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- May 22, 2011
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Well in my state, it's possible!
Oh, that's assuming you're:
1) a public employee, AND
2) were hired prior to 2006.
When my state killed its pensions once and for all in 2006, it also threw a perk at the already-privileged old pensioners by letting them have a guaranteed 4.5% on their voluntary savings through the plan. No one after that can have it. Just them.
For context, a 30-year fixed is about 3.5%. Standard CD rates are less than half a percent. Yet taxpayers are forced to guarantee to an already-privileged bunch of pensioners that make up our state's enormous (4th-worst in the nation) unfunded pension liability... a guaranteed rate of return on their savings that is 1% higher than what they'd pay on a 30-year mortgage from a bank.
It's one of the numerous insane, generationally discriminatory provisions built into public pensions in my state and probably most others. It's a symptom of the defined benefit model in general, and the up-and-coming generation's middle class is going to be crushed by it. It already is.
Oh, that's assuming you're:
1) a public employee, AND
2) were hired prior to 2006.
When my state killed its pensions once and for all in 2006, it also threw a perk at the already-privileged old pensioners by letting them have a guaranteed 4.5% on their voluntary savings through the plan. No one after that can have it. Just them.
For context, a 30-year fixed is about 3.5%. Standard CD rates are less than half a percent. Yet taxpayers are forced to guarantee to an already-privileged bunch of pensioners that make up our state's enormous (4th-worst in the nation) unfunded pension liability... a guaranteed rate of return on their savings that is 1% higher than what they'd pay on a 30-year mortgage from a bank.
It's one of the numerous insane, generationally discriminatory provisions built into public pensions in my state and probably most others. It's a symptom of the defined benefit model in general, and the up-and-coming generation's middle class is going to be crushed by it. It already is.