Michigan Votes Forum

Again, we’ve gotten away from the initial point of this thread, but it’s interesting and respectful, so I’ll go with it. As for whether or not the 403(b) plan is “better” than a DB is in the eye of the beholder. Those who are comfortable with risk would agree. Those who are more fiscally conservative (as are most who tend

First, if a retirement program is pre-funded (as Michigan's used to be), there's very little risk or volatility and, consequently, budgeting becomes easier. However, since we squandered all of that money back in the 90's, our poor fiscal decision back then has left our state at the mercy of the market. Now some people have convinced you

For a union member, I’m actually quite conservative. Neither liberals nor conservs are perfectly right. So, if you want to label me, I’d prefer to be called a “Realist”. My pension, like those of all public employees is, and always has been, a matter of public record. Feel free to access it, or just use the numbers I gave already

Sorry. I thought, based on the comment of yours that I replied to, that you only wanted to know where the INCREASE in my pension would pay off. As I explained, that money would come many times over from the lower salary paid to the less experienced and less educated teacher that they would hire to replace me. As for my total pension relative to the

If I were to retire under this plan, it would earn me about $1,900 more per year in my pension. The teacher that they would hire to replace me would cost the state about $30,000 less than I'm being paid. That's a pretty substantial $28,000 per year savings. The money to pay for this small addition to my pension will come from the new teacher