Anonymous wrote:I work at the Fed. The rule of thumb here is that we need to double our salary in the private sector to make up for the loss of defined benefit pension, great healthcare, and other perks.

Once you factor in sick and annual leave (and federal govt’s generous rollover policies), telecommuting, transit benefits, cheap dental and vision coverage - you get to the 2x your salary estimate.

Not sure how this makes sense. My DH is private sector. We are on his insurance because it is cheaper, he goes 100% 401k match, 25k mega roth, has a shut down between Christmas and NYE, got 3 months PAID paternity, and gets ESPP. Wayyy better benefits than mine.

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Anonymous wrote: LOL - $150 fed salary is $150 private sector. You're not going to get a $50K pay cut for going contractor and you'll probably have to take a paycut if you're going to a non-government contracting industry. Good luck, haha.

With the pension for fed employees, you prob have to add ~$15-20K (?) a year for comparable base salary in private sector.
Bonuses and stock options are a plus on the private sector side.
Difficult to put a price on job security, esp with possible recession coming (aren't last in usually the first out?) and age discrimination.

If a pension is worth 50k a year, and you live 30 years post retirement, that’s 1.5 million. So you’ll need to dump much more than 15k-20k a year post tax money into some investment account (maybe 50k)?

NP. I don't know if this is accurate, but yeah, I would think I would want a min of $200k to move to private industry (current GS15, $150, going up to $160 next year).

And that is not going to happen....170 maybe...

So Federal workers aren’t under paid? Seems pretty close to market

Some are, most are not. In gov't contracting, though, the feds define the market. In my case, I work as a lead scientist for an R & D group in a contracting organization. Feds would under-pay me as I am non-supervisory, and would typically classify me as GS14. I am a PhD with 25 years experience and a good reputation for innovative and relevant solutions; Gov't would pay me 130K, but I make 185K. If I changed industry -- I have an offer to join a tech company -- I would make about 250K + options, but there are reasons why that is not optimal (benefits/work life balance).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: LOL - $150 fed salary is $150 private sector. You're not going to get a $50K pay cut for going contractor and you'll probably have to take a paycut if you're going to a non-government contracting industry. Good luck, haha.

With the pension for fed employees, you prob have to add ~$15-20K (?) a year for comparable base salary in private sector.
Bonuses and stock options are a plus on the private sector side.
Difficult to put a price on job security, esp with possible recession coming (aren't last in usually the first out?) and age discrimination.

If a pension is worth 50k a year, and you live 30 years post retirement, that’s 1.5 million. So you’ll need to dump much more than 15k-20k a year post tax money into some investment account (maybe 50k)?

NP. I don't know if this is accurate, but yeah, I would think I would want a min of $200k to move to private industry (current GS15, $150, going up to $160 next year).

And that is not going to happen....170 maybe...

So Federal workers aren’t under paid? Seems pretty close to market

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: LOL - $150 fed salary is $150 private sector. You're not going to get a $50K pay cut for going contractor and you'll probably have to take a paycut if you're going to a non-government contracting industry. Good luck, haha.

With the pension for fed employees, you prob have to add ~$15-20K (?) a year for comparable base salary in private sector.
Bonuses and stock options are a plus on the private sector side.
Difficult to put a price on job security, esp with possible recession coming (aren't last in usually the first out?) and age discrimination.

If a pension is worth 50k a year, and you live 30 years post retirement, that’s 1.5 million. So you’ll need to dump much more than 15k-20k a year post tax money into some investment account (maybe 50k)?

NP. I don't know if this is accurate, but yeah, I would think I would want a min of $200k to move to private industry (current GS15, $150, going up to $160 next year).

And that is not going to happen....170 maybe...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: LOL - $150 fed salary is $150 private sector. You're not going to get a $50K pay cut for going contractor and you'll probably have to take a paycut if you're going to a non-government contracting industry. Good luck, haha.

With the pension for fed employees, you prob have to add ~$15-20K (?) a year for comparable base salary in private sector.
Bonuses and stock options are a plus on the private sector side.
Difficult to put a price on job security, esp with possible recession coming (aren't last in usually the first out?) and age discrimination.

If a pension is worth 50k a year, and you live 30 years post retirement, that’s 1.5 million. So you’ll need to dump much more than 15k-20k a year post tax money into some investment account (maybe 50k)?

NP. I don't know if this is accurate, but yeah, I would think I would want a min of $200k to move to private industry (current GS15, $150, going up to $160 next year).

This is really hard - it is based on experience, industry, type of company. I make 140K base with 10K bonus, amazing benefits and flex, but I have a crappy title that screams middle management. But I work for a huge tech company so that is how they do it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: LOL - $150 fed salary is $150 private sector. You're not going to get a $50K pay cut for going contractor and you'll probably have to take a paycut if you're going to a non-government contracting industry. Good luck, haha.

With the pension for fed employees, you prob have to add ~$15-20K (?) a year for comparable base salary in private sector.
Bonuses and stock options are a plus on the private sector side.
Difficult to put a price on job security, esp with possible recession coming (aren't last in usually the first out?) and age discrimination.

If a pension is worth 50k a year, and you live 30 years post retirement, that’s 1.5 million. So you’ll need to dump much more than 15k-20k a year post tax money into some investment account (maybe 50k)?

Anonymous wrote: LOL - $150 fed salary is $150 private sector. You're not going to get a $50K pay cut for going contractor and you'll probably have to take a paycut if you're going to a non-government contracting industry. Good luck, haha.

With the pension for fed employees, you prob have to add ~$15-20K (?) a year for comparable base salary in private sector.
Bonuses and stock options are a plus on the private sector side.
Difficult to put a price on job security, esp with possible recession coming (aren't last in usually the first out?) and age discrimination.

Anonymous wrote:LOL - $150 fed salary is $150 private sector. You're not going to get a $50K pay cut for going contractor and you'll probably have to take a paycut if you're going to a non-government contracting industry. Good luck, haha.

Huh?

LOL - $150 fed salary is $150 private sector. You're not going to get a $50K pay cut for going contractor and you'll probably have to take a paycut if you're going to a non-government contracting industry. Good luck, haha.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work at the Fed. The rule of thumb here is that we need to double our salary in the private sector to make up for the loss of defined benefit pension, great healthcare, and other perks.

Once you factor in sick and annual leave (and federal govt’s generous rollover policies), telecommuting, transit benefits, cheap dental and vision coverage - you get to the 2x your salary estimate.

Not 2x but it depends greatly on the benefits offered in the private sector, which vary greatly. Our healthcare, including dental, is actually cheaper now than as a fed, but there’s no pension. Another thing to consider is you top out pretty low in the gov. While I left the fed 5 years ago for a job that paid roughly 25% more, I am now making more than double with lots of room for future growth. Everyone’s excited about Trump’s proposed 2.6% increase. That would be my raise on a horrible year.

Yeah I’m thinking of doing this, b/c long term growth. I’m in tech in my 40s. What field are you in, and what age did you leave?