Pensions?

Discussion in 'Money & Finances' started by Cody Fousnaugh, Jun 2, 2022.

  1. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Was wondering how many members are getting a Pension from a job? Don't know if "Pensions" are still going, being that 401K is now available.

    My wife's sister, a retired Special Education school teacher gets a Teachers Pension. Because of that Pension, she doesn't get SS.

    Neither wife nor I get any kind of Pension. To many things, like: lay-offs, company closing and quitting for one reason or another stopped that.

    My 1/2 brother gets a very nice Pension from the state of PA. He would tell anyone "find a good paying job and, no matter what the hours (day or night), number of hours (including overtime) and days (including holidays) you have to work, stay with the job." I firmly didn't, and don't, believe in that. I have started a job that I thought I could do, and, by noon, had to quit it. Simply too physical.

    It is nice to have a Pension coming in, but what some people have to go thru, and number of years to stay, well, just don't know.
     
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    Last edited: Jun 2, 2022
  2. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    I’ve never heard of a bonafide place of employment who doesn’t take out for Social Security and as a matter of fact, the employer has to match the amount taken out of an employee’s check.
    An employee has a little bit of control regarding Federal and State taxes but Social Security is a different matter and normally HAS to be taken out at a set percentage.

    If your SIL can’t claim Social Security because a school system didn’t take it out, she should be able to report the school and recoup what she’s been losing.
    Even Yvonne gets a check and a large percentage of her adult life was spent as a stay at home mother.

    But no, I don’t collect a pension.
     
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  3. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    In Texas, the public school system has their own pension and teachers are not eligible for social security. They don't pay into SS and they get nothing out.

    My husband and I both had the choice of pension payments or a lump sum distribution. We both elected to take lump sums and invested the money.
     
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  4. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Interesting!

    Edit: So interesting that I had to look it up and yup, there are 12 states that leave Social Security benefits up to the school districts. Texas does have like 5 districts that do but yeah, the majority don’t.
     
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    Last edited: Jun 2, 2022
  5. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Ok, I just asked my wife about her sister. I rewrote my original post. Her sister gets a School District-Teachers Pension, because she fully retired from the District. However, she does not get any SS, due to the SS Act of 1935, stating teachers are excluded from SS. My wife just looked that up and read it to me.
     
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  6. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Farmers don't get SS either. A farmer friend of mine, whom I graduated from high school with, went to the SS Officer to apply/collect and they told him he had none. Livestock and Grain Markets pay a farmer for what is brought to them, but no SS is taken out of the money given to them.
     
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  7. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    In the case of farmers or any other person who owns their own business it is up to the business person to arrange to have SS taken out.
    My dad paid his own Social Security for a “just in case” type of thing and as it turned out, it was a smart move to make.
     
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  8. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    At one time, a friend of ours, that retired from Ford Motor Company and then got laid off by another company he worked for after Ford, collected his Ford Motor Company Pension, State Unemployment and SS at the same time. No money was ever taken from him. He was collecting full SS at the time he was working for the other company, along with his salary. Like my wife currently does. Then, after getting laid-off, he applied, and got, State Unemployment.
     
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  9. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Non-government pensions are a risky thing, although I believe that some really obscene government (state & local) benefits may have been cut back in times of state economic hardship and public outrage, so the government stuff is no guarantee, either.

    My father worked for G.C. Murphys from the time he was in high school until he died in his mid 50s. Had he lived to see retirement, his pension have been caught up in company's bankruptcy filing.

    My mother retired from Sears (they tried to force her out when she neared qualifying age), and asked me if she should take a monthly pension check or just one lump sum. I told her to cash it out and invest it. Sears eventually declared bankruptcy.

    401(k)s and IRAs are the way to go, if for no other reason they make the workforce more mobile...you can find a better job making more money and contributing more to the economy if you are not tethered to a given company for your retirement. And your risk from termination is zero once you are vested.

    For those who get caught when their private sector pension provider goes under, there is a Federal agency called the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), which also supports the continuance of such plans. Here's the Wiki page on the PBGC, and here's the government website, if you're curious.

    I know a few people who are on government retirement programs: a few teachers, a few folks from the Virginia state prison system, and my sister who retired from the NLRB (I believe the Fed plan is some sort of hybrid.)

    If you read the history of pensions, there really never were that many employers that provided retirement plans. It was not the norm. Neither was the concept of having a retirement.
     
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  10. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    My father was a farmer; he did collect SS. In fact, several members of my family are/were farmers and get SS benefits.
     
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  11. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Yes, when I was at Texas State Technical College, I had a choice between Social Security and a couple of other retirement savings accounts.
     
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  12. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    Usually, you don't get a choice because it's determined by the district. The district either participates in SS or they do not, and very few participate. (I have several friends and a sister-in-law who are retired teachers/administrators from Texas school districts.)

    ETA--one side note to this is that if you worked other jobs that did participate in SS, you are still eligible for a portion of that benefit.
     
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  13. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    With the college, there was a choice between Social Security or two different retirement plans.
     
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  14. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    Hubby and I were hourly workers. He got a pension on $13 and hour job with Brunswick and I was getting $9--no pension. Talk about fixed income. When he retired, he asked if we could manage on that pension and I said, sure!--with ss. But that was 20 years ago and who knew the swhtf now. We've been luckier than some even getting a pension. But the future is still scary now.
     
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  15. Daniel B Cooper

    Daniel B Cooper Well-Known Member
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    I don't pay SS and haven't since 1981. Rail workers have Railroad Retirement . The last statment I saw we were $27 billion in the black, but that was a couple of years ago. Ms. Cooper is drawing her teachers pension but in september she will have to choose between SS and half of my RR retirement . She will choose RR.

    Before you start thinking how lucky we are, I paid well over what is withheld for most SS benefits my entire career. I paid teir 1, 2, medicate and medicare every paycheck.

    Teir 2 started when the Railroad retirement board essentially bailed out SS in exchange for the Senate leaving us alone. So far it's worked
     
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