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One could say that about every single persons paycheck as well. The difference is people perceive that it is their taxes, paying for a better retirement than they have. A rep for cruisetheworld..it is what it is. The same jobs were there for anyone to apply for. My private pension plus 1/2 SS plus the company 401k match, all paid from the same employer, means that for just my portion of the SS premium, I will have a net retirement income that exceeds most public pensions I've read about here for my outlay. But my company too, deleted pensions for new hires and have larger matched 401ks instead. Today, as a new prospective employee, I would seriously look at public sector jobs.
Interesting that no one is on here trashing those with private sector pensions like they do those with public sector ones. I guess there is a double standard. And the taxpayer, either through taxes or through the purchase of goods or services is funding both, regardless of how you look at it.
And how many of these private sector companies are subsidized by the government in some fashion? These comments are not meant to denigrate those with pensions of any kind, I have a couple myself, just pointing out the irony of the situation.
Many of the large government defense contractors have pensions subsidized by the federal government. A good chunk of my agency's budget goes to fund this and that amount is growing.
Over the years , my wife and I contributed 9.0% to our pension plans. We both worked 40 years teaching. We both have MAster's degrees and were department heads so this gave us a bump up in pay and pension benefits.
Remember, we never had a choice as whether to contribute or not to the pension plan. You were part of a union....you contributed. If we live past 80, I am sure we will have been paid far more than what we contributed especially with future COLA increases. But also, when we both die, our pensions die with us. If we had contributed that 9% every year to an Index 500 fund in an IRA for the past 40 years, we both would probably have accumulated close to $2 million. And that money would be part of our estate to be passed on to our heirs. It is what it is.
That is my point with your 9% and the employer match your pension was paid for especially when you consider that it is pooled along with others and when you consider the pool allows payments to be calculated to leave all accounts at zero at the end of the average lifespan. You do not have to worry about making your investments last forever.
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