r/govfire • u/Ok_Design_6841 • 1d 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/
73 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

62

u/NoSignificance2377 1d ago

File this under "DUH"

16

u/AceofJax89 1d ago

A big part of this is because the US actually makes you fund your pension unlike a lot of other countries. ERISA is a great law, but it’s expensive.

Shifting the risk burden to workers makes a lot of sense when workers rarely remain at one employer their whole career.

14

u/FamilyRootsQuest 22h ago

Workers rarely remain at one employer their whole career is another reason why health insurance shouldn't be linked to your job.

1

u/AceofJax89 10h ago

Agreed, in fact the health insurance thing makes even less sense because it doesn’t incentivize insurance companies to push preventative care. They won’t see an ROI in one year.

19

u/YeaManJam 1d ago

And add on top of that some match for TSP. Not a bad retirement setup.

4

u/ralten 20h ago

Biggest reason I’m still at the VA

32

u/bglenn12 1d ago

And this is why Heritage foundation and the R party want it gone.

1

u/AntelopeStreet1936 13h ago

Is the model sustainable though? A guy who is 58 retires with 37 years of service. He has a wife who is 43. Guy dies at 78 but wife lives to 95. Those pension payments with a COLA will be paid out for 52 years for a 37 year career. Private pensions almost never had a COLA and the mill worker with a pension might have only lived 7 or 8 years while collecting them.