Parents of the HS Class of 2023 (Part 1)

[AmyIzzy]

@cormac05

I think there is absolutely a “worth” to it. I worked for a joint venture between two companies, both of which actually had pensions. When the joint venture ended, the company who held our pensions rolled our accrued benefits (all company provided) into a retirement account as a lump sum payout.

My point is, pensions are not some magic money that suddenly appears when you retire. You accrue money in your pension based on salary and length of service to the company and the value of your pension increases over time.

I put “worth” in quotes because it is very valuable to me, but I literally called NYSTRS and they said they can’t assign a number to the value, too many variables. So I want to answer the question but what am I supposed to do? Assuming I had a pension of $50K if I retire at 55. Do I predict I’ll live until 85 and multiply the $50K by 30? My understanding is that my pension contributions will give them a good idea of my retirement savings and that is reported in the salary part. I have called my retirement pension group, the CSS helpline and colleges who require the CSS and nobody can answer my question definitively as to how I should answer it or if I actually need to report anything re: my pension (estimate, guess, etc.) for that retirement savings section. It’s frustrating. But I didn’t mean to imply that a pension is worthless. Just the opposite! I am blessed to be a teacher in NYS (and I love my job) employed with a generous state pension and in a district with a strong union. I’d be happy to report a number in that section, but can’t get any solid guidance.