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No, my pension will come from Alaska. I believe the Alaska Legislature saw signs of the pending crisis and took steps over the years to alleviate it. Currently, there are 4 tiers in the retirement plan (first 3 - defined benefit, last 1 - defined contribution), which shows that they've taken steps over the years to fix it. Also, there have been court cases that make it impossible for them to go back and reduce benefits for the prior tiers.
Alaska did get ahead of the curve. I wish all would deal with it out. The longer they wait the more it will take to cure it. Illinois is a basket case. Hopefully the coming state legislative sessions will see some movement.
From what I have read you have it right on. NJ is one of the worse case scenario's and yet no one is really talking about cutting benefits back for current retiree's just not increasing them via COLA. That's why my suggestion to those with pensions is to have a leg of retirement in their 403B and to use that as a hedge against inflation. Pensions were not met to be the sole source of retirement income nor was a pension and SS meant to be the only legs. Health benefits are all over the table and if that is in question you can always wait until 65 to retire and then you are dealing with your supplemental.
Agree with having other savings (403B). Our game plan is that we have enough to live on without going into our savings if at all possible. Savings are there for unexpected or extraordinary expenses or long term care if that is ever needed (neither of us is eligible for long term care insurance due to pre-existing conditions).
I am already retired although I am not yet 65.
I'm not losing sleep over it because we've done all that we could to be as secure as possible. If our pension were to disappear, then we would have to make some changes, but hopefully that will never happen.
No, my pension will come from Alaska. I believe the Alaska Legislature saw signs of the pending crisis and took steps over the years to alleviate it. Currently, there are 4 tiers in the retirement plan (first 3 - defined benefit, last 1 - defined contribution), which shows that they've taken steps over the years to fix it. Also, there have been court cases that make it impossible for them to go back and reduce benefits for the prior tiers.
Alaska did get ahead of the curve. I wish all would deal with it out. The longer they wait the more it will take to cure it. Illinois is a basket case.
Agree with having other savings (403B). Our game plan is that we have enough to live on without going into our savings if at all possible. Savings are there for unexpected or extraordinary expenses or long term care if that is ever needed (neither of us is eligible for long term care insurance due to pre-existing conditions).
I am already retired although I am not yet 65.
I'm not losing sleep over it because we've done all that we could to be as secure as possible. If our pension were to disappear, then we would have to make some changes, but hopefully that will never happen.
We sound like twins. Are you doing the 62/70 SS thing?
From what I have read you have it right on. NJ is one of the worse case scenario's and yet no one is really talking about cutting benefits back for current retiree's just not increasing them via COLA. That's why my suggestion to those with pensions is to have a leg of retirement in their 403B and to use that as a hedge against inflation. Pensions were not met to be the sole source of retirement income nor was a pension and SS meant to be the only legs. Health benefits are all over the table and if that is in question you can always wait until 65 to retire and then you are dealing with your supplemental.
I saw a clip of Christie answering a teacher's question regarding their big teacher layoff and pension/health benefits.
Christie said his proposal of teachers paying 1% of their health care premiums (currently they are 100% covered by the state) and taking a one year freeze was shot down by the teacher union so he said he had no other choice but to lay off teachers to make up the shortfall. And even with the layoffs NJ is still in trouble.
We sound like twins. Are you doing the 62/70 SS thing?
We're not doing the 62/70 - my husband elected to collect at 65. We have no debt, our home is paid for, so for us this gave us more than enough to feel comfortable.
I saw a clip of Christie answering a teacher's question regarding their big teacher layoff and pension/health benefits.
Christie said his proposal of teachers paying 1% of their health care premiums (currently they are 100% covered by the state) and taking a one year freeze was shot down by the teacher union so he said he had no other choice but to lay off teachers to make up the shortfall. And even with the layoffs NJ is still in trouble.
That's not really true - contracts are decided in NJ on a town-by-town basis. Some towns have teachers contributing toward health care, others do not. Same with salaries - each school system had to decide whether to take the salary freeze. My son's school did agree to the freeze, and many teachers were still laid off. I don't want to get into politics too much, but while I agree that some changes need to be made, Christie has a vendetta against teachers - it's one thing to try to make changes, it's another to make teachers the scapegoat of all budget shortfalls. The main reason for NJ pension woes is that the state has not paid their share of the pension costs in many years.
My pension has many chocies when you apply for retirement. I elected to take less and my wife be covered to teh same amount if I die. My wife had the same choice. It is entirely what the person having the pension decides tho.wife opr husband do not have choice or sign the papers.Luckily my pension fund is fully funded.
That's not really true - contracts are decided in NJ on a town-by-town basis. Some towns have teachers contributing toward health care, others do not. Same with salaries - each school system had to decide whether to take the salary freeze. My son's school did agree to the freeze, and many teachers were still laid off. I don't want to get into politics too much, but while I agree that some changes need to be made, Christie has a vendetta against teachers - it's one thing to try to make changes, it's another to make teachers the scapegoat of all budget shortfalls. The main reason for NJ pension woes is that the statehas not paid their share of the pension costs in many years.
I would be curious to know what the state's share is. Is it a percentage of each teacher's salary? A fixed dollar amount (as in so many million a year to the pension fund)? Each state is structured differently. In California all public school teachers have 8% deducted from their salary, the employer (the school district) contributes 8%, and the State of California another 2.5% (or very close to that - I can't remember the "point something"). So you can see that the state's share (in Calif.) is relatively small. Perhaps it is proportionally much more in New Jersey, making the state's role more of a make-or-break one?
I saw a clip of Christie answering a teacher's question regarding their big teacher layoff and pension/health benefits.
Christie said his proposal of teachers paying 1% of their health care premiums (currently they are 100% covered by the state) and taking a one year freeze was shot down by the teacher union so he said he had no other choice but to lay off teachers to make up the shortfall. And even with the layoffs NJ is still in trouble.
NJ teachers have unrealistic expectations as do many teachers everywhere. Pensions are not the sole basis of being able to retire. They are merely a tool to help you.
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