Retirement. It's what we all look forward to as age creeps up on us. For most folks, the nagging question, "Will I have enough money to live comfortably in retirement?" is overshadowed by the larger question: "How will I pay for my health insurance premiums when I retire."
If you can stave off retirement until age 65, you'll be eligible for Medicare (of course that's not exactly free is it?). But what if you've worked hard from a young age and would like to truly enjoy retirement? What if you want to punch out at say age 55 or age 60? In this part of our series on contractual equity, we look at how the contracts for these 3 groups of District employees factor into the retirement equation.
Health Insurance Premiums
The table at right compares retirement benefits for the 3 groups.
First stop is the Local 60 group. These folks are awarded a whopping $3,600 to be placed in a fund to pay for health insurance premiums. At today's district rates for monthly premiums for a family,at todays rates, at best that buys them 3-4 months of health insurance before they have to pony up the full $1200-1400/month. Better wait till age 65 to retire and roll the dice with Medicare.
Next stop is the SPEA (teachers) 60 group. These folks are funded according to a more generous system that, with only 20 years in and with the contract maximum accrued leave, pays them t least 10 TIMES what the Local 60 folks get, or $36,000 for health insurance premiums. At today's district rates for monthly premiums for a family, that buys them about 3 years of health insurance before they have to pony up the full $1200-1400/month. These folks could easily retire at 62 and pay not a dime until Medicare kicks in. Noteworthy as well is that, in addition to the health insurance funding, an additional $9,600 is placed in a retirement annuity account.
Last stop: Administrators. All these folks have to do is work at least 12 years and their health care account is funded with 100% of their salary at retirement. Right now these folks average about $90,000/year. That's nearly 3x what SPEA gets and over 25 times what Local 60 gets. At today's district rates for monthly premiums for a family, that buys them about 8 years of health insurance before they have to pony up the full $1200-1400/month. These folks could easily retire at 58 and pay not a dime until Medicare kicks in.
That's the story on retirement benefits. Some have a very sweet deal; others definitely do not fare so well. The only thing that is equal for all 3 groups is that they are part of the Wisconsin Retirement system. That's definitely a nice perk...depending on your salary at retirement and years of service.
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