Mother Of All Whore Threads Non-VIP Edition v.1

AlmosN8kd said:
Pensions are much more rare these days than they used to be; mostly because they cost so much long term (a huge part of that is the increase in life expectancy). I got one from my time in the military and collect it to this day; but, even the military is moving away from pensions due to the cost. The key thing to understand about a pension is how much it grows over time, what is the minimum time required to collect it, what the payout is based on, when you can collect it, and whether or not it is adjusted for inflation.

For example, while I was in the military, I was under the "High-3" system for active duty personnel (it is different for reservists); so, the value of my retirement was based on the average of my 3 highest paid years (which is tied to one's rank). The value was 2.5%/yr of that High-3 average and you had to do a minimum of 20yrs to be able to collect it (that comes out to 50% of your High-3 average up to a maximum of 75% at the 30yr point) and you can begin collecting it for the remainder of your life after you retire from the service (this has changed a bit in the past few years, I'm not sure how the new system works exactly) and it is adjusted for inflation based on the average Consumer Price Index for all products across the US for the year. The reservist system works slightly different but retired reservists cannot collect their military retirement until they turn 65.

The Federal Employees Retirement System works similarly, they get 1%/yr based on their highest paid position so after 20yrs, they'll get 20% of that amount (I'm not sure of all the rules with the Federal Retirement System though). Since you're a state employee, I'd assume your pension is likely similar to this; but, anything you can invest beyond this (such as in a traditional or Roth IRA or 401K), will help build towards your future plans. But, understanding how your pension works, will help you make more informed decisions on promotions, if you should stay with the state or take another job, how much you will get in your pension when you do collect it, and if your pension is inflation insulated (does it adjust each year for inflation?). Understanding these will help you know your financial needs as you get older and help you understand what you should be saving now to achieve that goal in 40, 50, 60yrs; this is the part I wished I'd taken the time to learn more when I was 10-20yrs younger, would've made a big difference in my retirement savings than where I'm at now; but, again, never too late to start. Does this help?
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This does help!! A ton, actually -- thanks, friend.

I have a lot to fix in regard to my plans after retirement, but I have a decent direction to start now.
 
We had like an hour of rain around 3pm which made it even more miserable the rest of the day. Steam coming up from the road like 3 ft high, all the windows and doors where wet and steamed up. It was nuts.
 
Nomar06 said:
We had like an hour of rain around 3pm which made it even more miserable the rest of the day. Steam coming up from the road like 3 ft high, all the windows and doors where wet and steamed up. It was nuts.
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Last night we had REALLY strong wind gusts around 11pm and then heavy rain.
 
Rainy and 64 here in Seattle. Summer has teased a few times. Next week, the nice weather should kick off.
 
Just checking in :wave:
Busy day. Going to be a busy next week as well. Co-worker is off today and all of next week so I am covering his areas as well as mine.
 
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