Retirement Tips

I wouldn’t recommend cocaine. Unless you’re selling it. If you work at a high school or college you already have some easy clientele.

 

See if you have enough work hours in, aside from teaching, to qualify for Social Security. Texas teachers don't get it (and they should, but this is Texas), and it can really help when you actually retire. The more income streams you have, the better off you are at retirement age.

 

Just rent you a sweet spot at a premiere trailer park and lower your expectations



The Elderly are the highest poverty group in America, just barely edging out them hungry kids.

 

Works every time.

 

He's asking Clutchfans for retirement help - he's pretty much dug a hole and buried his expectations.

 

First you need to stop wasting your money on avocado toast.

 

Pull that money out of the IRA & 401k. Get all the cash you can. Put it all on an out of the money call option the expires the following week. 6min abs is a scam. 6min retirement is real.

 

Investment places claim you should have 10X your income in savings by the time you retire. For most people that isn’t realistic. My suggestion to you would be to see if you have a matching 401K at work and go up at least as high as they match. If possible you want to put in at least 10 percent and possibly even more. If you are single or if you have expendable income increase the amount from 10% to 15-20%.

Once that money is in the 401K DO NOT TOUCH IT. It is protected against most bankruptcy and it is extremely hard for creditors to get to.

 

Cocaine is an easy way to increase earnings with a low risk of criminal discovery.

Overall solid advice.

 

I'd probably pay off the high interest debt a little bit sooner.

 

Wow, had no idea this was a thing.

https://tcta.org/node/11506-social_security_benefits

I'm actually part of the same retirement fund (TCDRS). I think the pension is pretty good, although might depend how much they are matching and how much your contributions are.

 

DO NOT enter the STOCK MARKET: Let's talk stocks and investing thread lol. I've learned useful things from it, but it's geared more towards gambling than retirement portfolio building.

 

Sage advice.

 

This thread has inspired me to boost my 401k contributions for a big catchup the last 2 paychecks of the year.

 

The State of Texas has probably the worst benefits for public school teachers in the country. The state chose not to participate in Social Security a long time ago because they didn't want to spend the money. I could say why, but that would get this into D&D, which I don't want to do. Individual districts, also a very long time ago, were given a one time option by the state to participate themselves, but most chose not to because they couldn't afford it. The state contributes a very small amount to districts per teacher. Hey, it's complicated.

You need to speak to your district's Human Resources representative to see if your district participates in SS. Don't be surprised if they don't. I'm guessing that you would have been aware of it already if they did. Could be that you've already worked enough hours outside of teaching to qualify for SS. You need to find out online from SS if you do. Could be that if you are close or even if you aren't, you could get the hours you need between now and when you retire. You're still relatively young.

An article from the Texas Tribune, an excellent non-profit news source about our state's government and lots of other things, explains it better than I can. I'm not a retired teacher, but I know several, including my sister, who "got under the wire" because she's very smart, heard that the state was going to make it tougher for teachers to get SS, and managed to work just enough hours in the private sector to qualify. It contributes a large amount to her monthly income stream, mainly thanks to her late husband's SS "spousal benefit" (I think I've got that right).

I'll post the article here.

https://www.texastribune.org/series/texplainer/

- How do employment benefits for Texas educators compare to those in other states?

This question has been a point of contention between lawmakers and educators for many years. Texas teachers say they’re frustrated due to a lack of state funding for public education. But lawmakers say the uncertainty surrounding the budget makes it hard to allocate better benefits for educators.

If you look at the raw numbers, Texas ranked 27th in the nation for teacher pay in 2016, according to the National Education Association. On average, Texas teachers earned $51,890 — roughly $6,500 below the national average.


However, teachers have long argued that inadequate funding for public schools cuts into their salaries. During the 2008 fiscal year, the state covered roughly 48.5 percent of the cost of public education, according to the Legislative Budget Board. By the 2019 fiscal year, that figure will be closer to 38 percent. Over the same period, teacher salaries remained about the same (Texas teachers, on average, earned roughly $47,000 in 2008).

“One of the biggest costs to education are the teachers and other employees at a school district. That’s the biggest cost to the state,” said Clay Robison, a spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association. “When you start cutting education in Texas, you’re shortchanging teachers. We’re already behind the national average when it comes to teacher pay, and we’re getting further behind.”

But salaries aren’t the only component to consider when looking at how Texas teachers fare compared to their peers in other states, said Ed Allen with the American Federation of Teachers.

“When looking at a nationwide comparison, most people factor in the salaries. But when teachers get older, what’s being paid into retirement and the health insurance becomes a really big deal,” Allen said.

When it comes to health care benefits, advocates say Texas teachers are stuck in 2002. That’s when state lawmakers created the plan known as TRS-ActiveCare. The teacher health insurance program, which is run by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, requires the state to contribute $75 per employee toward monthly health care premiums.

Nearly 430,000 public school teachers and retirees are covered under the plan, which is used by many of the state’s 1,200-plus school districts. Since the program went into effect, employees’ share of premiums have more than doubled, while the state’s contribution to teacher’s health care has remained the same.


“When your salary is barely going up year after year, health care costs are going up considerably and you’re not getting any additional money put toward those healthcare cost by your employer — which is the state in this case — then effectively you’re taking a year over year cut to your salary,” said Monty Exter, a lobbyist at the Association of Texas Professional Educators.

Under the TRS-ActiveCare program, districts are also required to put a minimum of $150 per employee per month toward health insurance premiums, with the option of contributing more. But Exter said that can be difficult for districts as education budgets are squeezed.

Joel Solomon, a senior policy analyst with the National Education Association, said it’s hard to compare Texas teacher health insurance programs to other states since the structure of such programs varies nationwide. But, he said, “when we look at educators’ health benefits around the country and how important … ensuring quality health benefits to educators are, what we see in Texas is deeply troubling.”

When it comes to retirement funding, a majority of states pay into both a pension plan and Social Security. Texas is in the minority of states that only pays into a pension fund and does not pay into Social Security for the majority of its teachers — which means most Texas teachers won’t have access to Social Security benefits when they retire. Fewer than 50 of the state’s districts participate in Social Security on their own.

Among states that only offer a pension plan for teachers, Texas is dead last when it comes to funding its pension programs — by a lot.

For years, Texas only paid 6 percent — the constitutional minimum — into the Teacher Retirement System. It now pays 6.8 percent, according to the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. And the Texas Constitution says the state's contributions to pension funds can’t eclipse 10 percent without a constitutional amendment approved by voters.

“The next closest non-Social Security state had a retirement contribution rate at least double ours,” said Ann Fickel, the associate executive director of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association. The median contribution for the other 14 other states that don’t pay into Social Security for their teachers is around 18 percent, she added.

“As retirees’ costs rise, especially for medical care, there will be pressure on lawmakers to find a way to increase benefits for retired teachers,” Fickel said.


The bottom line: When it comes to teacher pay, Texas ranked 27th in the nation — right around the middle. But Texas is dead last in teacher retirement funding and puts a little more than the minimum into the Teacher Retirement System.

 

I stand corrected. TRS and TCDRS are different pension funds. Hmm weird, I was always told TCDRS was the one teachers were on...

 

securing full ownership of a place to live and paying off any mortgages is a priority before retirement .
-pensions plans seems to meet minimum living standards , Banks usually have a top up plans that give you extra funds that might be worth exploring

I see myself working maybe in my 70s , I'm more concerned with injury/sudden death ,so I bought extra insurance to benefit my family in such case