How did you take your retirement payout?

[Automaton]

I believe it is age 62, not 60. Regardless, I was replying to Quad regarding a pension for 40 years.

The Central is $4300 for 35 years at any age plus an additional $175/mo for every year worked past 35.

This is pretty much straight from the Central contract:

Years of Service Pension Credit (for those who retired prior to Jan 1, 2020)
35 years/Any age/$3900
30 or more years/Any age/$3,400 plus $100/yr of service for years over 30 up to $3,900
25 years/Any age/$2000 up to age 57
25 years/57 or older/$2,500 plus $100/yr of service for years over 25 up to $3,500maximum.

Effective January 1, 2020, the following enhancements will be im- plemented:
35 years, any age—$4,300
30 or more years, any age—$3,800 plus $100/yr of service for years over 30 up to $4,300

I couldn't find anything that suggests $175/mo on top of the $4300 years of service credit for additional years over 35. I believe the $175/mo figure pertains to the alternate calculation method, and only comes into play if that method pays more than the years of service would. It's certainly possible to make more than $4300/mo, and from what I've seen the retirement calculator will show you the larger payout of the two. It's a shame qdg2 couldn't get it to work. But I believe it might still be possible to approximate what the alternate payout would have been if you can track down the previous accrual rates and how many years worked under each of those rates.

 

[Trucker Clock]

This is pretty much straight from the Central contract:

Years of Service Pension Credit (for those who retired prior to Jan 1, 2020)
35 years/Any age/$3900
30 or more years/Any age/$3,400 plus $100/yr of service for years over 30 up to $3,900
25 years/Any age/$2000 up to age 57
25 years/57 or older/$2,500 plus $100/yr of service for years over 25 up to $3,500maximum.

Effective January 1, 2020, the following enhancements will be im- plemented:
35 years, any age—$4,300
30 or more years, any age—$3,800 plus $100/yr of service for years over 30 up to $4,300

I couldn't find anything that suggests $175/mo on top of the $4300 years of service credit for additional years over 35. I believe the $175/mo figure pertains to the alternate calculation method, and only comes into play if that method pays more than the years of service would. It's certainly possible to make more than $4300/mo, and from what I've seen the retirement calculator will show you the larger payout of the two. It's a shame qdg2 couldn't get it to work. But I believe it might still be possible to approximate what the alternate payout would have been if you can track down the previous accrual rates and how many years worked under each of those rates.

Correct. There is a service pension, up to 35 years. Anything over 35 years becomes a contributory pension, with an additional $175/mo for each year past 35 years. I believe there is a reduction for the combined service credit if you're under 62 when you retire with more than 35 years. So, depending on age, the service pension of $4300 may be more than the contributory pension, until you get closer to 62.

and only comes into play if that method pays more than the years of service would.

It comes into play when you work more than 35 years, depending on age. And I replied to @qdg2, who had more than 42 years in. So I was assuming he was at least 62, to be eligible for the unreduced contributory pension.

Run the retirement calculator with different scenarios. You will find that if you retire at 40 years instead of 39 years, you will receive an additional $175/mo more than 39 years.

If you retire after 41 years instead of 39, you will receive an additional $350/mo more than 39 years.

Here's mine at 39, 40 and 41 years. My 35 year pension is $4300.

 

[Automaton]

Correct. There is a service pension, up to 35 years. Anything over 35 years becomes a contributory pension, with an additional $175/mo for each year past 35 years. I believe there is a reduction for the combined service credit if you're under 62 when you retire with more than 35 years. So, depending on age, the service pension of $4300 may be more than the contributory pension, until you get closer to 62.



It comes into play when you work more than 35 years, depending on age. And I replied to @qdg2, who had more than 42 years in. So I was assuming he was at least 62, to be eligible for the unreduced contributory pension.

Run the retirement calculator with different scenarios. You will find that if you retire at 40 years instead of 39 years, you will receive an additional $175/mo more than 39 years.

If you retire after 41 years instead of 39, you will receive an additional $350/mo more than 39 years.

Here's mine at 39, 40 and 41 years. My 35 year pension is $4300.

View attachment 415464

When I ran similar scenarios through the calculator, I learned that in my case the years of service pension actually gets replaced by the contributory pension at approximately 32 years. So even if I work 35 years, I should get more than $4300/mo. For example, if I retire on 3/1/2023 the number for me is $3800/mo, which is still under the years of service plan. But looking ahead to 3/1/2024 the number jumps to $4171.40/mo, which is no longer a nice even years of service number.

 

[Trucker Clock]

When I ran similar scenarios through the calculator, I learned that in my case the years of service pension actually gets replaced by the contributory pension at approximately 32 years. So even if I work 35 years, I should get more than $4300/mo. For example, if I retire on 3/1/2023 the number for me is $3800/mo, which is still under the years of service plan. But looking ahead to 3/1/2024 the number jumps to $4171.40/mo, which is no longer a nice even years of service number.

How many years on 3/01/2023 and what age to get that $3800/mo?

30 years is $3800 at any age.

 

[Automaton]

How many years on 3/01/2023 and what age to get that $3800/mo?

30 years is $3800 at any age.

Yes, 30 years of service as of 3/1/2023. I'll hit 31 years of service sometime this summer I believe.

 

[Trucker Clock]

Yes, 30 years of service as of 3/1/2023. I'll hit 31 years of service sometime this summer I believe.

So you're saying that after 31 years, you will get $4171.40/mo instead of the service pension of $3900 for 31 years?

 

[Automaton]

So you're saying that after 31 years, you will get $4171.40/mo instead of the service pension of $3900 for 31 years?

Essentially, yes. Somewhere between 31 and 32 years (in my case), the years of service pension becomes the lower payout and gets kicked to the curb. That number won't be the same for everyone, though. The figure is based on how long you worked under the different contracts through the years, and takes into account any time you may have missed due to layoffs, injuries, illnesses, etc. Also, once you're not on the years of service plan, you no longer need a full year of credit to see a bump. You should then see a small bump for every month you work.

 

[Trucker Clock]

Essentially, yes. Somewhere between 31 and 32 years (in my case), the years of service pension becomes the lower payout and gets kicked to the curb. That number won't be the same for everyone, though. The figure is based on how long you worked under the different contracts through the years, and takes into account any time you may have missed due to layoffs, injuries, illnesses, etc. Also, once you're not on the years of service plan, you no longer need a full year of credit to see a bump. You should then see a small bump for every month you work.

That‘s why I can’t understand why @qdg2 only got $4300, or whatever amount he got. He seemed to indicate it was far less than $5000. He was at least 62 and had 42 years in.

 

[Automaton]

That‘s why I can’t understand why @qdg2 only got $4300, or whatever amount he got. He seemed to indicate it was far less than $5000. He was at least 62 and had 42 years in.

I didn't notice that he actually said he was in the Central. I just posted the contract language in case he was. But for people who worked under previous contracts, the accrual rate was lower for most of those years. In my case, I missed several years earlier on for various reasons, so it works out for me that my years are weighted more toward the recent, higher accrual rates. It hasn't always been $175.00. But consider this - Someone starting out in Jan 2019 and works 30 years with no time lost would have a pension payout of 30 x 175 = $5250/mo.

edit. That's assuming the accrual rate doesn't change in the future.

 

[Trucker Clock]

I didn't notice that he actually said he was in the Central. I just posted the contract language in case he was. But for people who worked under previous contracts, the accrual rate was lower for most of those years. In my case, I missed several years earlier on for various reasons, so it works out for me that my years are weighted more toward the recent, higher accrual rates. It hasn't always been $175.00. But consider this - Someone starting out in Jan 2019 and works 30 years with no time lost would have a pension payout of 30 x 175 = $5250/mo.

edit. That's assuming the accrual rate doesn't change in the future.

The Southern pretty much mirrors the Central.

It was $132 in 2008, but jumped up to $170 in 2013. Then jumped to $175 in 2018.

His accrual shouldn’t be that far off from us to only get $4300.

 

[Automaton]

The Southern pretty much mirrors the Central.

It was $132 in 2008, but jumped up to $170 in 2013. Then jumped to $175 in 2018.

His accrual shouldn’t be that far off from us to only get $4300.

The way he described it makes me wonder if they just gave him the years of service pension and failed to consider the contributory pension. If it were me, I would definitely want to look into that and see if it somehow got overlooked.

 

[Trucker Clock]

The way he described it makes me wonder if they just gave him the years of service pension and failed to consider the contributory pension. If it were me, I would definitely want to look into that and see if it somehow got overlooked.

I was thinking the same thing.