Agreed. Yes, future pensioners value their future pension and it certainly does have a positive effect on employee retention.I don't think we are disagreeing on any points. Maybe my wording has been clumsy. And certainly the people are aware of the impending yearly value of the pension in retirement and its retention effect also. My only point was they are shocked at how much money out of pocket they would have to pay to receive the same yearly income in an annuity in place of that pension. They understand "I need to stay 5 more years so I can get my X amount pension", but they did know the "X" cost for an immediate annuity of that value. And they certainly didn't know the whole successful mechanism behind it all being 70% of the pension comes from the investment returns not just the contributions.
But then again, my acquaintances aren't math people either.
Also, in review my original comments were directed from an earlier poster who commented on how lower paying workers wished they had that other persons higher salary. Not realizing the higher income person has to self finance their retirement to a greater degree.
However, I don't actually know of any of my co-workers who puts a present/cash value on that future pension. They think more in terms of working 5 more years means I get an extra $5,000-10,000 annual pension not in terms of $5,000-10,000 in extra pension will cost me $125,000-250,000 (based on 4% SWR).
Some of my mom's co-workers are even worse. They don't save anything and likely won't be able to retire if not for the pension.
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