Most financial advisors don't understand your CalPERS pension, your POST incentive, or why retiring at 50 changes everything. We do — and we built an entire platform around it, for Hanford officers.
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If you've ever sat down with a financial advisor and watched their eyes glaze over when you mentioned PEPRA, 3%@50, or POST incentive pay, you already know the problem.
Most advisors are trained to plan for someone who retires at 65 with a 401(k), a Roth IRA, and Social Security. Your career doesn't look like that.
You have a defined benefit pension — one of the most valuable retirement assets in America, and one of the least understood by financial professionals. You might retire in your early 50s. Your compensation isn't just base salary — it includes POST incentive pay, longevity pay, specialty assignment pay, and shift differentials, some of which count toward your pension and some of which don't.
Get the math wrong, and you can cost yourself tens of thousands of dollars — or more — over a retirement that could last 40 years.
We built Avidity Journey specifically for officers like you.
Hanford PD officers participate in CalPERS Safety — but which formula applies depends on when you were hired.
| Classic Member | PEPRA Member | |
|---|---|---|
| Who qualifies | Hired before Jan 1, 2013 (or transferred from another CalPERS agency without a break in service) | Hired on or after Jan 1, 2013 |
| Formula | 3% × Years of Service × Final Comp | 2.7% × Years of Service × Final Comp |
| Minimum retirement age | 50 | 57 (for full formula) |
| Max benefit | 90% of final comp | No explicit cap, but formula is lower |
| Final comp calculation | Highest 12 consecutive months | Highest 36 consecutive months |
| What counts as "comp" | Base pay + certain premium pays | Base pay only (strict definition) |
Your W-2 shows one number. Your actual compensation tells a much bigger story — and understanding it is the difference between a financial plan that works and one that doesn't.
Your starting step and promotion path matter. An officer who promotes to Corporal at year 7 and Sergeant at year 12 has a dramatically different final comp than one who stays at Officer step 5 for their full career. We model both paths.
Intermediate and Advanced POST certificates unlock percentage increases on base pay. For Classic members, this flows directly into pensionable comp. For PEPRA members, the rules are narrower — and the difference matters significantly over a career.
Longevity steps kick in at 10, 15, and 20 years. If you're planning to retire at 25 years, your maximum longevity benefit is baked into your final comp — every dollar of longevity is working for your pension. We'll show you what that extra year is worth.
Motors. Detectives. SRO. Gang/Narcotics. HART. Park Resource Officer. Each specialty comes with a pay premium. If your final comp year falls inside a specialty assignment, the pension impact is significant.
Swing shift: +5%. Graveyard: +7.5%. These show up in your paycheck — but whether they count toward pensionable comp depends on your tier and classification. We model both scenarios so you know exactly where you stand.
Hanford PD provides approximately $1,950/year in employer match to your deferred comp account (~$75/pay period). Most officers don't contribute enough to capture the full match. Our platform will tell you exactly what you need to contribute.
Your CalPERS pension is one of the most valuable benefits in any career in America. Guaranteed. Lifetime. Inflation-adjusted (partially). But here's what it doesn't cover.
If you retire at 50, you have 15 years of healthcare to fund before Medicare kicks in at 65. Hanford PD provides some retiree medical support, but the gap is real and expensive.
CalPERS COLA is capped at 2% per year. If inflation runs at 4%, you're losing purchasing power every year. Over 30 years, that gap compounds into a real problem that erodes your retirement income.
If you elect a survivor benefit, your pension is reduced. If you don't, and you die first, your spouse's income drops significantly. This is one of the most consequential decisions you'll ever make — and most advisors have never run the numbers.
Even at the maximum pension benefit, you're living on 90% of your working income — without overtime and specialty pay. Your deferred comp, Roth IRA, and savings aren't a replacement for the pension. They're the bridge, the cushion, and the optionality.
When you join Avidity Journey and identify as Hanford PD, you unlock a dedicated module with four tabs.
Full platform access with the Hanford PD module. Self-directed financial planning at your pace.
Everything in Journey plus unlimited Zoom access to a fiduciary advisor who understands your pension.
We are legally required to act in your best interest. We don't sell insurance products, we don't earn commissions, we don't push annuities to "replace" the pension you already have. If you've ever felt like an advisor was steering you toward a product instead of a plan, you already know why this matters.
We're not a Silicon Valley fintech. We're a Central Valley firm that understands Kings County cost of living, the local housing market, and what it actually means to serve the community you live in. Your financial plan should be built by someone who knows the ground you're standing on.
Every other financial app treats your pension as a line item. We built the entire platform around it. Your pension isn't an afterthought — it's the foundation of your plan, and everything else is designed to complement it.
You've spent your career protecting Hanford. Your financial future deserves the same care, the same plan, the same discipline.
Fiduciary. Fee-only. Built for the people who protect the Valley.