Social Security

[healey36]

He was wrong. He could, and they can, but then they deduct that amount from the Gov pension. Years ago, you could collect in full from both if you qualified for them. Once upon a time there were even triple dippers getting military, gov, and private sector SS..... Actually, a Gov employee that qualifies for SS can get that paid while still working, but it all gets deducted back from the Gov pension later.

Interesting, I never knew that. If you have twenty years or so working in the private sector, how does the SS bit get deducted from previous government or military pensions? Or am I misunderstanding?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

He was wrong. He could, and they can, but then they deduct that amount from the Gov pension. Years ago, you could collect in full from both if you qualified for them. Once upon a time there were even triple dippers getting military, gov, and private sector SS..... Actually, a Gov employee that qualifies for SS can get that paid while still working, but it all gets deducted back from the Gov pension later.

Interesting, I never knew that. If you have twenty years or so working in the private sector, how does the SS bit get deducted from previous government or military pensions? Or am I misunderstanding?

It all gets cross checked downtown at the GAO and OPM. My pension has already been adjusted 3-4 times in just 8 months. up, down and all around..... The guy I know working full time in the Gov getting SS figures that he should grab what he can now not knowing what later might bring and if that means a cut in hie pension 5 years later, he will probably be ahead of the game anyway.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Our local police officers to not get Social security from their regular duties.

I'm confused how they can forego paying into SS.

[Mitch]

I'm confused how they can forego paying into SS.

I seriously doubt you can get out of contributing to SSI, but there's most likely ways that the gov can out of paying benefits.
It may be like if you're working on a 1099 form, you must pay into workmen's comp, but as the boss or owner, you cannot collect on it. I think the pols, (with great input from insurance companies), put crap like this through legislation and pass it.

[robert.]

Our local police officers to not get Social security from their regular duties.

Don't they get a pretty good pension?

No they are part time. We only have one full time officer. He will get a pension. He is collecting one now. From a different police department. In 5 years he will be a double dipper.

[E7]

We only have one full time officer. He will get a pension. He is collecting one now. From a different police department. In 5 years he will be a double dipper.

Not busting your chops here, but the size of the dips supersedes the number of them by far.

[Roy]

Our local police officers to not get Social security from their regular duties.

Don't they get a pretty good pension?

No they are part time. We only have one full time officer. He will get a pension. He is collecting one now. From a different police department. In 5 years he will be a double dipper.

That's sad. They'll spend the rest of their natural lives bleating "Welcome to Walmart". That's what rich psychopaths and their asssucking pro-business wannabes want, and that's what they've got.

[E7]

I think the pols, (with great input from insurance companies), put crap like this through legislation and pass it.

PACS and Lobbyists and contributions. The little guy (you and I) are pretty much hosed.

[HONDO74]

California state and local governments face more than $400 billion in unfunded liabilities for public employee retirement benefits—enough money to cover the state’s general fund for three years, including funding schools, universities, prisons and health care for the poor.

That debt is made up of two chunks: $254 billion in pension liabilities and $147 billion in retiree health care.

Three-quarters of the pension burden comes from the state’s two biggest systems: California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the nation’s largest public pension fund that manages benefits for 1.9 million state and local government employees, retirees and their families, and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), the nation’s second-largest public pension fund with 933,410 public school teachers and administrators prekindergarten through community college, and their families. CalPERS’ unfunded liability grew from $111 billion in 2015 to $138 billion in 2016. CalSTRS’ unfunded liability grew from $76.2 billion in 2015 to $96.7 billion in 2016.*

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I think the pols, (with great input from insurance companies), put crap like this through legislation and pass it.

PACS and Lobbyists and contributions. The little guy (you and I) are pretty much hosed.

Always been true - anyone that thinks that their elected Gov't is going to fix things or take care of them is the only fooling themselves. More recent jobs report that everyone was crowing about it wonderfulness neglected to note that the average working week for those jobs was under 35 hours. That equates to a lot of part time employment that does not get any benefits for the employee and benefits the business.

The only person that you can rely on is.......yourself. I saved diligently for 20+ years; every dollar that I could put away off the top into every possible fund was taken advantage of.....and then every penny I could save thereafter was put away, too.

[healey36]

Hate to tell you Hondo, but most of the public and a fair bunch of the private pension plans are substantially underfunded. When I worked for GM fifteen or so years ago, their pension plan was underfunded by billions, and that was not fixed when they filed for bankruptcy in 2008. USPS is massively underfunded, most of the big unions, pretty much anybody with a traditional pension plan. That's why everyone moved folks to 401K-type arrangements...the obligation rides with the employee, not the company.

Remember the old "three-legged stool" analogy for retirement? Pension, savings, social security. For 90% of the masses, only social security remains.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Remember the old "three-legged stool" analogy for retirement? Pension, savings, social security. For 90% of the masses, only social security remains.

Yes, I got seriously lucky on timing with the pension, but saving has and will pay off for my retirement; I max'd out the TSP that I was allowed access to and I should not have to touch that fund for at least a decade, and then only because I am required to make withdrawals.

Sadly, the concept of saving has been lost and/or abandoned.

I never counted on SS even existing or being available.

[robert.]

Here is something I found out about our police officers’ pay. Most of them are first time on the job. They come to this podunk town for experience. After 2-3 years they move on to higher paying municipalities. Our town and state feel they don’t need to cover them with the 218ssa fund. If a rookie officer. Joins our town force at 24 years of age he will be forced out at 44 years of age. He can the join a real force for 20 years and retire with pension and SS.

[healey36]

Sadly, the concept of saving has been lost and/or abandoned.

Even more unfortunate, a broad swathe of the population is precluded from saving the substantial amounts required, simply by the expense of everyday life. Even if one cuts discretionary spending to the bone, a mortgage, an illness and/or school loan can overwhelm the spending profile.

There are a lot of people in this country that wake up every day to try to fight there way through this. Economics lies at the heart of so many of our problems nationally, and its the root cause for much, if not all, of the angst and outrage tearing us apart.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Sadly, the concept of saving has been lost and/or abandoned.

Even more unfortunate, a broad swathe of the population is precluded from saving the substantial amounts required, simply by the expense of everyday life. Even if one cuts discretionary spending to the bone, a mortgage, an illness and/or school loan can overwhelm the spending profile. ....

I've underscored "illness" because I have come to learn, as I get significantly older (I always knew I'd get old; I just never knew I'd actually be old,) that going to an Emergency Room for care and solution, having to stay for surgery, and subsequently staying in a hospital room for a week can result in a startling, stunning bill for all of it.

That fact has convinced me (not that I ever gave such things any thought previously) that when it comes time for me to die, I'd rather not go in pieces - one defective organ or part at a time, over time - I'd rather go in one whole lump, down and out, THUD. Gone. Bye, Murph. Oh, somebody pick him up and put him in a box and take him to Holesville (another significant potential expense.)

Have a very, very nice day, ya'll.
As Mother Theresa said, "All we have is today; yesterday is gone; tomorrow has not yet come."