thephan wrote:The pension is indeed dead for most everyone still in service. TSP has performed well with very reasonable fees, and they have taught people how to wisely invest.
I've been told that the health care has gotten harder to get/the deal is not as good as it was.
WRT ThreeCount, I did not know he was an IRS employee otherwise I would have chosen different words. I was simply trying to invoke the general training that the public has received to mistrust and hate Feds. That has been truly shameful.
You are thinking of the old school CSRS pension which was closed to new employees over 30 years ago. Current feds, including new hires, are enrolled in the "new" pension system called FERS. You get 1% of your "high 3" for every year you work, 1.1% per year if you wait until age 62 to retire. Most careerists therefore end up with a pension that replaces 30-40% of their salary. Not great, but still a nice perk. Pension + Social Security ends up replacing about 70%-80% of a Federal retiree's high 3, which is right in line with what the old school CSRS pension paid.
Keep in mind that those under CSRS contribute 7% of their income to the pension system and do not receive Social Security benefits. Most current Federal employees are grandfathered in under a plan by which they contribute 0.8% to the FERS system and 6.2% to Social Security, so the total contribution is equal.
On top of that, employees enrolled in FERs also get a 100% match on the first 5% of their salary that they contribute to the TSP.
All told, an argument can certainly be made that FERS is a more generous pension system than CSRS.
With that said, I agree with your main point, which is that the GOP has turned the public against public servants. It's despicable.
