See, here it is again, the myth that somehow retiring early returns more benefits.

Goldy or Eli, you'd be doing a service by explaining how the pension system actually works, and busting the myth that early retirement somehow earns one more than a later retirement. Publish that, and I'll mail it to the editorial board at Fairview Fanny.

@1 I'd love to see that as a feature article in an upcoming Stranger issue. Blog posts are one thing, but this particulary bit of Blethen idiocy deserves a retort in a broader-reaching forum.

@1, You're right. I've only tangentially touched on that in past posts. But actuarial stuff is complicated, so I need to study up.

Goldy, I just picked up a retirement handbook (State Department of Retirement Systems) and it's a pretty clear description of how the system works, and how the payouts are amortized.

Want my copy? I won't be needing it for several more years, I can mail it to you at The Starnger.

@4 which of the systems? PERS 1,2,3,4 or the UWRP and other plans? Different groups get different handbooks.

Hey hey, the Seattle times pushes Op/eds that are against public and labor rights, and FOR slashing public assistance and labor rights. See, they take both sides' opinions even-handedly.

The issue, as explained by the report linked from the Times editorial, is fairly straightforward: If you retire early, your payments are reduced somewhat. However, the reduction in benefits is smaller than the increase in costs the city incurs by virtue of having to pay you for a longer period of time. This doesn't necessarily mean that early retirement is a relatively good deal for employees, but it does mean that it's a relatively bad deal for the city.

@7: But you also need to add into that equation the fact that older workers cost the city more money in higher wages and significantly higher health care costs.

I love the rhetoric distinguishing public employees from taxpayers. The county, state, city, and unversities employ a large percentage of people in this area. So many of the taxpayers DO get the benefit of generous pensions.

Surprise, the Blethens want public sector employees to be paid shit wages compared to the private sector, and be served a shit sandwich of pension reneging. Because you know, retaining high quality employees in the public sector will happen thanks to the accolades conservatives and the Blethen Cage Liner will shower on them for their service. Or are the Blethens going to start advocating for salary parity of public sector workers to like jobs in the private sector?

For people that yammer about the greatness of markets so much, they never understand how they work.

@10: "For people that yammer about the greatness of markets so much, they never understand how they work."

Of course they do. Their rhetoric doesn't give a shit about how the market works out for ~you~.

This is a fine benefit, but even public employees will never have such a benefit themselves. That is a fairness problem.

Considering how easy it appears to be for private employers to bugger out of their pension obligations, I'm glad I'm not going to get that "benefit". And the way public pensions are now used as a political football (and the way Republicans salivate over using that money to give tax cuts to millionaires), I'm also glad I don't work in the public sector.

How much a pensioner gets paid is pretty simple math. The University of Washington has lot of the pay details of all their employees public and online, though buried deep on HR websites. How retirement funds are funded might be the complicated bit. Currently I pay 4.64% of gross pay, UW pays 7.25% of my gross pay. I also have access to a 403(b) (I believe it operates like an IRA but I can contribute as a pre-tax deduction).

There are only Pers plan 1, 2, or 3. Pers 1 is closed to new members. Pers 3 is basically taking your life into your own hands. Majority of employees are in the Pers 2 plan:

Service retirement
You are eligible to retire when you are 65 and have at least five service credit years. This formula will be used to calculate your monthly benefit:

2 % x service credit years x average final compensation

Average final compensation is the average of your 60 consecutive highest paid service
credit months. Any severance pay, or lump sum payment for unused sick leave or vacation/annual leave, is not included.

Pers 2 handbook: http://www.drs.wa.gov/member/handbooks/p…
Early Retirement publication: http://www.drs.wa.gov/publications/membe…
Job Specs. & Pay Scales for Classified Staff : http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/ocpsp…

If you want to work for a real newspaper so bad, Goldpussy, then suck Blethen's cock like his son does. It should come naturally now that you "work" at the Stranger. And don't worry about that complicated actuarial stuff. Just tweet on your rape whistle some more and shriek like the cunt you are.

Goldy,

If you haven't, go to the DRS website. They have great brochures there that explain in detail how the various systems work, including the really retirement provisions. It's not necessarily a good financial deal for the employee to take early retirement. But I know that the Times and other sources aren't really looking for facts, so none of this probably matters.

@16: Whereas you couldn't even get successfully hired to write copy for a porn site.