Wiseacre
Retired USAF Chief
They do.
???? Most federal, state, and local public service pensions are defined benefits, right? They don't pay much of anything into it, if at all, which aside from healthcare benefits is one big reason why a whole lot of cities and states are going broke. That's what a lot of the fuss is all about in Wisconsin and other places, if they had 401ks this woudn't be an issue.
About the military, in times like these recruitment and retention are easy cuz there's nothing on the outside to entice people to stay out of the services. But, if and when the economy improves that could change and the armed services could start having problems keeping the brightest and best. It ain't like the pay is all that great you know.
And I'm hoping they grandfather it so the guys who are already in are not screwed over. It's not right to change the deal, which they did to those of us who joined up in the 70s. Promises were made and broken, and that ain't right.
From what I understand, government workers are enrolled in TSPs and that is what I've seen being proposed for the military.
I agree that they should grandfather it in.
TSPs (Thrift Savings Plan) is similar to a 401k in that it's contributory and I believe the gov't puts into it as well. But public employees also have a retirement system that pays them a pension after X number of years of service that they don't contribute to, it's all or almost all paid for by the taxpayers. And they get Social Security too. Helluva a deal, and now they bitch cuz various states want them to pay more into their pension fund.
How's this grab ya - a military retiree serves 20 years and gets out with a pension that pays him 50% of his base pay for the rest of his life. Still under 40 years old at this point. Then he joins civil service, sometimes doing the same job he was doing in uniform. Serves another 20 -25 years and gets a monthly pension check from them too when he retires from civil service. If he contributed to IRAs or a TSP he has that money too, plus he can collect Social Security on or after reaching 62.
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