Your Turn to Ask
August 2025
What counseling points can I provide employees who ask about the PLOP?
VRS often gets questions about the Partial Lump-Sum Option Payment (PLOP), which is a one-time payment in retirement from a member’s contribution account.
A retiree might want to use a PLOP to pay off a home mortgage or a child’s college loans. Or, they may want to boost their nest egg by rolling cash into a tax-deferred account, such as the Commonwealth of Virginia 457 Deferred Compensation Plan.
Here are some important points to stress when counseling members considering this benefit payout option when they retire:
- Taking a PLOP will reduce a member’s monthly benefit in retirement.
- To qualify, the member must work at least one year beyond their eligibility date for an unreduced retirement benefit.
- Members can choose to take an amount equal to one, two or three times their annual retirement benefit, depending on how long they work beyond their unreduced retirement date.
- Members should check their retirement eligibility in myVRS and then determine if they wish to work one, two or three years longer to qualify for a PLOP.
Read more about the PLOP, how it’s taxed and other benefit payout options.
