Teacher Pension Plans At Risk So Let's Fix This! #Teachers

Why Can't We Do Better for Our School Teachers and Their Salaries and Pensions?

When I hear about underpaid teachers (with arguably one of the most important jobs -- teaching our future generation) getting less than what they deserve in both salary and now pensions, this makes me very concerned.

Also, when I read about how the national average rating for how well teacher pensions are managed gets a C-, this also has me concerned.  I think we should all be a bit concerned with how yet in another area such as this, many in the middle class are getting the shaft, yet again.

Teachers must have what they need to succeed so that the children they teach and mentor can also succeed.  Teachers should also not have to worry about pension funds that are at risk, borrowed against, don't return much interest, have expensive management fees as 401K plans, or otherwise nickel and dime them out of their small salaries.

In fact, pensions should never have gone to 401K type of plans for certain professions like teachers, fire, police, ambulance or military in the first place.  They should all stay pensioned in the traditional sense, always, that should be the law of the land.

Our children are our future and we should invest and spend the money to ensure they get and keep great teachers.  We should try to go back to these traditional plans wherever we can.  Our tax dollars should go to this rather than huge failed multi-billion dollar programs where they have been wasted.

The way things are going, few people will have a good nest egg in retirement, and few are saving for one.  Many are tempted to rob their 401Ks for various reasons in our over-marketed economy and as one of Kiplinger's articles about retirement nest eggs says "two-thirds of U.S. households have saved less than $50,000 for retirement, reports the Employee Benefit Research Institute."

People sometimes make bad choices.  They are not doing what they must to build a nest egg in the first place.  President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) way back when realized this when he instituted Social Security on his watch.

The way FDR instituted Social Security and the way it exists today must not ever change, as it saves people from making bad choices in the most important things that affect their viability and future security.

We must legislate, when it comes to people's livelihood, in such a way so as to save them from themselves and not allow them to toy with their retirement and future security!

In a few cases like this, it is the job of the Government to step in for the greater good and ensure lasting personal viability and security in such a minimal but vital form.  Wearing seat belts, same kind of thing.  There are always a few of those things that are best if regulated and mandated but this can also be abused so we must be very careful about what where, when, how, and with whom.

Kiplinger tells us in this article about retirement nest egg savings, not having enough saved for retirement is said to be analogous to taking a 2-week vacation and running out of money after only the first week.  This happens for several reasons such as people under-estimating their needs.  Social Security exists to help in such cases as a supplement and in many cases as the only nest egg they may have.

For teachers, sticking to a traditional retirement plan would have just disciplined their spending habits in the first place.  Again, we should try to save people from themselves when it comes to such important things as retirement, and not allow legislators to sell their souls and your money to corporations while turning their backs on teachers and children.  Shame on them for doing so in the slightest.

The statistics like the one mentioned earlier about most people not saving much of anything for retirement tells me we should have a plan where we save people from themselves - use traditional pensions like this article talked about, rather than letting politicians be bribed by corporations (and their hired lobbyists) to rob anyone of their pensions.

Money should not own the US, instead doing right should be what sets this country apart as an example to the world by good deeds and not by riches, privilege, money and material things that so many have sold out to.  Yet stuff like the way teachers are treated in our country is yet another drop in the "that's just wrong" bucket.

When I read articles like this about teacher pensions and like this also about teacher pensions I get concerned and so should you!  Teachers are underpaid as it is.  That alone is a major issue and provides low incentive to join and stay the profession, which is part of the problem.  Also, the payback on college tuition plans are not as simple and incentivised as they should be.

Sure, this article about teacher pensions raises some good points that also should make teachers think about staying the course and avoiding it being a "gig" only rather than a profession.  However, I think here are some other fundamental ways we can fix this issue and make things right for teachers in the USA:

1. Teachers across the board deserve higher pay.  How much higher?  How about 20% more, with a 1-2% annual raise per year as well.  A teacher that makes $40,000 per year would then make $48,000 per year. With a 1 or 2% raise per year this covers inflation (the rise in insurance, utilities, etc.)

There should also be opportunities to make extra by doing counseling or running events, ESL classes, etc. when possible.  While we shouldn't pay them as much as a college tenured professor (due to the higher qualifications required), but we should pay them well enough and incentivise the career field more than it is today.

2. Pensions should stay (or change back to) traditional, to provide the real incentive for staying power of teachers as a profession.  If this is not possible, then if the 401K style plan must be used, teachers should be fully vested after no more than 10 years and matched at the 5% to 10% level.  Again, this provides long-term incentive on both sides for staying the course and being compensated and incentivised enough to do so.

3. Offer better college re-payment that's twice as good and twice as simple as compared with what exists today.  Teachers are in a service profession and should be appreciated, and compensated accordingly.  It is a shame they get underpaid, have to worry about low pensions and that their pensions may be subject to being borrowed against.

Teachers have one of the most important service jobs right alongside fire, police, military and the EMTs and Paramedics and should be paid, recognized and protected just the same.  They ensure the safety of everyone's children, and a teacher has done this for you, the reader, in fact - whether or not you realize it.  Don't you agree that they deserve better?

Please vote for those who think the same way and put education first, not last.  How dare we cut education and teacher's benefits and salaries and school's budgets.  Doing so affects our future negatively and we can't allow that to happen!