How big of a boon was your public pension? (doctor, employer, employee)
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One of my pet peeves is when my public pension friends ask me when I'm going to retire and I say I will probably work past retirement. They give me this look or say I'm crazy and that I should enjoy life instead of working.
Well if I had their guaranteed pension I'd definitely retire early. I can't stand public workers who just don't understand that private companies either have no pension or their pensions can't match the generous public pensions.
One of my biggest regret in life is not being a city worker. Great pension, decent pay, lots of paid sick time, generous benefits, more vacation.
You won't get rich being a city worker but you compensated well and have a life outside of work and can retire early if you started young.
So thats 16.5 % a long long way from 100% and people who make 1/4 of what you made pay for your luxurious life.
In NJ the employees contribute 65% of the funding formula for pensions. That State contributes 35% (except that it has not done so for the majority of 20 years).
Those contributions plus the funds returns on investment make up the funding plan.
Average pay in those plans is $66,000 for teachers and $51,000 for government workers. So unless private sector workers are making between $13-17,000 a year you are pulling data from your **** again.
In NJ the employees contribute 65% of the funding formula for pensions. That State contributes 35% (except that it has not done so for the majority of 20 years).
Those contributions plus the funds returns on investment make up the funding plan.
Average pay in those plans is $66,000 for teachers and $51,000 for government workers. So unless private sector workers are making between $13-17,000 a year you are pulling data from your **** again.
Why even bother explaining the concept of investment over time? If these people understood it they would have done it themselves either through 401k, 403b, IRA or yes investing in a public pension fund. Instead they are bitter and want to feel that other people are "lucky" at their expense.
One of my pet peeves is when my public pension friends ask me when I'm going to retire and I say I will probably work past retirement. They give me this look or say I'm crazy and that I should enjoy life instead of working.
Well if I had their guaranteed pension I'd definitely retire early. I can't stand public workers who just don't understand that private companies either have no pension or their pensions can't match the generous public pensions.
One of my biggest regret in life is not being a city worker. Great pension, decent pay, lots of paid sick time, generous benefits, more vacation.
You won't get rich being a city worker but you compensated well and have a life outside of work and can retire early if you started young.
Pretty much the same can be said of career military.
Many, if not most of the pensions which you assume are taxpayer funded are actually funded by the employee contributions (deductions from salary) plus the employer contributions, in a manner similar to Social Security. I paid 8% of my salary into the Calif. State Teachers' Retirement System and my employer (the school district) paid 8.5% for the 34 years that I worked as a high school teacher. Since I retired 11 years ago, those percentages have been increased, slightly for the teachers and more substantially for the school districts.
The problem is that the 16.5% + that was paid in is not enough to cover the promised benefits.
Why? The people running the pension plans over estimated investment performance and/or under estimated expenses (lifespans, healthcare).
As a result, most state and local pension plans (as well as many private sector ones) are significantly underfunded. To make up the difference, many states/localities are raising taxes/fees on all taxpayers. Given the way the economy has gone since 2008 and the fact that very few private sector employees have any type of pension or job security, the taxpayers aren't happy about this so you get a backlash against public employees. The extremely lavish benefits paid in a few cases as well as practices such as using lots of overtime to bump up final pay don't help with the perception either.
The problem is that the 16.5% + that was paid in is not enough to cover the promised benefits.
Why? The people running the pension plans over estimated investment performance and/or under estimated expenses (lifespans, healthcare).
As a result, most state and local pension plans (as well as many private sector ones) are significantly underfunded. To make up the difference, many states/localities are raising taxes/fees on all taxpayers. Given the way the economy has gone since 2008 and the fact that very few private sector employees have any type of pension or job security, the taxpayers aren't happy about this so you get a backlash against public employees. The extremely lavish benefits paid in a few cases as well as practices such as using lots of overtime to bump up final pay don't help with the perception either.
They are not underfunded because the because the formula was off. They are underfunded because the government did not contribute their portion of the formula for many years.
California has billions in unfunded pension liability. Services we pay for such as road maintenance is going to pay for public employees pensions. And now there is all kinds of tax increases coming to pay for services where the money went to public employees.
Enough is enough.
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