WS: I am in the same boat as you in regard to SS.
There is no Utopia. When I was in Thailand the water and air (1998) were very polluted. We were told in a very fancy hotel to brush our teeth with bottled water from India. Poland is a nice, cheap country but they heat with coal so air polluted all winter. Many cheap places are hot, humid, tons of bugs, etc. My personal idea of hell. Many people do not want to leave their family & friends. Nevada's pension is not 100% funded but better than many. We would cut out the traveling, eating out etc if ours were cut.
Terry, I was thinking more on the lines of a smallish cabin, a wood fired stove, two five gallon buckets providing water from a nearby spring, a few chickens, a few rabbits, some yearly venison, canned vegetables, no television, a shelf of books, a guitar, a camera and a notebook. And something with which to fire a warning shot.
WS: I was assuming we would keep some of our pensions) If not we will be joining you. We could also sell our home and buy a small condo to get some more $.
Terry, I have a friend who has a daughter working as an actuary for a major insurance company. She said that police officers were ranked as one of the most stressful jobs and as such a limiting factor on lifespan due to the fact that cancer, heart disease and mental health issues as well as complications from addictions tend to on average shorten a retirees life by seven to fifteen years.
My pension was funded fully for seventeen years after my retirement. That means at age 68, I am expected to be dead. Therefore, I am not too worried about the SS payments, I probably won't be around to collect anyway.
Police, firefighters and prison guards all have shorter life spans from their jobs. That is the reason they can retire younger with less years then other public workers. Also the fact that all these jobs go from 0-100 as far as adrenaline rush is very harmful to the body. I learned about this in grad school since we would be helping people with employment decisions.
WS: I hope you have a long, healthy life and they lose $.
Terry, that was kind of you to say. And you as well.
oh everyone who has worked the necessary years should be eligible for social security there shouldn't be any exceptions, there are now but that should change. Pensions can still pay out whatever it is they can actually afford to pay out, problem is it won't be 100%, it might be 80% or 40%, or I don't know it depends on the pension, and that's why ... just increase social security is what can be done.
Trees don't grow on money
Wisconsin state and local government employees and public school teachers are in a pension plan called WRS (Wisconsin Retirement System). As of 2013, (and still, I believe) the pensions are 99.96% funded, according to annual reports by an independent firm. South Dakota is another state with a virtually 100% funded public pension plan.
The employer-employee split in the contributions to WRS was changed dramatically by Act 10, Republican Governor Scott Walker's 2011 collective bargaining reform law. Prior to Act 10, state and local governments contributed in accordance with collective bargaining agreements 99% of the employer-employee contributions to the WRS. As of 2013 employers paid 57% and employees 43%. The change was bitterly resented by employees and their unions, particularly when the pension contribution split had been the product of a series of collective bargaining rounds in which both sides had made concessions to arrive at agreement. The unions involved were not wrong in hoping for some sympathy from "the public in general" over the harm done by Act 10. But I would agree with LDAHL that when the votes were counted in the recall election of Governor Walker, there were more votes for Walker than his challenger.
Regardless of the changing split in employer-employee contributions, even Governor Walker has pointed with pride to WRS, as "the only 100% funded public pension in America". sic.
The "promised" benefit to a WRS recipient is in no way dependent on taxpayers (with or without pension coverage) bailing them out. Pension benefits increase in proportion to the 5-year smoothed returns on the investments of the funds under administration. After 2008 there were several years of no increases in benefits for this reason. WRS is different in this respect from certain other public pension schemes that are running into problems of underfunding.
I agree that an underfunded pension like you might find in Chicago or Dallas or Kentucky is a problem that will require painful choices.
I for one, very much care. LEO's relatives pension is controlled, (pretty sure don't remember specifics) by the dept. That is one reason the mayor would love to take them under city control, rather then state control. He could then dip into the funded pension funds, and screw with them the way other places have.
There are lots of examples of issues. Detroit, Puerto Rico, etc.
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