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...Actually most of the cops and firemen got out when they were 48 years old, collect a nice 60-70k pension and now take summers off playing golf going to beach and drinking beer. They pick up some contract work during the fall and winter and once May comes back to the golf course. We kid all the time that my taxes are paying for their lifestyles and guess what? They open up another beer and they say, Thank you Jesus.... I don't begrudge them as they put their life on the line for us every day they went to work but you have to be honest, its a pretty good deal at tax payers expense...
Well at least your friends are still in New Jersey - and haven't moved to Florida (which many have). So they're at least taxpayers in the state that's paying their "retirement freight". Robyn
Great detailed post and congrats on saving your days and not overdoing the mental health day thing. What you shared is part of the retirement planning that many miss. It is the gift that keeps on giving and for us each with pensions and spousal benefits it continues in death for the other one. Also it is only $1440 the first year as each subsequent year there is COLA it is enhanced and compounded over time. Correct?
You are correct; the amount is subject to the COLA. That was my oversight which resulted in understating the 20-year amount.
Actually I cannot claim that accumulating sick days was part of my retirement planning, at least not early on. When I was young I paid almost no attention to the pension - I knew there was one and I knew they were deducting 8% of my salary. Only when I was about 10 years out did I look into the details of the pension, in order to calculate about how much I would be getting so I could think about when I wanted to retire. I took few sick days because that's just the way I am.
When I retired eight and a half years ago, teachers' sick leave days (10 per school year) were indefinitely cumulative. Upon retirement, the number of unused days was divided by the number of work days in a school year (typically about 185 or 186) and that percentage of a year was added to the number of years worked in the formula. Note the possibility of having more than a year's worth of sick days accumulated after a long career. There was no check issued upon retirement for the unused sick days.
Let us assume a retiring teacher had fairly decent health and did not use the sick days willy-nilly. Let us further assume, for simplicity, exactly one year's worth. Also, we assume the maximum multiplier (2.4 percent which is achieved at age 63 or at age 61.5 with thirty or more years of service). ...
Unused sick leave is treated similarly for federal retirees. For those hired into civil service prior to 1984, the multiplier percent was 2%. Many of my older engineering co-workers, who were highly paid, would use their annual leave in lieu of sick leave if sick or for doctor appointments. They wanted to keep all of their sick leave to add to their years of service to get the extra retirement pension. Some had as much as 1 1/2 years of leave when they retired and probably added $3-5K a year to their pension before COLA. Lower paid employees tended to use their leave.
For those hired since 1984, the multiplier percent is 1% (unless you are in law enforcement, air traffic controller, etc.). Initially you were not allowed to use sick leave for years of service and would just lose it once you retired. Starting in 2014, you can count 100% of sick leave counted towards retirement. I've used my leave, if needed, throughout the last 29 years so will just have about 10 months when I retire. Given the small 1% multiplier and the taxes on my pension, I would rather take the leave but don't consider it "professional" or ethical to abuse my sick leave.
biscman- you keep on writing about cops but I am posting about teachers. Teachers do not receive what cops receive and that is my point. You have a failure to comprehend facts. Name one teacher that cashed in a huge sick leave payout. Not an administrator or a super. A teacher.
By the way the cops pension even with early out and double dipping is funded adequately. You prove my point that the pension problem for teachers is not their benefit but the States failure to contribute.
The answer to why you did not follow your father is you thought the private sector was a better choice. Now you think you were wrong.
Actually I cannot claim that accumulating sick days was part of my retirement planning,
It was definitely part of mine.
I was not a teacher or admin - I worked in the business office.
I knew from day one that unused sick leave could be converted to service credit. In my district's contract, SL was indefinitely cumulative, vacation was capped after a certain amount was saved. And we're offered a choice of cashing out or service credit. I wasn't one to call in sick - I wanted that service credit!
It was definitely part of mine.
I was not a teacher or admin - I worked in the business office.
I knew from day one that unused sick leave could be converted to service credit. In my district's contract, SL was indefinitely cumulative, vacation was capped after a certain amount was saved. And we're offered a choice of cashing out or service credit. I wasn't one to call in sick - I wanted that service credit!
Did you get to cash out vacation time also? If so sweet and prudence paid off.
Unused sick leave is treated similarly for federal retirees. For those hired into civil service prior to 1984, the multiplier percent was 2%. Many of my older engineering co-workers, who were highly paid, would use their annual leave in lieu of sick leave if sick or for doctor appointments. They wanted to keep all of their sick leave to add to their years of service to get the extra retirement pension. Some had as much as 1 1/2 years of leave when they retired and probably added $3-5K a year to their pension before COLA. Lower paid employees tended to use their leave.
For those hired since 1984, the multiplier percent is 1% (unless you are in law enforcement, air traffic controller, etc.). Initially you were not allowed to use sick leave for years of service and would just lose it once you retired. Starting in 2014, you can count 100% of sick leave counted towards retirement. I've used my leave, if needed, throughout the last 29 years so will just have about 10 months when I retire. Given the small 1% multiplier and the taxes on my pension, I would rather take the leave but don't consider it "professional" or ethical to abuse my sick leave.
That is what I did too, added 14 or 15 months to my total service time.
Besides most changes I have seen are only for new hires to avoid terms of employment suits. not every state or local has pension problem amounting to much if you watch senate hearings on state of the states.
Maybe things are different here in Colorado, but there are definite reasons why I need the pension to stay solvent.
1. We do not pay into Social Security, nor will we collect social security unless you have SS credit from other jobs. Any money collected from social security is deducted from the pension plan.
2. I pay 10% of my salary into the pension plan. The government contributes 10.15% plus a supplemental amount totaling an additional 7.3% of my salary. That 7.3% must come from money that would be used for employee raises. Needless to say, that leaves very little money for raises. In fact, my salary has not kept up with inflation for the past several years.
3. We get paid for sick days at retirement, but the formula is not as generous. The first 40 sick days accrued are deducted from the total. After that, the days are paid at a set rate that is lower than the employee's per diem rate.
I agree that pension reform is necessary, and that reform should start with retirement age. A person should not be able to start collecting his/her pension before age 60. The school district wouldn't like this though, as that would mean that teachers stay until they are 60 instead of retiring up to 7 years earlier. The district likes early retirement because they replace a high-salaried employee with a low-salaried employee and they pass off the obligation of paying the retiree to the state pension system.
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