Pension

[kirch]

Since my FT job is in business, I have a 401k, and I have little to no knowledge of how pensions work. I know several cops that work their 25 years and retire to collect their pension, then end up working for several more years in another job. Can a cop retire on pension alone, or is he/she looking at post-retirement employment as a necessity?

[Sleuth]

No single answer to this one - every department has differing plans, althogh some are statewide. I retired from a Federal agency, so you are paying me a lot of money not to work. I do anyway, part time, just to get out of the house. I just have to stay busy, and I have a large ammo bill!

[keith758]

I retired from the State of Wis. DOC last May after 27 years. I'm not old enough to collect my pension until March. It'll be about 2/3 of what I was making while I worked. I have another position with a County Sheriff's Office, and because I was in protected status, I'll still be able to collect my pension as well. I have to work another 5 years before I'm vested in the County pension plan, and that shouldn't be any problem. The problem with a lot of early retirees is health insurance. I know more than one person that has gone back to work for that reason alone.

[Bodie]

If you have your ducks in a row. House paid off. Bills reduced to nothing more then utilities and taxes you can buy groceries and live but not much else. So even a 401K type investment is good for the guys that will get a good pension. It allows you to live and have decent medical that's about it............ But it's far better then most private sector.

[Delta784]

We get 60% after 20 years, 80% after 32 years, but we have to be at least 55 to start collecting.

Awhile back, I also started contributing to a pre-tax mutual fund investment program.

[ftlaudcop]

we collect 75 % after 25 based on yr 5 highest

overtime counts toward this, education incentive also.

off duty details do not count toward your 5 highest.

road patrol virtually gets no overtime

far and few between.

deputies assigned to the jail, some average 80,000

w/o blinking a eye, some have hit 100,000.

base salary's mid 50,000's topped out for jail

and low 60'000 for road patrol + take home car

www.schackdaddy.com

[Old Trooper]

I retired after 20 years, at age 42, at half pay (which I started collecting immediately.) I got a position in corporate security for more money than I was making with the SP. It depends on the retirement system, and what you want to do with yourself.

[jfoote85]

I'm not a cop or anything, but I interviewed several policemen in my city for a research paper last year and found out everything about my local PD. Their pension plans depends on how long they have been with the company, I do not remember the specifics, but I do know that it peaks at 90% of your previous salary after 30 yrs.

[retdetsgt]

Depends enyirely on the state, dept., etc. I retired w/ 30 yrs credit
at 80%. It's plenty to live on because I prepared for retirement by investing when I was making loads of OT rather than spend it for toys so my pension isn't my only income.

My retired friends who work do it because they want to although a couple have ex-wives taking a good chunk of it in divorces...:eek:

[HBIC]

Retirement here is 30 yrs @ 105%
Plus whatever you had invested in 401k.
yes I am soooooo looking to retirement in less than 5 years.
:D

[PeteBroccolo]

We can not collect a pension until we have at least 20 full years of service, or unless we are medically discharged due to work-related problems. However, there is a penalty for going at 20 years, which drops off at 25 years. At 25 years, we would receive 50% of the average of our best 5 years of base salary. If we go between 20 and 24 years of service, we lose 5% per year.

We gain 2% per full year of service beyond 25 to a maximum of 35 years of service, or 70%. Every day over a full completed year of service increases our pension by 1/365th of 2%. Maximum age for mandatory retirement is 60 years old.

A lot of our members have been hired back as temporary civilian employees to conduct background checks or personnel interviews of cadet applicants, work in Informatics installing and trouble-shooting computers and communication systems or to teach us our new Windows-based records management system.

Those retirees that do not come back as TCE often go to work for the Liquor and Gaming Authority as licence inspectors or casino security, or for insurance companies as fraud investigators and collision anaylysts, or with university or health departments as site security agents.

I have 29 full years of service, have been here just over 11 years and it looks like I will be transferred in 3 years. Given the size of my family, either I will take the transfer but leave my family here and come back on days off, or I will retire and go pump gas, stock grocery shelves or become a hospital security guard!

[jnojr]

A lot of departments in California seem to have the "3% at 50" pension... you can retire at 50 years of age with 3% of your (highest or last, I'm not sure) salary for each year of service. I'm sure there's a minimum number of years you'd have to be in.

As for living off of it... I wouldn't count on it, just like Social Security. If you wake up one morning and the pension fund has been decimated by poor management, they can lock up the managers for 10,000 years, but that'll never get your money back. Diversify! Get a Roth IRA going. If you have a 401(k), get into that. Take $50 from each paycheck and move it into a savings account you don't touch, or a good mutual fund. If you don't already have a house, buy ASAP... once you own it, all you have to worry about is property taxes, utilities, and food. If you don't own when you retire, you're going to be stuck paying ever-increasing rents on a fixed income.