Maybe moving to Maine - Bangor? (Augusta, Waterville: insurance, credit, how much)

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Zarathu

I don't know if retired military gets social security. However, if you have less than 120 quarters of it(30 years of paying into the system), the moment you start working as a teacher in Maine, you will lose all your social security that you paid into for any amount of years up to 30. Once you have paid at least 120 quarters into the system you are entitled and cannot have it removed ever.

This is a good thing to rmemeber about teaching in Maine.

z

Yes we can get it, once we get old enough.

[cebdark]

Teachers pay into the Maine State Retirement System. It's very complicated to say the least.

I found this testimony link, so IMHO, it's definitely worth it to completely investigate this.

NEA - Testimony to Congress by the NEA on Social Security Offsets

From NEA member Russell in Maine:

"After returning from Vietnam, I worked a couple of jobs, but decided I want to be a teacher. I went to the University of Maine. My wife and 4 children moved to Orono, Maine, while I earned my degree. With 4 children, I always worked at least one job and went to school. When I graduated, I was hired as a Physical Education teacher. I coached several sports to supplement my teaching salary. I also worked as a bartender, hunting safety instructor, pumped gas and finally as a club manager, all while teaching and coaching. As a club manager, I left home at 4:30 am, worked in my office until 7:30 am and then went to school. After school (and after practice or games) I went to my office at the club and worked until 8 or 9 at night. On weekends I worked 8- or 10-hour days at the club. Needless to say, I missed many dinners and activities with my family. My wife also worked a full-time job. But all 4 of our children graduated from college, are doing very well, and we are proud of them. After 25 years of teaching, I retire from education, but I am still working full-time in club management. Now when I am preparing to retire, I find it very unfair to be penalized because I am receiving Maine State Retirement. I worked hard for many years, both as a teacher and at other jobs. My wife and family sacrificed a lot, but we needed the money and never imagined that when retirement time came that I would not get back the money I contributed to Social Security. The Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision are an insult and injustice to those of us who dedicated our lives to teaching."

[Zoomie99]

Wow! Mainers are such a friendly lot! As we firm up our travrel plans, I will post the info on here so that way we can meet as many of you as possible. I definitely want to check out the Brewer Market and Starwalker's crafts - if we get time on the first trip, we'll hit the commissary and meet RHB, and of course forestbeekeper - I'll DM you when we get closer to our travel dates and we'll set something up.

As for the social security/maine retirement system - I've read some of the govt. websites, and based on my SSA benefit statement, I'm pretty sure that I'll get some sort of SS check when I'm old enough (assuming the system still exists...). If not, I understand the situation and would like to make the move anyhow.

And I KNOW my kids are going to want lobster ice cream! Is that a seasonal item, or can you get it year round? And where do we get it from?

Z

[8635angelvalley]

It is totally seasonal-haha. Ben and Bill's in Bar Harbor is the place.

[OutDoorNut]

Originally Posted by reloop

Teachers pay into the Maine State Retirement System. It's very complicated to say the least.

I found this testimony link, so IMHO, it's definitely worth it to completely investigate this.

NEA - Testimony to Congress by the NEA on Social Security Offsets

From NEA member Russell in Maine:

"After returning from Vietnam, I worked a couple of jobs, but decided I want to be a teacher. I went to the University of Maine. My wife and 4 children moved to Orono, Maine, while I earned my degree. With 4 children, I always worked at least one job and went to school. When I graduated, I was hired as a Physical Education teacher. I coached several sports to supplement my teaching salary. I also worked as a bartender, hunting safety instructor, pumped gas and finally as a club manager, all while teaching and coaching. As a club manager, I left home at 4:30 am, worked in my office until 7:30 am and then went to school. After school (and after practice or games) I went to my office at the club and worked until 8 or 9 at night. On weekends I worked 8- or 10-hour days at the club. Needless to say, I missed many dinners and activities with my family. My wife also worked a full-time job. But all 4 of our children graduated from college, are doing very well, and we are proud of them. After 25 years of teaching, I retire from education, but I am still working full-time in club management. Now when I am preparing to retire, I find it very unfair to be penalized because I am receiving Maine State Retirement. I worked hard for many years, both as a teacher and at other jobs. My wife and family sacrificed a lot, but we needed the money and never imagined that when retirement time came that I would not get back the money I contributed to Social Security. The Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision are an insult and injustice to those of us who dedicated our lives to teaching."

What does this mean--that if you collect a state government pension, your federal Social Security is reduced or eliminated?

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by OutDoorNut

What does this mean--that if you collect a state government pension, your federal Social Security is reduced or eliminated?

Good question.

[tarragon]

Other Options:

I have a relative that works at Maine Army National Guard in Augusta which is our Capitol. And there are alot of new major stores in the area. You are also an hour from Portland, Freeport and the such. Not that far from the coast.

University of Maine Farmington is also known for it's education program. Alot of our teachers have graduated from there.My son was accepted there as well as Farmington and he chose Farmington because it was a smaller college and you can interact with the Professors. Waterville is also a great area which is 20 minutes North of Augusta, 1/2 hr northeast of UMF. 1 hr south of Bangor. There is a well known business college called Thomas College that is also in Waterville, it's smaller than Husson, but it's still well known.

Now for Bangor...we live 1/2 hr south of Bangor. It's the ideal location as you are so centrally located to the larger areas like Bangor, Waterville, Augusta. 1/2 hr from the coast.

I have friends who specifically moved to Hampden to have a better school system for their kids. Hampden is on the outskirts of Bangor. I think you will also find a good selection of homes in the Bangor area.

I like to go to the commissary in Bangor as well. Also, I lived in Bangor as a kid.

Good luck to you and your family. What state are you moving from?

[tarragon]

And I want to add more to my previous post..as an afterthought. Augusta/Waterville/Farmington are all located near the Belgrade Lakes Region (beautiful area). As far as the school districts go, I can speak for the surrounding Waterville areas such as Waterville, Messalonskee and the Augusta systems are very good.

I am not trying to persuade you away from Bangor, but just to let you know, based upon wanting to get your teaching certification there is another option besides Bangor & UMO, Husson.

It's just great to keep an open mind when doing your research. Maine is wonderful, but depending on the lifestyle you are looking for for your family, there are more laid back areas than others but still provide a great education, culture and fun.

[Zoomie99]

Tarragon

Thank you for your inputs! I have looked at Farmington, but their program doesn't really meet my needs (though the school looks very nice!). When we make our trip out there in a couple of months, I'll be able to visit some of these areas, and hopefully meet with some of these schools reps so I can get a better "feel" for the area and how my family will fit in. We're looking at purchasing a home and settling forever, so we're hoping that this move will be our last. <fingers crossed!>

We are moving from Arizona (where it's been in the triple digits for the past 2 weeks!), and are wanting a bit more of the "Maine" lifestyle - a little more laid back, a little more independent (with good fishing!), 4 seasons and in general a good, family-oriented location so we can finish rasing our young'uns.

Z.

[Zarathu]

Originally Posted by OutDoorNut

What does this mean--that if you collect a state government pension, your federal Social Security is reduced or eliminated?

What it mean is that Maine teachers DO NOT PAY ANYTHING OUT OF THEIR PAY CHECKS INTO THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM. This means that when it comes time for retirement, they get no social security payments.

It also means that if you are getting social security payments because you paid into the system for more than 20 years but less than 30year, my wife is an example, because of the way the laws are written, if you come from somewhere outside of Maine, and work as a Maine teacher, your "provisional" social security pension will be removed. The only way you can get social security and work as a teacher in Maine is if you worked somewhere else for more than 120 Quarters(30 years), which gives you "permanent" status with the social security administration.

Additionally, while the Maine teacher gets a Maine pension, it is limited to about 50% of final three years of pay. While its possible to be frugal, most of us can't go with a 50% pay cut in early retirement, so you needed to have invested stuff, or plan on having another job that you already do when you are teaching that you can expand to pick up the rest.

So if you ended your career in Maine making $55K then your pension would be about $25K, or a take home of about $1600 a month. For many people who live in the urban or suburban areas of Maine this is going to be pretty hard. If you move way out into the country you might do it, or you would need to move to a part of the USA where the cost of living is very low, like central Mississippi.

The bottom line is simply this: If you come from somewhere else, and you paid into the social security fund from your paycheck every month, AND YOU DECIDE TO BE COME A TEACHER IN MAINE, you need to have paid into the fund for more than 30 years, to NOT LOSE everything you earned.

Additionally, while you will get a Maine teacher pension, the amount will not make up for the lost social security pension in your retirement.

My wife has provisional status for SS. She has worked less than 30 years paying into the SS system(has 24 years). The only retirement she has is SS, and since her teaching jobs were mostly private school and pretty low paying, its not much. But if she decided to even work one day in the public schools of Maine, she would lose any SS pension she had provisionally. On the other hand, I could even work full time as a school counselor in Maine, I would still get my PA teacher pension, and since I have permanent status with the social security system, I would get that pension too. However, I cannot make more than $14K per year or I can't get my SS pension benefits for any year I should do that.



Zarathu