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I taught school in Texas for 29 years and retired at age 51. My pension is roughly 55% of my my final year salary (10 years ago). My health insurance is a flat $200/month. That will change when I reach 65.
I had to reach the “rule of 80” to retire.
In the 10 years since I retired, we’ve not received any raise, but have received an extra paycheck a few times.
I also have a friend who has taught long enough to retire but is not 65
Her husband works outside teaching
She anticipated she and their disabled son who is over 22 would be able to go on her husband’s insurance plan at work but his company changed the rules and only employees can get company insurance—
The ACA plan they would have afforded was not very good, especially because of the meds her son needs so she has to keep teaching until she is 65–about 3 more years I think
I don’t know what they can do for her son because while he is learning disabled he is also capable of working in some fashion—has been sacking at local Kroger’s since he left high school at 19–but he can’t get enough hours to get ins through his job—-and he hasn’t been able to get SSI/Medicaid because of working
It is a had row they are hoeing…
I taught school in Texas for 29 years and retired at age 51. My pension is roughly 55% of my my final year salary (10 years ago). My health insurance is a flat $200/month. That will change when I reach 65.
I had to reach the “rule of 80” to retire.
In the 10 years since I retired, we’ve not received any raise, but have received an extra paycheck a few times.
Is this for one person? Retirees in my district pay:
Aetna: $784
CareFirst: $561
Kaiser: $606
For a retiree +1, those amounts are doubled, plus some.
I taught school in Texas for 29 years and retired at age 51. My pension is roughly 55% of my my final year salary (10 years ago). My health insurance is a flat $200/month. That will change when I reach 65.
I had to reach the “rule of 80” to retire.
In the 10 years since I retired, we’ve not received any raise, but have received an extra paycheck a few times.
Thanks for sharing this article. I was about to be a first time thread starter to ask about teacher retirement, as I was reading through my local school districts benefits and saw that it’s mandatory to be in their Teacher Retirement System, and in being so, excluded from social security.
That seems like a difficult pill to swallow, particularly with a ‘late bloomer’ who only began a career in USA 5 years ago and only has about 25 years of working life left… social security already calculates the payment based upon 35 years of employment, so at best I’ll have 30… but then if I go back to teaching (I was a teacher in another country) I wonder what the implications are…
Say I stuck it out for 10 years and my pension vested, then I decided to move on to alternative employment, how does that play out until I retire 15 years later?
I assume I’d have social security calculated on 20 years of employment, and a small pension based upon the 10 years of teaching?
Maybe this does deserve its own thread. I didn’t plan on going into a rant…
Thanks for sharing this article. I was about to be a first time thread starter to ask about teacher retirement, as I was reading through my local school districts benefits and saw that it’s mandatory to be in their Teacher Retirement System, and in being so, excluded from social security.
That seems like a difficult pill to swallow, particularly with a ‘late bloomer’ who only began a career in USA 5 years ago and only has about 25 years of working life left… social security already calculates the payment based upon 35 years of employment, so at best I’ll have 30… but then if I go back to teaching (I was a teacher in another country) I wonder what the implications are…
Say I stuck it out for 10 years and my pension vested, then I decided to move on to alternative employment, how does that play out until I retire 15 years later?
I assume I’d have social security calculated on 20 years of employment, and a small pension based upon the 10 years of teaching?
Maybe this does deserve its own thread. I didn’t plan on going into a rant…
You lose $1 of SS for every $2 of pension, unless you work enough quarters over a specific income threshold. As someone who worked half their career in five different states that were excluded from SS it is highly annoying, not to mention financially devastating. The system does not work for anyone who frequently moves between states. My SS is not reflective of my lifetime earnings, nor is the one state pension I did manage to become vested in. When I was chasing my military husband around the world I never occurred to me to think about what it was doing to my future retirement income.
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You lose $1 of SS for every $2 of pension, unless you work enough quarters over a specific income threshold. As someone who worked half their career in five different states that were excluded from SS it is highly annoying, not to mention financially devastating. The system does not work for anyone who frequently moves between states. My SS is not reflective of my lifetime earnings, nor is the one state pension I did manage to become vested in. When I was chasing my military husband around the world I never occurred to me to think about what it was doing to my future retirement income.
Exactly what is bothering me - I don’t want to commit to a 20+ year career at then same school district. I know pensions can be transferred in some instances etc but like you, I’ve already had one state government job where I never vested. Thankfully it was still social security eligible. I cashed my portion out and put it in a Roth
As I was approaching my 20th year of teaching, I had a few people ask me if I was going to do the "20 and done" route. I never quite understood where they were coming from. At 20 years of service I would have only been 42 years old and not eligible for retirement. Next year will be my 30th year, after which I will eligible for unreduced state retirement (VRS here in Virginia). I believe the VRS provides ~50% of your highest three years' salary.
I am one who falls under an older plan that has a "rule of 80", (years of service and age have to equal at least 80). I believe new teachers now have a "rule of 90". So a 22 year old who started this year will be eligible for unreduced retirement after 34 years of service.
A great explanation! ^^^^
It works a bit differently from state to state, but the basics are age + years of service must total a certain number for any full retirement to take place. Seldom is the retirement compensation higher than 50-60% of the average of the highest 3-5 years of salary. Notice, not last 3-5, but highest 3-5.
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