Got a pension? What is it in comparison to your last paycheck? (long-term, tax)
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And I worked for 35+ years for an auto company, so everyone who bought a new car built by my employer paid for what would have been my pension. Don't slap them with your hand, just remind them that every purchaser of their employer's products (or their own goods and services if self employed) pays for their retirement.
Yeah, I had already thought of that and posted about it, above.
My issue is that do not require me to do something for 30-40 years and then tell me we are reneging on a portion retroactively. To me that is no different than your employer going back and recouping the match they put into your account.
Read your mail. You get a statement from SS every year.
Actually, neither my husband nor I do. We USED to. Or rather he used to, I never did. I called, as this was prior to their website being useful, and they were surprised I wasn't receiving one. So...they sent me one. And only one. Neither one of us has gotten one since probably 2009.
Military gets paid very low, which helps offset the few who do retire
Not really. Not anymore we don't. We're paid pretty well actually, especially if you are an NCO (which in most cases and in most branches can happen within 3 years) and live off base.
You'd be surprised.
Last edited by ScottPlake; 08-16-2016 at 01:41 PM..
For comparison, this is a simplification of the Federal Employee Retirement Plan (FERS) for new hires.
Contribute 4.4% of salary to pension plan.
Contribute 6.2% to Social Security (like most people)
Contribute 1.45% to Medicare (like most people)
After working 30 years and reaching age 60 (for example),
1.0% of high three salary times number of years, so:
1.0 x 30 = 30% for the annuity (pension).
I thought that after 30 years the percentage goes up to 1.1% per year. Making your pension 33% at retirement?
Not really. Not anymore we don't. We're paid pretty well actually, especially if you are an NCO (which in most cases and in most branches can happen within 3 years) and live off base.
You'd be surprised.
True but your pension will not be based on housing allowance and separate rations. Your pension will only be based on base pay which I know is about half of what you are being paid. Since this thread is about pensions I thought I would make that point so that folks don't think that soldiers pensions are too big and start downsizing them. As it is DOD is already moving towards soldiers taking on more of their retirement funding. Just look at TSP that was exclusively a FERS (Federal Employee Retirement System) deal now open and mandatory for new soldiers to contribute.
The maximum percentage payout is 60% regardless of number of years worked, not the 64% you stated.
This 60% maximum percentage payout is not calculated on the workers final salary, but rather their Average Final Compensation. Not detailed on the work sheet but expect this to be the average of the workers 3 to 5 latest working year compensation amounts.
Each calendar year of work equates to 5/6 of a year for pension calculations, so a teacher with 30 calendar years of service has 25 years for pension service (typical 10 months of class room work during a 12 month calendar year) 33 years of employment = 27-1/2 years for pension calculations. 27-1/2 years becomes a 55% payout at 2% per year of credited service.
There are reductions calculated into the monthly pension amount for retiring early. These reduction amounts were not on the work sheet but their example did show reducing the pension for a person who left at age 60.
There are three different pension plan work sheets available on-line. I made a SWAG that your wife would be covered by the earliest plan based on her length of service, and another SWAG that the earliest plan is Plan 1. Either or both SWAGs may be wrong.
Get the accurate details now before your wife completes all the retirement forms!
I am sure the Washington Teacher's Retirement System offers free seminars to teachers and spouses who are approaching retirement, I have attended two or three such seminars in Michigan as the spouse. Always a couple of weird 'gotchas' that you need to know.
Her contract states at 30 years of service pension is 60%.....additional One and 1/2% for each year of service after 30 years....she cant retire until age 55, so she will work an additional three years...an additional 4.5%. Not sure what the Washington web site for Public School Employees Retirement Pension calculations has to do with her retirement.
If you get right down to the heart of the matter, everyone's living is paid for by someone else's money. You own a business? Your customers are funding your retirement.
I've heard oilfield workers, who were making huge salaries before the downturn (many without much smarts), complaining about paying teachers' retirements....not considering that their huge salaries were piled upon the backs of people (like teachers, who, in my area anyway, don't make much money compared to the education they have and the importance of the job they do) who were having to pay the backbreaking gas prices. Now I think they are realizing where their big money was coming from....funded by teachers, so to speak.
The "taxpayer" is receiving an extremely valuable service for their contribution...the education of precious and valued children. (And these days most people would revolt if they had to educate their own children, not to mention not being able to get them out of their hair for 8 hours a day and have them fed by the government.) They are not just handing teachers money for nothing. And we DO contribute a significant amount in my state. Our retirement fund was very healthy before our stupid governor started trying to privatize it. Now it's kind of in a mess.
I think I'd probably better bow out of this discussion before my blood pressure gets too high.
Certainly teachers are valuable. However, saying that a business is paid for by someone else's money isn't necessarily a correct way to look at it. It's very difficult for a teacher to lose his/her job. In addition, there are many ways a public school teacher can promote within the field of education, etc. And they are guaranteed a pension.
Regarding the pay of oil workers, and I certainly would not want to be one, it's based much more on supply and demand than a public school teacher's salary is. In fact, if public school teacher salaries were based on supply and demand, they would be lower illustrated to a degree by the fact that private school teachers generally make less than public school teachers. There, I said it. Don't tell my sister. She's a teacher.
And we do need good teachers! But I get soooooo tired of all the complaining by them. Do something else then!!! There's hundreds of jobs within public education in which you could also do if you wished that pays more than a teacher.
In the marketplace, unless it's a govt or some sort of job paid for the by taxpayer, ratepayer, etc. , a person is paid what the market will bear. That's not true as much in the pubic sector.
Wikipedia shows US public sector employment is around 15% of the workforce, european countries are 25-30%. Most European countries have much better retirement incomes , both public and private, but still seem to function.
Since the 70s, most income growth in the US has gone to the 2 top income quintiles while the bottom 20% has hardly moved. If you want to look at gold plated retirements, try CEOs of private sector companies irrespective of their performance or their companies. And with the tax concessions, tax payers pay for a fair part of them as well.
With these income and retirement issues, I am always surprised about the regular beatup on government worker pensions. If only we could put that energy into to getting all workers a reasonable retirement income.
What gripes me about examples such as yours is that people read them and then assume that $110,000 is a typical Calif. public teacher's salary, while in actuality it isa true anomaly if it exists at all.
agreed
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Or rather he used to, I never did. I called, as this was prior to their website being useful, and they were surprised I wasn't receiving one. So...they sent me one. And only one. Neither one of us has gotten one since probably 2009. 
