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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There isn't a black and white answer to is a fed job REALLY better 1. Pension --- Do the math (this may or may not be a perk depending on your age and salary) - you have to contribute 4.4% to FERS ---In my case -- if I put 4.4% of my salary into my 401k or TSP it would likely be equal to 1M in 30 years (depending on annual rate of return of course) , my FERS payment will likely be roughly 61k annually (depending on where I land for my top 3). That means to break even I need to live to 81... not bad to have, but certainly not worth jumping ship for. 2. Benefits - Compare your plans. My benefits as a contractor were getting more expensive AND more watered down every year - the government has great benefits at a reasonable cost. 3. Leave - Everyone says Feds have good leave, but I was getting 15 days as a contractor and would have jumped up to 20 after 5 years, so I think this may be a wash depending on your employer 4. Salary -- My contractor had completely stopped doing annual pay increases -- The only way to get a real salary bump was to leave or to get a serious promotion. You salary will raise a lot quicker in the government just by staying in your seat. ( https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2022/03/biden-proposed-raise-federal-workers-2023/363666/ ) -- 22k is a big salary hit, but I think 10 or so will come out in the wash by year 3. [/quote] Good list. I'd add: 5. Post-retirement health benefits. Being able to keep your FEHB into retirement can be a huge benefit. Also, some comments: #1: The real benefit of FERS is that it's in addition to TSP. You can put as much into the TSP as you would have put into a 401(k), and then add the FERS retirement on top of that. So unless the private employer has a crazy good 401(k) match (better than the TSP match of 1:1 for the first 5%), FERS is "extra." Whether that extra is worth the 4.4% (for a new fed) versus putting the same amount in non-tax-advantaged account is a different question. My main point here is that comparing the 4.4% to what it would earn in a 401(k) or TSP isn't quite the apt comparison, since presumably you'll be maxing out the TSP contribution anyway. #3: Don't forget that feds also get sick time as a completely separate category. A brand new fed gets 13 days of annual leave [i]and[/i] 13 days of sick time per year. After three years, that becomes 20 days of annual leave (and 13 days of sick time). Also: some agencies will negotiate the leave accrual for experienced new hires, so OP might be able to start out with 20 days/year. #4: Agencies may also be willing to negotiate starting step. So (1) OP should see if they can do that (if they haven't already), but (b) coming in at a higher step will affect how often they get raises (since grade bumps are only annual until step 4).[/quote]
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