Thinking about becoming a Fed - tell me about the retirement plan/pensions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go work for a financial regulator government agency.
They need IT people. The best pension is at the Federal Reserve Board or CFPB. No retirement contributions on your end + the retirement payout is better than FERS.

FERS is the regular federal pension system. It requires new federal employees to pay 4% of salary into the system.

FDIC and OCC have the best thrift/401K matching programs - 10% of salary.

DP. Is the CFPB/Fed pension better, though? It seems like it could be getting worse and worse.

The Soc Sec Wage Base or whatever it is called keeps getting lifted, and that is what is used to calculate the benefit. The Fed uses a certain % rate multiplier of income below that wage basis to get your benefit and a different % rate of income above that S.S. figure. When the Wage Basis keeps going up, the benefit gets smaller and smaller. Unless you retire soon.

I worked at the Fed and agree with this. Yes, as the SS integration wage increases, more of your salary falls under the lower multiplier, essentially reducing your benefit. However, to calculate your benefit, they use a rolling average of the integration amount, so it changes less quickly than the integration wage limit itself. Also, if you retire before full retirement age, there is NO COLA until 62 and no supplementary offset for social security. For the pension to be worth the effort, you need to put in a number years of service, earn a high wage, and retire at 62.

If you can do it, the benefits are even better if you can stick it out to 70. Standard retirement age is 65--let us say the amount you get in pension at that age has a 1.0 multiplier. The multiplier progressively increases until it hits 1.6 at age 70 and then stays the same after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go work for a financial regulator government agency.
They need IT people. The best pension is at the Federal Reserve Board or CFPB. No retirement contributions on your end + the retirement payout is better than FERS.

FERS is the regular federal pension system. It requires new federal employees to pay 4% of salary into the system.

FDIC and OCC have the best thrift/401K matching programs - 10% of salary.

DP. Is the CFPB/Fed pension better, though? It seems like it could be getting worse and worse.

The Soc Sec Wage Base or whatever it is called keeps getting lifted, and that is what is used to calculate the benefit. The Fed uses a certain % rate multiplier of income below that wage basis to get your benefit and a different % rate of income above that S.S. figure. When the Wage Basis keeps going up, the benefit gets smaller and smaller. Unless you retire soon.

I worked at the Fed and agree with this. Yes, as the SS integration wage increases, more of your salary falls under the lower multiplier, essentially reducing your benefit. However, to calculate your benefit, they use a rolling average of the integration amount, so it changes less quickly than the integration wage limit itself. Also, if you retire before full retirement age, there is NO COLA until 62 and no supplementary offset for social security. For the pension to be worth the effort, you need to put in a number years of service, earn a high wage, and retire at 62.

If you can do it, the benefits are even better if you can stick it out to 70. Standard retirement age is 65--let us say the amount you get in pension at that age has a 1.0 multiplier. The multiplier progressively increases until it hits 1.6 at age 70 and then stays the same after that.

This is soooooo not true. Multipliers are either 1.0 or 1.1 only

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go work for a financial regulator government agency.
They need IT people. The best pension is at the Federal Reserve Board or CFPB. No retirement contributions on your end + the retirement payout is better than FERS.

FERS is the regular federal pension system. It requires new federal employees to pay 4% of salary into the system.

FDIC and OCC have the best thrift/401K matching programs - 10% of salary.

DP. Is the CFPB/Fed pension better, though? It seems like it could be getting worse and worse.

The Soc Sec Wage Base or whatever it is called keeps getting lifted, and that is what is used to calculate the benefit. The Fed uses a certain % rate multiplier of income below that wage basis to get your benefit and a different % rate of income above that S.S. figure. When the Wage Basis keeps going up, the benefit gets smaller and smaller. Unless you retire soon.

I worked at the Fed and agree with this. Yes, as the SS integration wage increases, more of your salary falls under the lower multiplier, essentially reducing your benefit. However, to calculate your benefit, they use a rolling average of the integration amount, so it changes less quickly than the integration wage limit itself. Also, if you retire before full retirement age, there is NO COLA until 62 and no supplementary offset for social security. For the pension to be worth the effort, you need to put in a number years of service, earn a high wage, and retire at 62.

If you can do it, the benefits are even better if you can stick it out to 70. Standard retirement age is 65--let us say the amount you get in pension at that age has a 1.0 multiplier. The multiplier progressively increases until it hits 1.6 at age 70 and then stays the same after that.

What in the world are you talking about? PP just described the FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM'S retirement plan. There's no multiplier that increases with age. It's 1.3% for below the social security integration and 1.8% above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go work for a financial regulator government agency.
They need IT people. The best pension is at the Federal Reserve Board or CFPB. No retirement contributions on your end + the retirement payout is better than FERS.

FERS is the regular federal pension system. It requires new federal employees to pay 4% of salary into the system.

FDIC and OCC have the best thrift/401K matching programs - 10% of salary.

DP. Is the CFPB/Fed pension better, though? It seems like it could be getting worse and worse.

The Soc Sec Wage Base or whatever it is called keeps getting lifted, and that is what is used to calculate the benefit. The Fed uses a certain % rate multiplier of income below that wage basis to get your benefit and a different % rate of income above that S.S. figure. When the Wage Basis keeps going up, the benefit gets smaller and smaller. Unless you retire soon.

There is no employee contribution to the CFPB/Fed pension. That is much better than contributing 4%.

Yes there is...

FERS
(01/01/1987 - 12/31/2012) 7% of Base Pay is deducted:

0.8% to FERS Basic Benefit Plan

6.2% to Social Security

FERS-RAE
(01/01/2013 - 12/31/2013) 9.3% of Base Pay is deducted:

3.1% to FERS Basic Benefit Plan

6.2% to Social Security

FERS-FRAE
(01/01/2014 - Current) 10.6% of Base Pay is deducted:

4.4% to FERS Basic Benefit Plan

6.2% to Social Security

Wow. I started as a fed in 2011 at 25. I didn’t realize what I better deal I had than people starting after me.

Same. No wonder my agency is having trouble recruiting from the public - they lose 4.4% of their check right off the bat to pension which is only good if you do 30 years.

Pension is pro-rated to your years served. As long as you work at least 5 years you get a pension. Just not as high of a pension.

[Anonymous]

I am thinking of working for the Fed but after reading this, I am not so sure.

I work for a non-profit and I get a pension of 1% for each year of service and I don't have to contribute anything to the pension. I also get a 401K plan with up 7% of 100% matching. I get paid 185K with a bonus of 60K annually. Excellent healthcare, dental and vision. The only downside is I only get three weeks of vacations and I've been with them for almost twenty years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am thinking of working for the Fed but after reading this, I am not so sure.

I work for a non-profit and I get a pension of 1% for each year of service and I don't have to contribute anything to the pension. I also get a 401K plan with up 7% of 100% matching. I get paid 185K with a bonus of 60K annually. Excellent healthcare, dental and vision. The only downside is I only get three weeks of vacations and I've been with them for almost twenty years.

What nonprofit is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am thinking of working for the Fed but after reading this, I am not so sure.

I work for a non-profit and I get a pension of 1% for each year of service and I don't have to contribute anything to the pension. I also get a 401K plan with up 7% of 100% matching. I get paid 185K with a bonus of 60K annually. Excellent healthcare, dental and vision. The only downside is I only get three weeks of vacations and I've been with them for almost twenty years.

What nonprofit is this?

Seriously

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am thinking of working for the Fed but after reading this, I am not so sure.

I work for a non-profit and I get a pension of 1% for each year of service and I don't have to contribute anything to the pension. I also get a 401K plan with up 7% of 100% matching. I get paid 185K with a bonus of 60K annually. Excellent healthcare, dental and vision. The only downside is I only get three weeks of vacations and I've been with them for almost twenty years.

What nonprofit is this?

Seriously

American Association of Lying Liars

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing the private sector is better than the fed gov right now as the latest interview list I have to entertain at my agency is chock full of retail workers. Not even many veterans putting in these days. Fingers crossed leadership lets us cancel the list and try again here in 6 months.