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Special pension/Normal pensions/military pensions

How are pensions calculated in your country(1-4)?/What do you think (5-8)

  • We have just one form of pension and everybody is in it.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • We have different forms of pensions for military/dignitaries/normal and others

    Votes: 4 80.0%
  • We have no pensions what so ever

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • All have same pension but there are provisions(i.e wounded soldier)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I think everybody should be under one pension plan

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I think there should be different pension plans

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • There should be no state-provided pensions what so ever

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • All should be under same pension (with provision for wounded soldiers)

    Votes: 3 60.0%

  • Total voters
    5
  • Poll closed .

Rainman05

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Hello all.

To make things clear, pension = social security. So your retirement money, to which you contribute in your entire working life and which the politicians spend in advance :p

But that's not the idea here.

In my country (Romania), there are basically 3 types of pensions (social security) that are calculated in three different ways.

1. Normal pensions. This is the pension that most of the population has. Basically, you give a certain % of your income to the state and when you retire, you will get that money back. You can opt to have private pensions too, and you can give a % of your salary to that private pension fund, and when you retire, you will cash out. This has a formula and usually, usually, when you retire, after 40+ years of work, you would get like 60-70% of what you earned on average over your working life. But there is a mathematical formula that deals with something called: point per pension (rough translation).

2. Special pensions. These are the pensions that state dignitaries get. These are calculated differently because many state dignitaries get many benefits that other normal working folk don't get... so there is a different formula. However, these pensions are usually the highest. Members of Parliament get huge pensions, so do ambassadors, former Presidents after they stopped being president, etc.

3. Military pensions. These are unique in that the amount of money you get as retirement is generally fixed, and it varies very little in accordance to what you paid in % from your income. Generally speaking, all colonels get the same pension pretty much, all seargeants get the same pension ,etc and again, there is little you can do to vary them.

So anyway, I want to know the following thing.

In your country, do different pensions get calculated differently or are they all the same? The reason I am interested is because there is a huge political discussion about how all pensions should be calculated the same (like all normal pensions) to cut down social security costs. The ones in power (social democrats and friends) are saying, yes, have all pensions calculated the same way, no more special pensions and no more military pensions, and the opposition (democrat liberals and friends) are saying to keep them the same way, and if costs have to be reduced, the pensions need to be reduced by a bit, but keep them different.

Both ways cut costs either way, or so do the stats show, but the way they cut costs will leave many former military personnel with a lot less money and also the special pensions would be heavily reduced, so retired ambassadors, MPs and other dignitaries will have a lot less pension.

So, are there different forms of calculating retirement in your country, and if so, which ones?
 
So, as I said, in my country there are different pension plans and I do think this is the correct way to go about it.
 
Yes, in America, we have different "pensions". I agree that we should have them but that they should be changed from their current form.

I do not agree with politicians getting pensions in a lot of cases. Presidents, maybe, but other politicians, no, unless it is calculated the same as military pensions. 1/2 base pay averaged over last 3 years of service at 20 years of service. Each year of service beyond 20 years gets you a greater percentage. Free medical for life was once part of the deal, but the government has reneged on that deal. I don't know the formula for federal employees, but there is one. There are allowances for those who become disabled while performing service. Politicians on the other hand have a completely different "retirement" plan, and I think it needs to be ended.

Everyone else is supposed to pay into social security and can have private plans. Federal employees can also build private plans that do not affect their retirements/pensions. One problem with it is that military/government workers also pay social security but never actually draw it. At 65, your pension is reduced the exact amount that comes out of the social security fund. So which fund pays it changes, but not how much an individual draws. No one should have to pay social security taxes and not actually get it. On the other hand, no one should get social security if they, or in some cases a spouse, has never paid in. Same with Medicare.
 
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