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The Incredible Shrinking Retirement Benefits
Today I went to the meeting the local state employee union held to discuss the fact that a state legislative committee is discussing the possibility of switching our retirement plan from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan.
There were many things about this meeting to hate, such as spending way too much time at the beginning discussing why you should join the union and such as emphasizing that the solution to this discussion of pension changes is to join the union.
I had two questions, one of which I hoped would be answered at the meeting. (The other question, what the details of this new defined contribution plan would look like, are, I assume, not yet decided.) I wanted to know who would benefit from the proposed change.
They had one answer: the stock brokerages that are hoping to get our business. They hinted at another possible answer: people who are worried that the market will plummet as the boomers retire leaving the state without enough funds to make the promised payout. Supposedly twenty percent of people in my state are participating in this pension plan. I'm sure many of them accumulated just a few years of savings and don't expect the plan to cover their retirement, but it's still a shockingly huge number.
I also learned something much more concerning to me. Our retirement health coverage is not mandated by law or by any kind of promise at all and it is generally assumed that this will disappear soon. This is assumed not just by the union members, but also by other, less excitable folks I talked to. And I didn't even get any hint that joining the union would help with that.
Suddenly, my salary feels lower, my retirement savings feel minuscule, and I feel like a sucker.
**
In other news, my jewelry making supplies are now stored in Robin's old sewing kit (a small fishing tackle box). I'm not sure it's better than my old system (a big plastic bag). Certainly it's less malleable and takes more space. And most of my stuff is still in smaller plastic bags at the bottom of the box. Advantages are that I can now get to my pliers and tweezers more easily and that it's now easier to stack things on top of it. Which means I'm moving it from a drawer to a shelf.
There were many things about this meeting to hate, such as spending way too much time at the beginning discussing why you should join the union and such as emphasizing that the solution to this discussion of pension changes is to join the union.
I had two questions, one of which I hoped would be answered at the meeting. (The other question, what the details of this new defined contribution plan would look like, are, I assume, not yet decided.) I wanted to know who would benefit from the proposed change.
They had one answer: the stock brokerages that are hoping to get our business. They hinted at another possible answer: people who are worried that the market will plummet as the boomers retire leaving the state without enough funds to make the promised payout. Supposedly twenty percent of people in my state are participating in this pension plan. I'm sure many of them accumulated just a few years of savings and don't expect the plan to cover their retirement, but it's still a shockingly huge number.
I also learned something much more concerning to me. Our retirement health coverage is not mandated by law or by any kind of promise at all and it is generally assumed that this will disappear soon. This is assumed not just by the union members, but also by other, less excitable folks I talked to. And I didn't even get any hint that joining the union would help with that.
Suddenly, my salary feels lower, my retirement savings feel minuscule, and I feel like a sucker.
**
In other news, my jewelry making supplies are now stored in Robin's old sewing kit (a small fishing tackle box). I'm not sure it's better than my old system (a big plastic bag). Certainly it's less malleable and takes more space. And most of my stuff is still in smaller plastic bags at the bottom of the box. Advantages are that I can now get to my pliers and tweezers more easily and that it's now easier to stack things on top of it. Which means I'm moving it from a drawer to a shelf.