Some questions for those who work for the state (school, calculated)

[atticuscrabtree]

Hi, had some questions if someone knowledgeable with the below topics who works from the state could answer them:

1. If I work for the state but am thinking about leaving, for personal reasons, with the possibility of
returning to state service at some later date, but am not yet vested (short of 5 years of service):

a) would it be better/beneficial to wait until I am vested and qualify for a minimum retirement pension
amount, especially if it's not far away?

I've calculated that the payout would be $300/mo or less as soon as I reach my earliest retirement age.
A rough projection of years in retirement at 20-25 years would mean about $85K in total lifetime
payments of $300/mo, assuming that amount is drawn out and used each and every month and not
saved/invested. This would include my own contribution, which would be about $25K over 5 years.

If I cash out that same $25K personal contribution (which you can do if you are separating), and let's
say I am left with $15K and I invest that over 25 years at 7% interest, it would be about $85K as well.
But if I do better than 7% annual return, it could be better than the $300/mo minimum pension payout.


b) If I plan to return to state service after a some time off, would it make any difference if I were to
leave my pension contribution balance in the CALPERS account as opposed to waiting until I'm vested
before I separate from the state?

2. There is a raise coming in July, if I wait until after receiving that to leave, would it put me in a better
position upon my return to state service, as opposed to leaving before receiving that raise?

3. Would being a former civil servant with the state give me any leg up when I apply for other jobs within
the state when I decide to return?

4. This would be a voluntary separation for personal reasons, not performance or a force-out. I would
be able to get some positive recommendations. Would leaving still hurt my chances of getting a job
offer with another department later?

5. Are there any other i's to dot and t's to cross that I need to consider and make sure I am take care of
prior to submitting a letter of resignation with the typical 2 week's notice (with my personnel file,
or other things)?

It's not the best time to choose to leave, with this whole COVID-19 thing and a likely recession, so I'm still mulling it over.

Thanks in advance!

[cb73]

I left and returned to the State several times when I was younger, because I was young and working for the State was B-O-R-I-N-G.

The first time I left was shortly before being vested. That departure ended up messing with my retirement later on, so if you don't have too long to wait, I'd wait.

Leave your retirement with CalPers whether you're vested or not. Again, makes a huge difference when you eventually retire--assuming you plan on staying there that long.

Go out with a "happy" reason on your separation papers--"to temporarily care full time for a family member", "to finish school full time"--something that implies that when you're done, you'll be ready to work again.

I NEVER had a problem returning to State service--if you have a good work record, you'll easily be picked up again over a new hire. That being said, stay in touch--make sure you keep up with people at your current job, even if only on Facebook or whatever. When you're getting close to coming back, someone might let you know about a great position soon to open--that happened to me once.

As far as pay and the raise goes--I don't know if agencies are still different or not. My agency had a standard rule--if you were 3rd step (or whatever) when you left, if you returned within 6 months, you returned to 3rd step. Every six months after that, they'd remove a step. I remember hearing at the time that not all other agencies did that. You might want to check what your agency does, or the agencies that you'd want to return to.

[DaneThornberg]

Originally Posted by atticuscrabtree

Hi, had some questions if someone knowledgeable with the below topics who works from the state could answer them:

1. If I work for the state but am thinking about leaving, for personal reasons, with the possibility of
returning to state service at some later date, but am not yet vested (short of 5 years of service):

a) would it be better/beneficial to wait until I am vested and qualify for a minimum retirement pension
amount, especially if it's not far away?

I've calculated that the payout would be $300/mo or less as soon as I reach my earliest retirement age.
A rough projection of years in retirement at 20-25 years would mean about $85K in total lifetime
payments of $300/mo, assuming that amount is drawn out and used each and every month and not
saved/invested. This would include my own contribution, which would be about $25K over 5 years.

...

Thanks in advance!

I'm curious how you came up with the $85k value?

[mixxalot]

Hopefully the CALPERS pension fund won't go broke or we are screwed as state workers. Furloughs could also be a reality of Newsome extends the shutdown forever.

[tikkasf]

Originally Posted by mixxalot

Hopefully the CALPERS pension fund won't go broke or we are screwed as state workers. Furloughs could also be a reality of Newsome extends the shutdown forever.

The fund has a current value of $372 billion.

[mixxalot]

If lockdown goes on forever as Newsom loves to screw the people, the pension could go broke sooner than later.

[SFBayBoomer]

Originally Posted by mixxalot

If lockdown goes on forever as Newsom loves to screw the people, the pension could go broke sooner than later.

Newson does not like to "screw the people." He is an extremely effective governor during this pandemic and he is trying to SAVE the people.

[mixxalot]

That is your opinion many hate this guy

[SFBayBoomer]

Originally Posted by mixxalot

That is your opinion many hate this guy

It is your opinion that many hate him. However, as evidenced by the fact that he recently won the governorship of our great state, you are certainly in the minority.

In addition, he has been praised around this country for his handling of this crisis. He even gets along with Trump.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by SFBayBoomer

It is your opinion that many hate him. However, as evidenced by the fact that he recently won the governorship of our great state, you are certainly in the minority.

In addition, he has been praised around this country for his handling of this crisis. He even gets along with Trump.

Yep, he is the NorCal Poster Boy.