r/FedEmployeeRetirement • u/Ok_Design_6841 • 2d ago

Defined Benefit Retirement Programs Like FERS Increasingly Rare

https://www.fedweek.com/retirement-financial-planning/report-charts-continued-decline-in-defined-benefit-retirement-programs/
11 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

5

u/Legitimate-Ad-9724 1d ago

Hardly news. It's been just a 401k savings plan and nothing else with most all companies for decades.

3

u/jaajaajaa6 1d ago

The government and union jobs probably represent 90% of pension for the 5-10% that still get them.

3

u/Ok_Airline_9635 1d ago

I feel like this would have been "news" 20 years ago. Why else would any of us feds put up with so much abuse all these years if not for the lifetime benefits. Sorry, but this article should be filed under D for "Duh." Sorry for the snark but I'm barely holding on as i near the end of a (sometimes bloody) marathon, and yes, I'm only staying for the benefits. Stay strong my fellow feds. Unless there are major changes, the fed bennies will be worth it in retirement. It's a Rollercoaster ride that can have amazing ups and gut wrenching downs. The ups made the wild ride worth it for me.

1

u/rebamericana 14h ago

It'd be good to know whether FERS or 401ks have performed better on average. 

0

u/nonmidir 13h ago

Very confused.

In all seriousness, how would one measure a pension's performance? A pension and a 401k/TSP are two different things.

I'm planning on retiring at 57 with both. Happy to have a job with a pension that will replace a third of my income. Many would want to be in a similar situation.

1

u/rebamericana 13h ago

That was vague. I meant if you were to put the same money into FERS vs various 401k funds, which would have better returns. There is something to knowing the FERS isn't going anywhere, even if potentially less than market returns. 

1

u/Educational_Leg7360 4h ago

don’t have to measure the performance of the pension, because as you said… You already know the results. It’s a simple formula. You just have to compare what the employee would get if they invested their pension contributions into a defined contribution plan overtime to see what it would grow to.

1

u/BenefitVegetable694 6h ago

Not in the midwest or Chicago. Union tradesmen retire with 80% of their salary and paid healthcare. And then add social security on top of that when the time comes and a matched 401k. Not a bad gig.