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For a lot of jobs in the US, you have a pension where if you retire from the company after X years there (in this case 20 years), then they’ll pay you some fixe

For a lot of jobs in the US, you have a pension where if you retire from the company after X years there (in this case 20 years), then they’ll pay you some fixed sum every month for the rest of your life. There isn’t a “retirement fund for her” that money has been paid into, but rather it’s a single on/off switch. This dates from the 50s-70s when staying at a single company your whole career was the norm. Nowadays, most companies offer a 401k retirement plan that you can take with you, but some older companies or government agencies still offer pensions. As for the kids, I’d say that staying in one school district is a huge plus for them, but it varies depending on the kids and the school district.

dragonwriter 6y ago
> For a lot of jobs in the US, you have a pension where if you retire from the company after X years there (in this case 20 years), then they’ll pay you some fixed sum every month for the rest of your life. Pensions are extremely rare outside of the public sector, and have been for about the length of the average working career.
- adventured 6y ago
  What do you consider extremely rare? 13% of private sector employees still participate in a pension plan. It does seem very likely a large share of those are older workers and that that percentage will continue to erode over the next 10-20 years. https://www.pensionrights.org/publications/statistic/how-many-american-workers-participate-workplace-retirement-plans https://www.pensionrights.org/publications/statistic/how-man...
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > What do you consider extremely rare? 13% of private sector employees still participate in a pension plan. Down from 18%, ~7 years before, when 39% and growing of those who still had pensions in the private sector had non-traditional pensions that weren't pure specified-benefit plans, but instead were (for the vast majority of non-traditional plans) hybrid cash-balance plans where the actual benefit is determined by investment returns through the point of retirement (basically, a defined contribution plan where the accumulated balance is used to purchase an annuity at retirement.) https://www.epi.org/blog/private-sector-pension-coverage-decline/ https://www.epi.org/blog/private-sector-pension-coverage-dec... IIRC, a big part of the decline being that for many private employers, pensions, especially traditional ones, are legacy plans that haven't been offered to employees for decades, and are only available to employees that have been working with the firm since they were generally available.

dragonwriter 6y ago

> For a lot of jobs in the US, you have a pension where if you retire from the company after X years there (in this case 20 years), then they’ll pay you some fixed sum every month for the rest of your life. Pensions are extremely rare outside of the public sector, and have been for about the length of the average working career.

adventured 6y ago
What do you consider extremely rare? 13% of private sector employees still participate in a pension plan. It does seem very likely a large share of those are older workers and that that percentage will continue to erode over the next 10-20 years. https://www.pensionrights.org/publications/statistic/how-many-american-workers-participate-workplace-retirement-plans https://www.pensionrights.org/publications/statistic/how-man...
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > What do you consider extremely rare? 13% of private sector employees still participate in a pension plan. Down from 18%, ~7 years before, when 39% and growing of those who still had pensions in the private sector had non-traditional pensions that weren't pure specified-benefit plans, but instead were (for the vast majority of non-traditional plans) hybrid cash-balance plans where the actual benefit is determined by investment returns through the point of retirement (basically, a defined contribution plan where the accumulated balance is used to purchase an annuity at retirement.) https://www.epi.org/blog/private-sector-pension-coverage-decline/ https://www.epi.org/blog/private-sector-pension-coverage-dec... IIRC, a big part of the decline being that for many private employers, pensions, especially traditional ones, are legacy plans that haven't been offered to employees for decades, and are only available to employees that have been working with the firm since they were generally available.