For last fall's FAB I wrote an article entitled "Should You Retire and Make more money?" The basic gist was that if you were aged 65 or older and had 30 years or more of service credit, you could retire, teach some classes part-time at SMC (or elsewhere) and have a higher income than you have now from teaching alone.

after the article appeared, a couple of sharp faculty contacted me and pointed out that STRS (State Teachers Retirement System) puts a limit on the amount of money a retired STRS beneficiary can earn from teaching in the public schools system (including community colleges). This is indeed true. According to the 2001 STRS handbook that amount is $22,000. This amount is $10,333 less than what i had claimed in my previous article that a retiree could earn as a part-time instructor at SMC. however, this amount, when added to my hypothetical example (age 63+, 30 years service credit, and Group 6, Step 23), still adds up to $7,818 more per year than income earned from full-time teaching alone. In addition, there are no restrictions to your STRS retirement benefit on income earned from any other source.

Thanks to those who read my original article and then took the time to help me get my facts straight! However, the questions still remains: should you retire and make more money?