested" Mean?)
Your pension: if you leave with fewer than 10 years of service, you don't keep a future pension from that time. You can request a refund of your own contributions — but not the employer-funded portion.
Your savings match: under 2 years, you forfeit 100% of the employer match. Between 2–4 years, you keep the vested percentage on the graded schedule. Your own contributions are always 100% yours, no matter when you leave.
Bottom line: leaving early doesn't mean losing everything you've put in — it means losing some or all of what your employer put in.
What If I Get Divorced?
A Michigan court can award part of your MPSERS pension to a former spouse — but it takes a specific legal document, and a divorce judgment by itself is not enough.
MPSERS doesn't accept a standard QDRO (the instrument most private pensions use). Michigan public pensions use an Eligible Domestic Relations Order (EDRO) instead, under its own state law. If you're still an active or deferred member, the EDRO must be filed with ORS before your retirement effective date — waiting until after you retire is too late for this instrument (a different form applies to retirees already receiving payments).
One more thing worth checking regardless: divorce doesn't automatically remove an ex-spouse as your named beneficiary. Review your survivor and beneficiary designations in miAccount as part of the process, not as an afterthought.
Work with an attorney who specifically knows EDROs — this isn't the same paperwork as a standard divorce or a private-sector QDRO, and using the wrong form is a common, costly mistake.
Go Deeper
Already through the core 40 and want more on a specific bucket? This is where the extended material will live.