Victor Mackliff is a CalSTRS and CalPERS retirement specialist with The Pension Team, helping California educators and public servants understand their pension, review their 403(b), and turn what they have earned into a retirement income plan.
CalSTRS
CalPERS
403(b) reviews
457 plans
Service credit & age factors
Survivor & option elections
Retirement income planning
What Victor does
Victor works with California public‑school educators and public servants who are approaching retirement and have never had their pension explained to them in plain numbers. He sits down one‑on‑one, works through the actual record — service credit, age factor, final compensation — and shows what the monthly benefit is likely to be and which elections will permanently shape it.
A large part of that work is the supplemental account almost every educator carries and almost nobody reviews: a 403(b) or 457 opened years ago through a payroll vendor and left alone since. Victor looks at what is actually in it, what it costs, and how it is meant to work alongside the pension — particularly for educators who do not pay into Social Security through their district position and whose pension therefore has to carry more of the load.
Where you will meet him
Victor presents at California school districts throughout the year, running staff sessions that walk educators through how their retirement system actually calculates a benefit. Much of his one‑on‑one work begins in those rooms — a teacher asks a question at a lunch presentation and books a review the same week.
Reviews take place in person at the school site or by video, whichever is easier. They are free, and they stay free: there is nothing to buy in the room and no obligation attached to the conversation.
How Victor works
Your real numbers, written down in language you can explain to your family — not a projection built from averages, and not a product pitch wearing the clothes of a review.
Questions he is asked most
“How is my pension actually calculated?” Service credit, age factor and final compensation, applied to your own record rather than a rule of thumb.
“Can I afford to retire at the date I have in mind?” What the benefit looks like at that date, and what changes if you move it.
“What is in my 403(b), and is it any good?” What you own, what it costs, and whether it is doing the job you think it is.
“What happens to my spouse?” The option elections that keep income flowing to a survivor — and which of them cannot be undone later.
“Do I get Social Security?” How your district position affects it, and what that means for the rest of the plan.
Sit down with Victor
Book a free, no‑pressure review and get clear answers about what you’ve earned and the options in front of you.
