At the close of business Wednesday, while most people were traveling home to see their loved ones, stuck in airports or distracted with Thanksgiving visions of pumpkin pie and turkey dancing in their heads, Obama signed the defense spending bill into law.
As always, tucked deep into the words of the bill were some hidden nuggets- this one came with a lot of sweeping changes, the biggest one being the military retirement system is forever gone as we know it.
Lawmakers as well as the Secretary of Defense swore up and down that they wouldn't touch it, but they broke their promise while nobody was looking.
From now on, all new members of the military will no longer have a 20 year retirement pension.
The DoD will be going to a corporate style system of matched retirement savings.
Officials tried to spin it like this is somehow beneficial, but let's face it: the average value of the pension system was about $4.5 million per person, assuming you lived about 40 years after retiring.
Now, that value is more like $220,000- mind you, 95% of that is YOUR OWN MONEY that you contributed to retirement savings from your paycheck each month and a the rest, about $550 a year is what the government helps contribute.
Basically, the future military has been scammed into paying for their own retirement out of their own pockets. This was about nothing more than the Pentagon cutting costs. Disgusting.
Honestly, the carrot of a 20 year and then pension for life being wiggled in front of me was a large reason why I stayed in as long as I did and put up with as much bullshit as I did to try to get there.
Think the Navy has trouble now trying to get people staying on for those multiple sea tour billets? What do you think they're going to do when you tell them that now there's nothing waiting for them at the finish line?
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/...e-bill-military-retirement-overhaul/76302160/
As always, tucked deep into the words of the bill were some hidden nuggets- this one came with a lot of sweeping changes, the biggest one being the military retirement system is forever gone as we know it.
Lawmakers as well as the Secretary of Defense swore up and down that they wouldn't touch it, but they broke their promise while nobody was looking.
From now on, all new members of the military will no longer have a 20 year retirement pension.
The DoD will be going to a corporate style system of matched retirement savings.
Officials tried to spin it like this is somehow beneficial, but let's face it: the average value of the pension system was about $4.5 million per person, assuming you lived about 40 years after retiring.
Now, that value is more like $220,000- mind you, 95% of that is YOUR OWN MONEY that you contributed to retirement savings from your paycheck each month and a the rest, about $550 a year is what the government helps contribute.
Basically, the future military has been scammed into paying for their own retirement out of their own pockets. This was about nothing more than the Pentagon cutting costs. Disgusting.
Honestly, the carrot of a 20 year and then pension for life being wiggled in front of me was a large reason why I stayed in as long as I did and put up with as much bullshit as I did to try to get there.
Think the Navy has trouble now trying to get people staying on for those multiple sea tour billets? What do you think they're going to do when you tell them that now there's nothing waiting for them at the finish line?
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/...e-bill-military-retirement-overhaul/76302160/