Poll: Do you have a pension?

[Koolau]

We've found that spending on "stuff" has gone way down as has travel as we reach our mid 70s. On THAT basis, a non-cola'd pension doesn't feel quite as bad. As jollystomper points out, you PLAN around whatever you're "blessed" with. You can plan your own "COLA" replacement during FIRE preparation. YMMV

 

[gayl]

COLA County Pension. SSA just approved right on time.

 

[bada bing]

An interesting element that few have mentioned in this thread is that those of us with non-COLA'd pensions basically need two strategies: one for early ER when the pension is significant and one for later retirement when inflation has rendered the pension less so.

A strategy I'm using for my non-COLA pension is to defer. The terms of my pension increase the benefit for deferral based partly on mortality credits and partly on prevailing interest rates. The interest rate applied is the greater of 5% or the 30 year treasury, so for quite a few years the 5% floor has been the rate applied. My pension is more-or-less inflation protected while deferred by virtue of variable interest rate credits. Once started, the payout is fixed with no COLA. To blunt inflation concerns I elect to defer my pension as long as possible.

Corporate pensions are all individual in their terms. I went through the boiler plate of 4 different plans I was in and they all were different. Don't depend on HR people to guide you, they generally don't know the small details and their default answer of "No" is often wrong.

 

[stephenson]

Military.
Corporate.

Tried never to let this future fact affect my saving and investing since I was 21.

Oh, yeah - did make a lot of mistakes along the way - but ALWAYS tried to save and invest.

 

[Budatx]

I'm age 65.5. I have a state public retirement pension and a city retirement pension (COLA). Combined pensions total $70,653.00 annually. I also have an untouched 401(k) with $187K. I plan on applying for SS at either FRA (in 9 mths) or in 3 years as Open Social Security says optimization is age 68.5. SS at FRA: $24,6K. DW, age 56, is a state university professor with a tax-deferred 403b, and 401(k), combined total currently:$906K. DW plans to retire in 2-3 years and delay her SS until age 70.

 

[retired1]

Had to choose between Pension with low salary vs. no pension with higher salary. Chose latter and invested extra $ myself. So far so good.

 

[Finance Dave]

Corporate pension. Not taking it yet, and it will be relatively small as it is a DC plan converted to an annuity within our company's administration. I think it will be around $1,200/mo. This represents a fairly small portion of our overall FIRE financial plan.

 

[jfn111]

Corporate pension around $3,500 per month. No Cola but I was happy I was around when the company still had a pension and got grandfathered in.

 

[jerryo]

I get a federal pension and a federal widower's pension (both nearly fully indexed) and social security (taken at age 70); my DW gets a federal pension (nearly fully indexed) and a pension from an international financial institution (fully indexed with 3% annual increase guarantee) and qualifies for reduced social security...together substantially more than our annual expenses without drawing on retirement funds....

 

[hopefullyoneday]

Had to choose between Pension with low salary vs. no pension with higher salary. Chose latter and invested extra $ myself. So far so good.

If i had to do it all over again i would have done the same as you. Some people get upset with people who have pensions thinking it is not fair that they get a check every month. Some pensions like mine are not what they seam to be when viewed by others. Mine for example i have to contribute 14% into my pension. My formula at time of being hired was 3 x how many years worked equals the percentage of my high 3 years with overtime. But has since been changed to 2.5 x years worked equals percentage of my high 5 years with no overtime. The city can change the formula at anytime not just when contract are negotiated. The city is also in charged of managing the fund and invest how they see fit. Last 3 yrs the fund return has averaged 8% per year. I am no financial expert by any means but my last 3 years average in my 457b that i choose the investments has averaged 28%. I have friends that have 401k's that get more in retirement than me at the 4% rule. They also qualify for SS which i do not.

So having a pension is not all its cracked up to be.

 

[Vacation4us]

Totally agree. When I started public service 30+ years ago our pay was low enough that no one was ever concerned about how much we'd make in retirement. Fast forward 30 years and it's night and day since I started. I had a fellow employee who's father is a doctor say that we made more than him. Surprisingly he was right.

I also agree that most younger public employees have no idea about real world pensions, retirements or the need to save. Us older retirees know darn well at this point how well we have it.

If either myself or wife live to age 85, my retirement system will have payed out well over $3,000,000 to us. Age 95 and your looking at close to $5,000,000

Although most public retirement plans have since reeled in benefits to younger employees, it's still a nice plan pension to have.

DH also has a rockin Calpers pension. Worked 31.5 years at a job that wasn’t his first choice but that he ended up loving. But he contributed to that pension, real $$. I think when he retired last November his contribution was in the $420-480k range ( can’t remember exactly because he didn’t choose the option of guaranteed return of the premium).

His pension is 90% of his final pay, we do pay about $3-400/ month for medical,dental, and vision but will have to transfer to Medicare at 65.

I have 2 baby pensions that combined will total $1400/ month in 11 years when I am 65. Since I was a per diem nurse while raising my children my SS will be small too.

I worked hard post divorce from H #1 to pay off my house and save, save, save in my 401k.

DH #2 also had to pay his ex 750k to keep his pension intact.

We feel very blessed but not undeserving. DH favorite saying “choices have consequences and he choose well.”

As 2 first responders we worked hard and neither of us made huge salaries, although as you said by the end our wages were pretty nice.

 

[Koolau]

Corporate pension around $3,500 per month. No Cola but I was happy I was around when the company still had a pension and got grandfathered in.

Our corp. pension used to be structured so that there was a big loss if you went on the 1st day you qualified. You had to stay several years to get the full pension. BUT each year of service DID add to the total from then on. THEN shortly after I left, they completely changed things - grandfathering the old plan for a couple of years to let folks "out" under the old system. My boss got caught as he had planned to stay a very long time. Turned out he left early too. Otherwise, he would have LOST pension under the new system unless he stayed to 65 IIRC. Megacorp lost one of the good ones when he left. Of course, I was LONG gone by then but YMMV.

 

[brett]

Our DB pension plan gives the option of a pension annuity in various forms or a commuted value. I know people who, for various good reasons of their own, have selected both.

My DB pension was noncontributory. My employer provided it at no cost to the employee. It was part of the total remuneration package.

It was not as rich as many employee contribution DB plans but I am very appreciative of it. Just one leg in our pension funding chair.

We saved, invested etc. to supplement the pension in the knowledge that we would require more resources to support our life and our plans in retirement.

We have relatives who were in a financial position to save for retirement but never did. They tend to be resentful of those that have a pension, those who saved during their working lives, or those with both.

We cannot imagine retiring with mortages (unless for investment purposes), credit card debt, or car loans. Or no retirement savings.

 

[monte1022]

This poll is very sobering to me. 66% of the respondents have some sort of defined benefit of varying amounts. At 55yo, I am now wondering if 3m is enough w/o a pension of some sort. We will have 2xSS so there is that. Since I am in OMY mode, perhaps the market gods will deliver another bit to add to the stash in addition to my aggressive savings. I am certainly glad that I never developed a taste for the finer things in life.

 

[Koolau]

This poll is very sobering to me. 66% of the respondents have some sort of defined benefit of varying amounts. At 55yo, I am now wondering if 3m is enough w/o a pension of some sort. We will have 2xSS so there is that. Since I am in OMY mode, perhaps the market gods will deliver another bit to add to the stash in addition to my aggressive savings. I am certainly glad that I never developed a taste for the finer things in life.

The theory is that you can take more than 4% between now and when SS kicks in if you need to. If your 2XSS is fairly good, a lot less than 3M would do it for a lot of us. Only you can decide what you need, but many here DO have only savings and can make it on less than 3M. As always, YMMV.

 

[whatnot]

DH worked at Corp for 37 years. Has a DB pension that was 100% funded by Corp. He also had a 401k with decent Corp match of contributions.
We chose 100% survivor benefit. $50k a year but no COLA.
We feel very fortunate to have this base amount. We both have SS coming as well. DH May start his SS in 2022; he’ll be 64 +.
I plan on my starting my SS at 70, approximately 10 years.
I have longevity on my side of the family and DH does not.
So he’s ready to start collecting. My SS benefit is approximately 6% lower than his so am not relying on claiming spousal benefit.
We are also using a 3% withdrawal rate.

 

[fourwaystreet]

I get a small non COLA Corp pension from a company that was bought out which I give to the Federal Gov't to lessen my estimated taxes. I also receive 75% of what would have been my DW's state pension (she passed away) I have been receiving this pension along with her very reasonable health care for the pass 15 years.

 

[Perryinva]

The $60k we get from non contributed pensions is relatively equal to $1.5M invested, w/o ANY survivors benefits. When I file our SS (4.5 more years) combined with be about $60k. We only have about another $1.5 invested & $800k in RE equity. Only $450k of that invested is after tax. The other roughly $1M is pretax, so really only worth like $750-780k. I had to wait until 61 to ER, unlike so many much earlier here.

$3M fully invested especially if mostly after tax, like so many here have, should be more than enough even with no pension, with 2 decent SS’s!!

 

[CRLLS]

I voted no pension. DW and I both had pensions at earlier jobs. We rolled them over to an IRA when we could. I do have an annuitized LI policy (not quite the same as an annuity) that is essentially the same as a pension. I get $210 per month until I die with 10 year certain.

 

[mountainsoft]

My wife has a WA state pension. Assuming she retires in 2023 with 100% survivor benefit, it should fund about 63% of our living expenses. The remainder will have to come from our meager retirement savings until we can start collecting SS. I should also have a tiny bit of income from a couple side hustles for the first few years or so.

 

[karen1972]

I voted yes, they stopped the pension plan shortly after I started, but I still get $170/month immediate annuity no COLA they started paying me in my 30s and $35k lump sum. it wasn't going to change my retirement strategy but its better than nothing.

 

[skyking1]

This poll is very sobering to me. 66% of the respondents have some sort of defined benefit of varying amounts. At 55yo, I am now wondering if 3m is enough w/o a pension of some sort. We will have 2xSS so there is that. Since I am in OMY mode, perhaps the market gods will deliver another bit to add to the stash in addition to my aggressive savings. I am certainly glad that I never developed a taste for the finer things in life.

It is not a competition, we are all on the same river going the same direction.
I did a very rough estimate of my pensions at 1.6 millions. I still don't have what you have, and I am not concerned in the least.
It is also something to note that I have never seen anyone post about running out of money here in retirement.

 

[stepford]

This poll is very sobering to me. 66% of the respondents have some sort of defined benefit of varying amounts. At 55yo, I am now wondering if 3m is enough w/o a pension of some sort. We will have 2xSS so there is that. Since I am in OMY mode, perhaps the market gods will deliver another bit to add to the stash in addition to my aggressive savings. I am certainly glad that I never developed a taste for the finer things in life.

If $3M isn't enough would $3.5M really change things? Would $4M? At some point you just have to accept a certain amount of risk or you'll work until you drop. I too followed the OMY path for a few years and now wish I'd spent those years doing something more fun than working.

 

[Aerides]

This poll is very sobering to me. 66% of the respondents have some sort of defined benefit of varying amounts. At 55yo, I am now wondering if 3m is enough w/o a pension of some sort. We will have 2xSS so there is that. Since I am in OMY mode, perhaps the market gods will deliver another bit to add to the stash in addition to my aggressive savings. I am certainly glad that I never developed a taste for the finer things in life.

You have to take it in context of this forum. It's a chicken/egg thing. Folks with pensions were more likely to be able to plan for an ER, and quite possibly took pension-paying jobs and careers toward that goal.

Also our forum membership tends to skew a bit higher than the general population, including a large chunk of members who are retired, and/or worked their prime working years when pensions were more common in private businesses.

For the rest of us (GenX and younger) pensions have largely disappeared from Corporate work, staying only in the public sector. That doesn't mean ER is out of reach at all, just different. We gave up pensions and got 401k's instead. Not as good often, but doable.

Fwis I'm younger than you, no pensions, and DH and I retired 5 years ago with less than 3m to start.

 

[Born2BRetd]

Husband has a full pension and I have a small one. Apart from the pensions, we saved and invested a good portion of our paychecks.

I have gotten tired over the years of people thinking somehow that receiving a government pension is a free ride. Our pensions required employee contributions and I surrendered 13% of my paycheck to my "free ride" pension which also qualified me for the Windfall Exemption so my social security is greatly reduced.

My husband made quite a bit less working for the government than he would have in the private sector. He always kept in mind that private sector employees made more money up front but that it balanced out in the wash because they didn't have pensions.