JoeWras
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2012
- Messages
- 11,702
I was just discussing this with DW a few days ago, how lucky we are. The elder law attorney we dealt with on FIL's issues said I was a "financial dinosaur". Have a government DB COLA'd pension, SS benefits coming, decent savings. Not wealthy by any stretch but comfortable. The pension plan is near fully funded so (almost) no worries.
Even where I used to work they don't offer that plan any more and haven't since the mid 1980's (I started in 1973). They offered half of your previous retirement contributions back if you switched to the new plan. I didn't take the bait but a lot of guys did, buying boats, motorcycles, cars, etc. and they are sorry now. But the new plan is still lots better than what private industry offers.
For sure, Walt34! You are a dinosaur! Even my dad who started working in 1946 with an AFL-CIO union didn't have a COLA pension in 1997. Thank God he had a DB pension in his later years, despite the non-COLA. It was a godsend to us kids when he entered long term care. (Aside: the fact that the standard will be no pensions <COLA or otherwise> is going to really BITE HARD on kids in the next few decades when they look at parent care. MARK MY WORDS.)
A DB COLA is "wealthy" in many respects.
That said, I'm not jealous. In many senses, I'm free knowing that I'd never have that. Megacorp #1 made that clear in 1993. Megacorp #2 said "What is a pension? We don't know that word." With that in mind, I've saved, saved, saved. Once I get out of OMY hell, I'm free.
OK, all that said, now whtat I've written it down, maybe I am a bit jealous about a COLA DB.
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