To be honest, I would be lying if I said, I were not jealous. My understanding though is that these state pensions are bankrupting the states. As I understand it California, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois are in deep trouble because of them. My understanding also is that these are legal obligations, and that the states cannot alter them so Either taxes are going up dramatically or benefits, meaning current funding for police, fire, schools, and someone are going down. California is already seeing the consequences of poor decisions with earners leaving the state at unsustainable levels. I don’t know what the solution is. The pensions really do seem to be Unsustainable. And there only seems to be two ways to change this path. Increase taxes, which will cause earners to leave or decreased services, which will also cause people to leave.We state employees are in a league of our own as well. I can retire with 40 years of service and essentially receive 100% of pay until I expire. Did federal pensions ever have a COLA? It's somewhat unsustainable to keep one, and it's one aspect that can be changed if the person hasn't retired yet since it's a projected increase on top of a deferred benefit itself (which is protected by law for federal/state/local pensions).
Interesting stuff. I'm reading up on it now.
I was vested in my company's "old" pension after 1 year. The terms of the pension, for newer employees after I was hired, changed a few times and now it's gone, replaced by a matching 403b. My pension is still nowhere near as good as an old fed employee pension, or even current pensions of police and fire, but it should provide between 750k - $1M upon my retirement. That is, IF it's not changed by my employer before then.
-TheDDC
Statistics: Posted by thejoanwilder — Fri Aug 29, 2025 9:22 am — Replies 169 — Views 10516