Good news for pilots - retirement age

Jay Honeck wrote:


It'll never change, because (after verifying that 60 is the new 50) the
bureaucrats would have to admit that most government pension programs
are absurdly generous and financially unsustainable over time.

Keeping people working longer helps because they are still contributing.



Face it: If they admit that age 60 is "too young" to retire (and we
*all* know it is), they will be forced to reassess their own ridiculous
"30 years and out with full-benefits" policy that allows 52 year-old
gummint employees to retire with full pensions.

My mandatory retirement is age 56. I am eligible at 49 when I will have
25 years. There are no full pensions anymore in the government. Better
read up. The Government started a new retirement system in the mid
80's. There aren't many people left on the old system. The old system
was a pension only system, they did not pay into social security and did
not receive benefits unless they got their 40 quarters somewhere else.
They received 50% of their highest three years of salary as their
retirement. Now the retirement is much more employee financed. I also
pay into social security. I also put the IRS max of $14K this year into
my 401K. My pension will be less than the 50% the other workers got.

My mandatory retirement is age 56. I am eligible at 49 when I will have
25 years.

Case closed.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Fri, 15 Dec 2006 14:05:38 -0800, in
. com, Jay Honeck wrote:
Case closed.

When I was in the military, you could retire at 50% salary after 20 years
or 75% salary after 30 years... We didn't get paid much back then, so 50
or 75 percent of nothing was still nothing...

Traditionally, government employees have been paid considerably less than
their private sector counterparts... One way to compensate for that is to
give them better retirement options...

("Grumman-581" wrote)
Traditionally, government employees have been paid considerably less than
their private sector counterparts... One way to compensate for that is to
give them better retirement options...


Bunk.

Private sector employees operate in an environment of 'risk' ...as in, will
I have a job next month? State, County, and Federal employees often do not
face this reality. There is currency in this type of job protection.

On a side note - I love talk about raising the minimum wage. The first
benefactors of a higher minimum wage are State and County workers, who (many
times) have salaries pegged to that number.


Mont

"Grumman-581" wrote in message
news

Traditionally, government employees have been paid considerably less than
their private sector counterparts... One way to compensate for that is to
give them better retirement options...

....or less real (i.e., productive) work to do.

Newps wrote:
Jay Honeck wrote:
My mandatory retirement is age 56. I am eligible at 49 when I will have
25 years. There are no full pensions anymore in the government. Better
read up. The Government started a new retirement system in the mid
80's. There aren't many people left on the old system. The old system
was a pension only system, they did not pay into social security and did
not receive benefits unless they got their 40 quarters somewhere else.
They received 50% of their highest three years of salary as their
retirement. Now the retirement is much more employee financed. I also
pay into social security. I also put the IRS max of $14K this year into
my 401K. My pension will be less than the 50% the other workers got.

You are a gov't employee and can contribute to a 401K?

-Robert

Robert M. Gary wrote:
Newps wrote:

Jay Honeck wrote:
My mandatory retirement is age 56. I am eligible at 49 when I will have
25 years. There are no full pensions anymore in the government. Better
read up. The Government started a new retirement system in the mid
80's. There aren't many people left on the old system. The old system
was a pension only system, they did not pay into social security and did
not receive benefits unless they got their 40 quarters somewhere else.
They received 50% of their highest three years of salary as their
retirement. Now the retirement is much more employee financed. I also
pay into social security. I also put the IRS max of $14K this year into
my 401K. My pension will be less than the 50% the other workers got.


You are a gov't employee and can contribute to a 401K?

We call it TSP, for Thrift Savings Plan, but it's essentially the same
as your 401k. I can contribute any amount up to the IRS max which I
believe is $14K this year, goes up about $500 a year, same as you. The
Government contributes another 5% of my base pay.

Newps wrote:


Robert M. Gary wrote:

Newps wrote:

Jay Honeck wrote:
My mandatory retirement is age 56. I am eligible at 49 when I will have
25 years. There are no full pensions anymore in the government. Better
read up. The Government started a new retirement system in the mid
80's. There aren't many people left on the old system. The old system
was a pension only system, they did not pay into social security and did
not receive benefits unless they got their 40 quarters somewhere else.
They received 50% of their highest three years of salary as their
retirement. Now the retirement is much more employee financed. I also
pay into social security. I also put the IRS max of $14K this year into
my 401K. My pension will be less than the 50% the other workers got.



You are a gov't employee and can contribute to a 401K?


We call it TSP, for Thrift Savings Plan, but it's essentially the same
as your 401k. I can contribute any amount up to the IRS max which I
believe is $14K this year, goes up about $500 a year, same as you. The
Government contributes another 5% of my base pay.
TSP this year is $15,500. Since I just started with the govt. I get 0%
from them. After a year I think I might get 3%. I'm also in the govt.
pension which according to most is worth almost nothing.

Margy

Margy Natalie wrote:


We call it TSP, for Thrift Savings Plan, but it's essentially the same
as your 401k. I can contribute any amount up to the IRS max which I
believe is $14K this year, goes up about $500 a year, same as you.
The Government contributes another 5% of my base pay.



TSP this year is $15,500. Since I just started with the govt. I get 0%
from them.


If you're a Fed then you have to wait either 6 months or a year. I was
putting in $575 a paycheck into the TSP in 2006. I bumped it to $650
for this year. That way my contributions automatically stop by December
when the money comes in handy for Christmas.



After a year I think I might get 3%.

Once you're eligible the plan is the same for everybody. You put in 5%
and the government matches it, 5% is the most they put in. You can go
up to the IRS max.




I'm also in the govt.
pension which according to most is worth almost nothing.


At 25 years you would get a pension of about 39% of your high three
years base pay. The formula is 1.7% per year for the first 20 then 1%
for every year after that. I can go at age 49 with 25 years. If I stay
until mandatory retirement at 56 that would give me a 46% pension. I
have no desire to stay that long and do not plan to. I want out ASAP.

On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 19:44:19 -0700, Newps wrote:

Once you're eligible the plan is the same for everybody. You put in 5%
and the government matches it, 5% is the most they put in. You can go
up to the IRS max.


Be aware that to maximize the match in a many retirement plans you
need to spread out your contributions over the entire year of
paychecks.

I'm amazed at how many people who max out their matched retirement
plans by September (or even earlier!) don't realize they're leaving at
least 25% of the match on the table each year.