Illinois Pension Crisis

[Caglee]

Originally Posted by Momsfavoriteson2

You likely won't have much of a pension in 10 years.
Laws & state constitutions can not defy financial reality.
Illinois is 1 recession away from serious pain. Watch what happens when the stock market falls.

You'd have to get a constitutional amendment to adjust the current wording, which cannot diminish a pension. True, the law can't defy financial reality - but it can dictate what priority the finances are paid in. It's more likely that pension payments will continue and you'll just have to deal with crumbling infrastructure and lack of government services.

Which is why I plan on moving out, and you should be too.

[reneeh63]

Just a quibble...as with any retirement "plan", even your own personal investments, you expect to make some money in the form of at least interest rate but usually higher market returns. The picture is skewed a bit when the percentage of direct contributions is used to illustrate rather than what it should have accrued to when actually invested in the respective fund. I know those have traditionally been very conservative investments but it should have appreciated somewhat over the 30 contributable years for these folks. This is contributions that THEY didn't have access to for their own use so it's more honest to look at the market return value if you want to compare to the typical IL citizen contributing to their own 401k.