Thank you for this detailed response. My girlfriend appreciated the charts (seemed to crystallize how much she'd be losing). Separately, I've read the stories of poorly managed state pension plans, and the lack of control (and flexibility discussed by Svensk above) means we'll likely be steering clear.I'm inclined to suggest the Investment Plan + 457(b) rather than the Pension Plan. My mom worked as a teacher for the State of RI and after she retired and was collecting benefits, RI decided to cut pension benefits (including current recipients) to deal with a self-inflicted financial crisis. My mom's pension was good, but not great and after the cut she was: a) fearful her costs would increase beyond her income; and b) resentful for trusting in the state (she never made any savings contributions outside her pension deductions as she was lead to believe by pension admin/salespeople that the pension would be all she would ever need). The 457(b) is the "governmental" type vs the private-industry type, so at least if FL has a similar financial crisis, the 457(b) and the Investment Plan will not be raided to cover the state's shortfall. Voya seems like the best choice simply based on being the lowest cost, since Costs Matter (and for a 20y old with 40y accumulation + 30y withdrawal ahead of them, fractional cost savings matter exponentially), although if the Schwab PCRA is really just a flat $25/yr, that's likely to be the best deal in the long run.
I agree with this analysis; I'll be sure to dig into the plan documents some more (and ask some questions of Florida's 457(b) team). I suspect there must be some other kind of restriction (e.g., Nationwide administrative fee perhaps applying to the assets invested or a minimum amount that must be left with Nationwide before transferring). If not, happy to go with Schwab. When I find out the answer, I'll update this thread for any future people with the same questions. Thanks again!You'll have to look in your plan documents for all the fine print on costs. It sounds like Voya is charging a 0.06% admin fee + the underlying ER of the mutual funds. Using Schwab PCRA for a flat fee of $25/yr is likely to be the better deal once the 457(b) balance exceeds $41,666.67 ($25 / 0.06%). You just have to read through all the fine print to ensure the Schwab PCRA doesn't have any other fees that are a percentage of assets (in addition to the flat fee), aside from the underlying ER of the mutual funds. Noteworthy is that Schwab's core funds for a 3-Fund Portfolio are just as inexpensive as Vanguard's (differences of <0.05% probably are not meaningful, even for a long time-frame given drift index tracking error and the indexes all being slightly different between Van, Fido, and Schwab).
Statistics: Posted by TakingYourAdvice — Sun Oct 05, 2025 5:40 pm — Replies 4 — Views 387