Re: Dirty Old Town



Nebulous wrote:

"Deirdre Sholto Douglas" <finch.enteract@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:44BBFECF.E5251D76@xxxxxxxxxx


Nebulous wrote:

You lot have had the best of the public sector pension schemes. Now that
they have removed the rule of 85 I'll probably have to go on until I'm 65
or
suffer some pretty serious reduction in my pension.

Come to the states where you get to go until
you're 70 and probably still won't be able to
collect because the system will be bankrupt.

Not a day goes by that I don't thank all gods
I'm in a financial position where I won't have
to depend on Social Security when I retire.


Despite working for a voluntary organisation or 'non-profit.' I get to join
the local authority pension scheme. Our scheme is reasonably well funded. I
commit 6% of gross earnings and ny employer is currently paying about three
times that.

When I hitched my wagon to Uncle Sam's star
it was at a time when government employees
weren't entitled to Social Security and they
didn't pay into it. They did, however, have very
pretty pension plans to compensate for the lack.
Over time, however, those benefits have been
eroded and it's not nearly as pretty a package
as it once was.

About two positions ago however, I learned the
joys of being an "appointment" rather than an
"employee". So I _do_ pay into SS and, in theory,
get something back at the end. The reason for
swapping however, wasn't for retirement bene-
fits but for survivor's benefits for dependent
children.

As far as I know, the government pension dies
with the individual, but with SS, the benefits paid
in are paid out to surviving minor children (up to
the age of 22 if they stay in school). At the
time I changed over it seemed like a good idea
for my daughter to have _some_ income, no
matter how small, in the event of catastrophe
and the loss of both parents.

(My father's estate was so tangled up the money
needed to support and raise me from the age of
twelve onwards didn't become available until I was
twenty-two...I figured one generation being stressed
that way was enough.)

Nevertheless they are cutting back and if I want to retire earlier than 65
I'll have to take a hit.

Sounds as though its better here than there though. Surely a lot of people
don't make it to 70?

Lifespanwise or work lifewise? I think life ex-
pectancies are greater than seventy, although
I don't have the numbers to hand. And I think
you can still retire at 63 or 65 (or both) it's
just that you take a drastic cut in benefits if
you do. I think the last statement I got indi-
cated if I retired at sixty-five, I only collect in
the neighbourhood of 60% benefit. (And it's not
like the full benefit is anything to write home
about in the first place.)

And I think, but I'm not certain, that you have
to pay income tax on the benefits received.
Given that my retirement date (at 70) is almost
a quarter century in the future, I'm not sanguine
about collecting anything. (And with my luck
they'll have raised the age limit to 75 by then.)

Deirdre
.

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