This point is often lost in the debate over income and wealth. A public school teacher who starts working at 25 y/o and retires 30 years later at 55 y/o with a

This point is often lost in the debate over income and wealth. A public school teacher who starts working at 25 y/o and retires 30 years later at 55 y/o with a relatively modest $60k/year pension benefit has effectively retired with a pension value of $1.3 million (using current lifetime annuity rates). Two public school teachers married to each other with a paid-for $500k home (but zero other savings or assets) effectively have a household net worth of $3.1 million. Government retirees with 'high 3' pensions are the every day millionaire next door types of modern society. I know many of them with multi-million dollar pension values and yet most feel solidly working class because it took them decades to earn the pension benefit and all they see is the monthly check.