Just need to vent...

I'll have to try to wrap my head around this one.

Looking through several government and medical jobs in my area, even ones that require a bachelor's degree or similar, don't seem to show any that offer pension plans. Even the ones I thought for sure had pension plans, such as RN, deputy or sheriff, are 401k's, not pensions. I guess pensions don't exist here and I'd have to move to some other part of the country, besides get 4 years of full time schooling at some $50k per year or whatever it costs these days.

 

Two years for an RN, four years for an NP is possible. Similar for medical techs using equipment. Never forget you have the mountain resort factor where employers can offer less in this supply and demand world.

 

If I remember right, social security uses your highest 35 years of income. Years from the past are inflation-adjusted so they can meaningfully be averaged with more recent years, and then the 35 best adjusted amounts are averaged together.

 

A significant increase in income for ten years makes a big difference

 

As I recall, though, there's nothing special about 'ten' years in the formula. A significant increase for nine years would make almost as big a difference, and for 13 years would make an even bigger difference.

The one number that is baked in is 35. If you have fewer than 35 creditable years of income, the missing years will be averaged in as zero, which'll cost ya.

 

Not our present state .... we're
taxed on retirement pensions, bank interest, SS, etc. But the tradeoffs are still worth it. ymmv.
.

 

That IS considered a pension plan in most modetn jurisdictions.
.

 

Freeze on property taxes which are high as we have no state income taxes.

 

The matching 401K is often one of the best investments that you can make. As an example (disregard the numbers), imagine that you earn $3000 a month. The company will match every dollar that you contribute with a dollar of their own. That's a 100% profit the day that you contribute every month. There's a limit on now much you can donate, but it adds up quickly. I recall that I had my contribution set to 20% of my income, so at the end of the first year my 401K had 40% of a year's pay in it.

My experience is that your 401K is vested as soon as you start contributing. Stocks and other incentives vest according to whatever plan the company uses. When I went to work for PG&E the signing bonus was mine the first day on the job. My contributions to the 401K were vested immediately (after all, it was my money). The stock options were vested (could be redeemed for cash) after 1 year and a second batch was vested at 5 years.

 

You're first I've heard say this. I was always under the impression that pay is generally higher here than most of the country. Minimum wage is $14.42. $778 for a seasonal ski pass per person (minors are $632), which is why none of us ski anymore since before we had the boys.

At any rate, I can't see how it would be possible for me to work a full time job and go to school full time for any amount of years, especially since I don't see how it's anymore of a golden ticket than just any job with a 401k.

A pension us when your employer figures it all out and hands you a fixed amount. 401k is a retirement savings account that's funded or partially funded by your employer. Then there are IRAs individual retirement accounts, like mine that only I fund with my own money.

Yep, better than my Roth IRA for sure!

 

Good luck getting people to work for less than $15 an hour in the deep South, even a high-schooler in a 'mall job.'

Oh wait....
Malls aren't around anymore - are they?

 

I think you are missing the point of targeted white collar work you could get through training - double or triple the income plus another 25-50% value in benefits. If you have excellent health and maintain it you could extend the prime accumulation period to 70 when starting at your age.

However many don’t want to “heads down” for a couple of years in school and work especially past 40. I understand that especially if the training is not local.