some info..hope it helps someone

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25888287/

oh 1 more.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25934684/

GoodLuck..and semper paratus
lifes a beach sc

Well, I'm screwed, hosed, and other wise insufficient....
Here's to being a 40 year lifer in the guard.

Are you implying that Military Xers are not going to receive pension. I know I have no hope of seeing any of the SS, that has been systematically sucked out of my check since I was 16.

But I do have hope that military pension will not be affected by the mass retirement of Boomers; which according to Business Week, are retiring at a rate of 10,000 every 24hrs.

I say let them retire, and make room for the Xers to take over Senior Management.

If you are currently working for an employer that offers the traditional pension - where receive a lifetime benefit based on seniority years worked and salary - you are the exception rather than the rule.

No one is going to take your pension, if you qualify for it or are already qualified for it, away. It can be modified and lowered, but not normally abolished for those who have met the entitilement requirements.

The U.S. Dept of Labor has an agency, Employee Benefits Security Administration, that has oversight over all U.S. retirement plans. They have a section on their web site "What you should know about your retirement plan" You may want to take a look at it to understand how employer plans are set up and how it affects you - http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/publications/wyskapr.html . They also have information on understanding retirement planning, if it's regarding employer programs for employees, it's there on their web site (They have a Q and A section but I can't find it tonight).

Now with most employers in the last 30 years, a change from paying employer sponsored, funded pensions to employer sponsored, employee funded defined contribution plans or modified defined benefit plans (pensions that are based on your cash balance at retirement to convert to an annuity).

These changes in employer retirement programs require each worker to look at the retirement plan their employer offers, take advantage of it as much as they can, and when they move from one employer to another, seriously consider cashing out and spending that money - commit to transferring it to the new employer's equiavalent plan or investing it elsewhere for use in your retirement years.

SS isn't going anywhere either. But like employer defined benefit pensions, it must change because it's not going to be solvent enough to pay the kinds of benefits it does now to the masses drawing from it and living longer - later.

In time the military pension will change, it probably won't affect any of us in the military right now, but it will change. It's one of the few traditional pensions (and most generous in its fourmula of paying percentage of average salary) still around.

BTW, the British military (along with the UK civil servants), who also collected pensions similiar to the US military (and along those lines for civil public sector employees compared to ours) are undergoing a change. Some on board now can opt to change or keep what they have (with a slight reduction), those enlisted after a certain date will not have a choice they will be under the UK Gov't defined contribution (401k-type) or cash balance pension plan.