If you were a member of the Teachers' and State Employees' or Local Governmental Employees' Retirement Systems and are within 120 days from your chosen retirement date, you have a new way to apply for retirement. The NC Retirement Systems now has an online retirement feature in ORBIT. No more filling in multiple forms by hand or waiting for the Retirement Systems Division to receive your paperwork by mail. The online application offers a step-by-step guide to move you through the process, integrated videos, examples and links available on screen at critical decision-making points and built-in pension rules that prevent delays in the processing of your retirement application.

Make sure you have an up-to-date ORBIT account so you'll be ready when retirement time comes. The first step to take if you’re thinking about retirement is to log in to ORBIT to get a free, customized benefit estimate of your retirement benefits to make sure you're ready to retire. Although we will still accept paper applications, we feel confident that you’ll prefer the online retirement application.

Click here to access ORBIT or register

When you’re ready to start planning, click on the link below for a process map which gives you a good idea of the process and when you’ll make all your key decisions. Remember to talk to your HR staff to let them know your intentions and follow any internal processes your employer has. Once you have your customized benefit estimate and have spoken with your employer, log in to ORBIT and click on the “Apply for Retirement Online” link.

Click here for online retirement process map