Sunday, December 30, 2018

California faces a pension showdown

California faces a pension showdown
"Governor Jerry Brown as he leaves office is warning that California and its public agencies are on the road to "fiscal oblivion" if pension benefits can't be adjusted down.
...California drastically increased public employee pension benefits in the fall of 2003, when the state allowed employees to purchase "airtime."  
See the source imagePrior to the pension spike, a 50-year-old fireman making $89,000 a year could retire at age 50 after 30 years of service and collect an $80,100-a-year pension with life expectancy of 76.3 years.
But under "airtime," the fireman could purchase extra years of seniority at a cost per of $0.18022 per year for every $1 of salary. 
For $80,197.90, the fireman could increase his pension by $13,350 to $93,450.  
Such an investment in "airtime" would return a spectacular income stream of $351,105 over the next 26.3 years of life expectancy.
...With an estimated unfunded pension liability of $464.4 billion in 2015, Stanford researchers estimated that the average unfunded liability per California household jumped from $9,127 in 2008; jumped to $21,491 in 2015; and would be over $40,000 in 2030..."
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