<p>I began my present employment last August and I am covered by the Florida Retirement System (FRS). I am 22. I have until Jan. 31 to choose the offered Investment Plan or stay by default in the Pension Plan. The Investment Plan is vested after one year of employment vs. eight years employment in the Pension Plan. Both I and my employer contribute to the FRS, no matter which plan I choose. I plan to stay with same employer for at least eight years, but I am not entirely sure what the future holds for me. I am leaning toward staying with Pension Plan instead of the Investment Plan…would this be sounder decision financially for me? Any retirement planning experts familiar with the FRS have any advice or recommendations for me? Thanks!</p>
<p>They have an excellent web site. If you are not going to be a career employee I would go with the 401k or what they call the Investment plan. If you plan on working in the system for more then 25 years I would check what type of statutory or constitutional protections the defined benefit plan has.</p>
<p>Oops, thanks for reminding me to check the FRS website for info. Site was mentioned in pamphlets I have, and also in a postcard mailed to me last week reminding me about Jan. 31 decision deadline. I have been putting this off, I have a lot of reading and studying to do. Any other tips or additional advice I would welcome…I’m not a wiz at all this money stuff and it seems overwhelming to me…especially 25 year out decisions.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.myfrs.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.myfrs.com</a></p>
<p>lizard, without knowing anything about the costs/benefits of the 2 plans, how can you at age 22 plan to stay with any employer for 8 years? And even if you were very certain you wanted to stay, how can you be confident of remaining employed by the state government (Is it a State Govt job?) for 8 years. </p>
<p>Do you get any cash payout if you leave your job before 8 years and don’t fully vest in a pension? </p>
<p>I stayed with an employer for over 9 years and they had 10 year pension vesting. At the time, when I left, it was sort of, oh well, that’s too bad but that’s the way it goes. Now that I am older it’s more like… darn!</p>
<p>lizard I noticed the plan used to be non-contributory for employees. Many of those plans did not offer the same constitutional or contractual guarantees that contributory plans offer. The plan now requires a 3% employee contribution you should check if the fact that employees now contribute to the plan came with any protections.</p>
<p>The plan appears to be better than the NJ plan since our employees contribute 7% of their pay for an equivalent benefit upon retirement.</p>
<p>NJRes the norm is that the employees contributions are returned with a nominal interest earned</p>
<p>yeah there are a lot of wheels moving in the background with the Florida pension plan…including a giant lawsuit in the Florida Supreme Court waiting for a final ruling about the newer 3% required contribution by employees that involves billions of dollars. Even statutes pertaining to the pension can be disputed in court. I can only control what I can and I will review my options and make a decision by Jan. 31.</p>
<p>NJres, the state is also now paying (via grants) my tuition for a job related graduate degree I am enrolled in too right now. The state is investing in me so that should work some to my advantage keeping my present job.</p>
<p>Without knowing anything about the details, I’d go with the portable one that leaves you with the most control. Personally, I wouldn’t necessarily trust the state of Fl to come through with promised benefits 40 years from now.</p>