Surprising Net Worth Number

[MasterBlaster]

It appears that the data used for the calculator is based on very outdated numbers *. Nonetheless relative to someone who lives in a mud hut we are all wealthy.


* Calculator references:

¹ 2003 world population Data Sheet of the Population Reference Bureau.
² Steven Mosher, president of the population research institute, CNN, October 13, 1999.
³ Milanovic, Branco. "True World Income Distribution, 1988 and 1993: First calculations based on household surveys alone", World Bank Development Research Group, November 2000, page 30.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

However those elected officials also receive a generous pension and can contribute to the TSP.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khan Federal senators and representatives are in the SS system, along with federal employees hired since ~1984.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny However those elected officials also receive a generous pension and can contribute to the TSP.

Federal employees can contribute to the TSP too, and those hired since ~1984 get a 5% match.

Our pension, however, could never be described as "generous" in my opinion. It is the average of your highest three years' salary times 0.01 times years service. So, suppose that, like most people, your salary increases as you progress through your career. After 20 years you would get less than 20% of your last year's salary.

I would imagine that elected officials do better than that as far as their pension goes.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Want2retire Federal employees can contribute to the TSP too, and those hired since ~1984 get a 5% match. Our pension, however, could never be described as "generous" in my opinion. It is the average of your highest three years' salary times 0.01 times years service. So, suppose that, like most people, your salary increases as you progress through your career. After 20 years you would get less than 20% of your last year's salary. I would imagine that elected officials do better than that as far as their pension goes.

Elected officials are also in FERS with the same rules, though they do have higher salaries.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Want2retire I would imagine that elected officials do better than that as far as their pension goes.

I believe that congresscritters can see a pension roughly equal to their salary if they put in about 20 years. Currently $165,000 and up.

So I dont think they're swayed much by the extra grand or two a month issued by social security.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny I believe that congresscritters can see a pension roughly equal to their salary if they put in about 20 years. Currently $165,000 and up. So I dont think they're swayed much by the extra grand or two a month issued by social security.

National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association

When Members of Congress retire, resign or are not reelected, they no longer receive a salary. However, if eligible by age and years of service, they may receive a retirement annuity like other federal employees. Annuities are calculated by a formula using their highest three years of salary, years of service and an accrual rate. As for other federal retirees, the annuities of Members of Congress are less than the salary they received while in office. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS), a Member of Congress who retired at age 50, with 20 years of service would receive 42.5 percent of salary from a Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) annuity. The annual salary of a Member of Congress in 2006 is $165,200. At the end of FY 2005, there were 423 former Members of Congress on the Civil Service Retirement rolls; 305 retired under the CSRS; 118 retired under the FERS (most of those retiring under the FERS had switched from CSRS to FERS during the 1987 open season.). The FY 2005 average annual annuity paid to those retired under the CSRS was $58,944, or $34,896 under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Other side of the fence...

Do Members of Congress Pay Social Security Taxes?

"The formula is quite generous, and, with 20-25 years, a Member of Congress could retire with up to 80 percent of his or her salary replaced. Of course, the only cap on how fast their benefits rise is the rate of increase in CPI. For this reason, Congressional pensions can and frequently do exceed a Member’s final salary, but only after a few years in retirement, when COLAS begin to kick in. In the final analysis, Congressional pension benefits are 2-3 times more generous than what a similarly-salaried executive could expect to receive upon retiring from the private sector. That ought to be enough to concern any taxpayer."



Any which way...at 70-80k, 80% of 165k or ~100% of 165k+cola's...I still dont think the presence or lack of $12-20k a year is going to make them act differently in terms of actively trying to make changes to social security for their own monetary benefit.