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Posted: 6/12/2024 11:15:54 AM EDT
[Last Edit: soonerfan7][Edited]
| Retired Oklahoma City PD here. We have a group preparing to work on trying to get our retirees a pension cola and possibly a yearly scheduled cola dependent on the health of the pension fund. In the late 1970’s all police retirements in Oklahoma were administered and funded through the city or county one worked for until the state legislature decided to seize all the various pension funds and put them into a state pension fund under their control. Prior to that, the retirees in my city would receive half the raise that the current active officers would receive. Since that time police retirees in Oklahoma have only been given 3-4% colas on average once every 12-15 years even though the pension fund liability has been funded over 100%. Things are getting pretty dire for some of our older retirees whose pensions are now only worth a 1/4 to 1/3rd of the value they were when they retired 30 plus years ago due to lack of pension colas and inflation. The state of Oklahoma contributes very little to the police pension and it is primarily funded by officers and their employers contributions that are invested in the private market and retirees receive no benefits that other state retirees receive other than the state controlling the pension fund and generally denying us colas when we send retirees to the capitol to beg and grovel. Anyone have any experience with this kind of situation? Any suggestions would be helpful as we are trying to figure out how to help retirees, especially the older ones who have fallen so far behind. I’ve been retired 8 years and while still keeping my head above water due to deferred comp and working side gigs, I’m starting to feel the effects of no cola raises since retirement and feel for the retirees who are in their 70’s and 80’s and are in far worse shape through no fault of their own. Any suggestions or experience dealing with legislators in a situation like ours would be helpful. I have quite a few old military buddies who work or are retired from various agencies nationwide whose retirees receive regular colas and I’m wondering if Oklahoma is an aberration or not when it comes to giving retirees any kind of pension relief. |
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Originally Posted By 18B30: Simple answer...we are fucked. Pensions are a Ponzi scheme in that they require a shrinking pool of young workers to fund an ever growing retiree population. Yeah, we just had an unfunded pension bump for new retirees starting in 2 years just get passed through the state legislature, vetoed by Gov Stitt, then the veto overridden. A bunch of 25-35 yr officers are standing by to bail out the door for a 90% pension that’s going to remove about 15% of our pension fund immediately. Trying to get something for our retirees before hundreds of millions of $ flow out of the system and the door on pension colas is slammed shut for many more years. Our fund has been properly funded through the private market as it should be everywhere and has been one of the best in the nation and has had a good surplus for many years but that’s coming to an end due to short sighted politicians wanting that FOP endorsement. |
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Originally Posted By 18B30: Simple answer...we are fucked. Pensions are a Ponzi scheme in that they require a shrinking pool of young workers to fund an ever growing retiree population. Just like SS. I'm 73 this year so I probably won't see the fall of the system, I feel feel bad for the younger generations if they don't save for retirement on their own. Hell I know many my age didn't. |
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Originally Posted By 18B30: Simple answer...we are fucked. Pensions are a Ponzi scheme in that they require a shrinking pool of young workers to fund an ever growing retiree population. After discussing this with a retiree who has served on the state police pension board that’s apparently not how ours works. Unlike social security, the funds that both the employee and employer contribute are invested into literally hundreds of market funds. The returns on investments are partially paid out in the form of pension payments while the remaining profits are reinvested to continue growing the fund. If retirees were dependent on active officers to pay their pensions (like how social security works) their checks would be a small fraction of what they are since states cannot just print money like the fed govt does. The money that active officers pay in goes to investments to fund their retirements in the future while retirees are living off investment returns. |
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Oklahoma's pension is well funded because they don't do COLAs with any regularity, and they offer absolutely nothing as far as insurance. As if their pattern of ignoring retirees wasn't bad enough, they just increased the retirement multiplier from 2.5% to 3%, which almost guarantees the solvency of the pension will take a nose dive. The state will then use that to continue to deny COLA increases. I am getting out to start something different on the very first day I am able. |
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NY's state pension fund is a separate and closed fund to the state politicians. Its a state fund, but by the state constitution, its cant be dipped into by the politicians when they are short of cash. Consequently, it is very well funded, and the money paid into it by the new people has very little effect on what is coming out of it as it has been well funded for years through proper investing and proper management. There are no "Green corporations" or "DEI" restrictions on the funds investments, so as any properly managed fund worth hundreds of millions (maybe billions), it makes money... The state pensions get a COLA, but how much depends on what "tier" in the system you fall into. They all get a cola, but some only get the adjustment on the first 25% of their pension. Some get it on more, and some get the full amount adjusted. Two years ago the state tried to push through a constitutional amendment to gain control of the pension fund so they could use the "overage" contained in the fund, and it was overwhelmingly shot down... If NY state was allowed to "borrow" from the fund, I am sure within a few years, it would be depleted and they would be floating bonds to pay pensions, or worse yet, cutting all the colas out and cutting the pension payments... |
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Originally Posted By DancingBear: Just like SS. I'm 73 this year so I probably won't see the fall of the system, I feel feel bad for the younger generations if they don't save for retirement on their own. Hell I know many my age didn't. Originally Posted By DancingBear: Originally Posted By 18B30: Simple answer...we are fucked. Pensions are a Ponzi scheme in that they require a shrinking pool of young workers to fund an ever growing retiree population. Just like SS. I'm 73 this year so I probably won't see the fall of the system, I feel feel bad for the younger generations if they don't save for retirement on their own. Hell I know many my age didn't. The problem comes when states and cities that manage the pension funds are allowed to borrow from them... just like when the feds borrowed from SS... If the feds never pulled any money from SS, and going forward, if people who never paid into it weren't paid out from it, then it would still be well funded and any chance of collapse wouldn't even be a thought. It would generate a surplus within the next decade if SS disability was cut from illegal aliens and those who never paid into SS. If congress paid back all the money borrowed from the SS fund, and SS was restricted to only those who paid into it, then it would be back to a self sustaining fund that would have more than enough money and would never be a hot topic that can tank a political career... Even with all the unearned handouts from SS, prior to Bush "borrowing" from SS fund, the fund actually had a SURPLUS amount of $1.3 TRILLION dollars... He took that money to balance the budget after his tax cuts. To date, the feds still owe $1.7 trillion back to the SS fund. |
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What did the plan initially offer? That is what you should get. Quit fvcking over the taxpayers. Or, both sides should agree that they can receive LESS if the plan loses money. And you damn well know they are not going to go for that. |
Liberals are a curious mix of communism and fascism, they want to destroy you but want to use your own money to do it.
I'm getting down to the last box, the other have all been destroyed...
I'm getting down to the last box, the other have all been destroyed...
| I'm in our plan B pension program. I contributed 10.24% for the first 3 years then got reduced to 8.4%. I got to quit paying in at 30 years. The county also contributes but I don't recall how much. Plan A peeps get 3% if the COL index hits 3% and I get 2%. So while Trump was in office I got nothing since inflation was so low. With Slow Joe I got a whopping 2% with inflation out of control. It practically doesn't matter. I'm either way behind or way less than even. |
| The f.d. I work for doesn't offer any COLA for retirees which is sad because some of the guys I worked under years ago are just above poverty levels with their retirement. The guys we have now are all about how much they can get and of course wanting to work less but don't see the bigger picture in our pension system. The system is not funded the way it should be and the newer guys are going to be seeing a good size jump in their pension contributions in the future with no COLA on the horizon. It's sad to see things run the way they are. |
Be the change you want in this world.
| For us on a federal standpoint, depending on the time of year you retire, you either get a fraction (or nothing) immediately, even if there’s one in January. Once you get past that first January, basically meaning you’re retired for a full year, then the COLA depends on the CPI. Then it can fluctuate from zero to a few percentage points, depending on that index. |
