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Originally Posted by sokinwet
Jimmy -I used to respect your opinions but it's pretty obvious that shooting from the hip is your MO lately (like since the election). Like most of the other anti gov't employee blowhards you have no clue on what the MA state pension system is all about or how it functions. As Mike P. pointed out we don't get SS benefits if we didn't pay "enough" into it from a previous job and the 10 yr. vesting requirement is correct ; but it's a little different than what he stated. Here it is in a nutshell in case you might actually want to know before your next rant. There are different classifications for employees and these classifications determine at what age you can retire. Here's the formula for "regular" gov. employees: (police and fire have different age of retirement criteria) length of service x age multiplier x avg. of three highest earning years. There is no 20 or 30 yrs. and out provision. If you retire @ 55 your multiplier is .015..increases to .016 at 56 and goes to a max. of .025 at 65. Currently most state and municipal employees pay 9% of salary into the PENSION FUND; some like me pay at the level at the time they entered the system. I've been working for municipal gov. for 32 yrs. so I pay 7%. Max. pension is 80% of your annual salary. You don't pay a friggin thing towards my retirement it comes from the Pension fund...and as a matter a fact because I did pay into SS but don't have enough quarters to get any SS upon retirement I hope you don't get any...because just like you I don't like the idea of my $$ going to pay for someone else...hope your 401k doesn't go belly up.
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That is funny, because I have been in the Pension industry for close to 15 years and I have presented at least a dozen times to many different facets of the MA state pensions. So like it or not, you've paid blowhards like me to get in front of your boards to discuss investments that they have YOUR money in. funny huh?
So just curious, you pay in 7% and you're guaranteed 80% of your salary when you retire. Thats quite an investment! Do you think all that money comes from magical money fairies? What if the pension fun tanks (btw, its tanked! they invest it in stocks, bonds etc), do you still get your 80%? Yes! The money fairies (also known as taxpayers) pay it for you! Your pension is FUNDED and you also pay into it.
Dont get me wrong, I would give my left nut (literally) to pay 7% of my salary and have 80% when I retire. But unfortunaley I and most other workers no longer have that benefit and never will. So as states need to cut money, why not make state workers EQUAL to other industries? You dont lose your $, the state cashes you out, as if you retired today, and then sets up a 401k or other plan which employees fund? I agree it sucks, but it also sucks that people taxpayers fund get better benefits than themselves.