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Post by 19delta on Jan 2, 2022 17:46:03 GMT -6
I'm a public high school teacher in Illinois. I did 3 years in the US Army before becoming a teacher. I'm pretty sure that I can use at least some of my service time and apply it to my teacher retirement. Has anyone done that and if so, how much does it cost? Do you have to pay up front?
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Post by tog on Jan 2, 2022 17:56:52 GMT -6
I'm a public high school teacher in Illinois. I did 3 years in the US Army before becoming a teacher. I'm pretty sure that I can use at least some of my service time and apply it to my teacher retirement. Has anyone done that and if so, how much does it cost? Do you have to pay up front? I haven't I am on a "different" plan but with that said the math, the pure money never works out but if you are thinking about it, and life is running thin, years and time waning do it money is time you only have so much time money isn't the end all be all time is |
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Post by larrymoe on Jan 2, 2022 18:48:07 GMT -6
I'm a public high school teacher in Illinois. I did 3 years in the US Army before becoming a teacher. I'm pretty sure that I can use at least some of my service time and apply it to my teacher retirement. Has anyone done that and if so, how much does it cost? Do you have to pay up front? Get in touch with TRS. I worked with a guy who I believe did this, but we weren't close enough to get into great detail. Other people that have bought service for other things have said it wasn't that costly. Definitely look into it though. At the prison we had a guy who thought he could retire, but he dilly dallied around about getting his service from a previous police job added. He didn't want to work, but he also wasn't in a hurry. He died in October. I urged everyone before to get out ASAP and live a life they enjoy, but since that happened, I feel it's even more urgent. 7 1/2 more years for me. |
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Post by jgordon1 on Jan 2, 2022 18:54:25 GMT -6
I'm a public high school teacher in Illinois. I did 3 years in the US Army before becoming a teacher. I'm pretty sure that I can use at least some of my service time and apply it to my teacher retirement. Has anyone done that and if so, how much does it cost? Do you have to pay up front? I bought service and wished I purchased more. Like someone said above its a numbers game. in the state I am in basically you get 7-8% more guaranteed each year you are in service...you really can't beat that... so say i was supposed to get 40000 if I retired this year..if you add on a year by either purchasing it or working it I would get 43200 the next year and every year for the rest of my life. that being said are you healthy? can you roll over the $ from your last job? etc. |
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Post by coachd5085 on Jan 2, 2022 22:26:28 GMT -6
I'm a public high school teacher in Illinois. I did 3 years in the US Army before becoming a teacher. I'm pretty sure that I can use at least some of my service time and apply it to my teacher retirement. Has anyone done that and if so, how much does it cost? Do you have to pay up front? That is a fairly complex question. Actuaries will have to calculate a value based on both your contributions as well as your employers contributions multiplied by a factor that would likely represent the compound annual growth rate that such contributions would have experienced had they been contributed at that time. Essentially, a very rough estimate would be to take what you contribute in a year to the Illinois teacher retirement system, what your district/state contributes in a year and then assume a growth rate (lets say 6% annual) and then calculate for however many years is applicable. You would be purchasing the year or two prior to your start with the Illinois system, so if you are currently 15 years in, then that growth rate would be calculated over 16 years. |
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Post by wingtol on Jan 3, 2022 6:10:32 GMT -6
Do you have a finical planner you use for any other retirement funds like a 403(b)? The guy I use had all the info I need when I bought back some time, only was like .8 of a year from subbing but anything that gets me out the door sooner!!!!
I did it awhile ago but in PA you are able to just roll the cost into your pension payments somehow so it ended up around 500-1000 bucks.
Some states also have time limits on when you can do that or open windows for it. If you don't have a planner guess you'll need to go through the fun of calling the state. Or maybe if your district has a benefits/insurance coordinator they can help.
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Post by coachcb on Jan 3, 2022 12:35:04 GMT -6
Yes, I rolled a 401k into from a private school into my TRS. It bought me a little over a year as I didn't contribute heavily to it as I was just starting out.
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Post by 19delta on Jan 3, 2022 18:09:17 GMT -6
I'm a public high school teacher in Illinois. I did 3 years in the US Army before becoming a teacher. I'm pretty sure that I can use at least some of my service time and apply it to my teacher retirement. Has anyone done that and if so, how much does it cost? Do you have to pay up front? Get in touch with TRS. I worked with a guy who I believe did this, but we weren't close enough to get into great detail. Other people that have bought service for other things have said it wasn't that costly. Definitely look into it though. At the prison we had a guy who thought he could retire, but he dilly dallied around about getting his service from a previous police job added. He didn't want to work, but he also wasn't in a hurry. He died in October. I urged everyone before to get out ASAP and live a life they enjoy, but since that happened, I feel it's even more urgent. 7 1/2 more years for me. I heard from them today. Would cost me about $16,000. However, it also seems that for every year before 60 that I retire, my pension is reduced by 6%. If that's the case, I've got 13 more years to go. |
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Post by larrymoe on Jan 4, 2022 17:15:28 GMT -6
Get in touch with TRS. I worked with a guy who I believe did this, but we weren't close enough to get into great detail. Other people that have bought service for other things have said it wasn't that costly. Definitely look into it though. At the prison we had a guy who thought he could retire, but he dilly dallied around about getting his service from a previous police job added. He didn't want to work, but he also wasn't in a hurry. He died in October. I urged everyone before to get out ASAP and live a life they enjoy, but since that happened, I feel it's even more urgent. 7 1/2 more years for me. I heard from them today. Would cost me about $16,000. However, it also seems that for every year before 60 that I retire, my pension is reduced by 6%. If that's the case, I've got 13 more years to go. Yikes, that's pricey. With changing retirement systems I'm now under the "Rule of 85" retirement formula. My years of service plus my age have to come out to 85 and then I can retire. I've currently got 23 1/2 years in at 45 3/4 years old so I'm sitting at 69ish years. 7 1/2 more years of service/aging and I should be scot free at about 66% whatever my 4 highest years are. If I retire as an officer I should make in retirement what I made in year 19 as a teacher- around 45k. |
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Post by teachcoach on Jan 4, 2022 17:35:29 GMT -6
In TRS if you don't have 35 before 60 it is reduced. I started late so I will be at 60, but with two years of accumulated sick will help a lot. So I can go at full 75% with 33 years. Many teachers that I work with don't understand the value of the accumulated sick leave. I have over the max with 9 years left, nice little cushion of sick leave gives me some comfort.
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Post by 19delta on Jan 4, 2022 19:05:02 GMT -6
In TRS if you don't have 35 before 60 it is reduced. I started late so I will be at 60, but with two years of accumulated sick will help a lot. So I can go at full 75% with 33 years. Many teachers that I work with don't understand the value of the accumulated sick leave. I have over the max with 9 years left, nice little cushion of sick leave gives me some comfort. Yeah. I have 2 years accumulated. I have worked with many teachers who use every sick day every year. I just don't understand that. In 20+ years, I can count on 1 hand the number of sick days I have used. |
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Post by coachd5085 on Jan 4, 2022 19:26:16 GMT -6
19delta and teachcoach - how many days do you accumulate each year to have accumulated 2 full years already? In my district, at 10 days a year that would take 36 years of perfect attendance.
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Post by 19delta on Jan 4, 2022 20:41:19 GMT -6
19delta and teachcoach - how many days do you accumulate each year to have accumulated 2 full years already? In my district, at 10 days a year that would take 36 years of perfect attendance. The first district I worked at had an extremely sweet deal in which employees would be awarded 180 sick days once they accumulated 40 days. I worked in that district for 5 years so when I left, I already had banked a year of sick leave. Here's the kicker...I came back to that district 4 years ago. So, at the end of this year, I'll be getting another 180 days. So yeah...it was a great deal. |
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Post by coachd5085 on Jan 4, 2022 21:05:38 GMT -6
19delta and teachcoach - how many days do you accumulate each year to have accumulated 2 full years already? In my district, at 10 days a year that would take 36 years of perfect attendance. The first district I worked at had an extremely sweet deal in which employees would be awarded 180 sick days once they accumulated 40 days. I worked in that district for 5 years so when I left, I already had banked a year of sick leave. Here's the kicker...I came back to that district 4 years ago. So, at the end of this year, I'll be getting another 180 days. So yeah...it was a great deal. That seems like a most bizarre human resource policy. Accumulate X and we will make it 4X. Nice deal indeed, but I would look for any potential fine print. |
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Post by teachcoach on Jan 6, 2022 11:44:50 GMT -6
19delta and teachcoach - how many days do you accumulate each year to have accumulated 2 full years already? In my district, at 10 days a year that would take 36 years of perfect attendance. We get 15 sick days and 2 personal per year. If we don't use the personal days, they get rolled into the sick for accumulation of days. 170 for one year of service, 340 for two in our system. Some districts will offer extra days in contracts. |
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Post by woodyboyd on Jan 6, 2022 11:54:11 GMT -6
You should look into it, but you really need to contact your state retirement systems. My father taught 8 years at a Catholic school in the 1970s. He was able to buy back five years (all that is allowed in my state) for a reasonable price in the early 1990s. This let him eventually retire with 37 years in education and he got 94% of his top three years for retirement.
I have taught 6 six years in one state and 16 years in another. When I checked on buying back 5 of those six years, it would cost me roughly $110,000. I couldn't afford that, so I will now need to teach until age 62 in my state and only be able to collect 70% of my top 5 years. Had I planned better, buying those years would allow me to retire in my 50's and collect 78%.
Each situation is unique. Call your state and buy back as much as possible.
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Post by wingtol on Jan 6, 2022 12:58:15 GMT -6
The first district I worked at had an extremely sweet deal in which employees would be awarded 180 sick days once they accumulated 40 days. I worked in that district for 5 years so when I left, I already had banked a year of sick leave. Here's the kicker...I came back to that district 4 years ago. So, at the end of this year, I'll be getting another 180 days. So yeah...it was a great deal. That seems like a most bizarre human resource policy. Accumulate X and we will make it 4X. Nice deal indeed, but I would look for any potential fine print. Yeah I need some info on this one... We can accumulate sick days for as long as we are employed, we get 10 sick and 3 personal a year, then sell them back when we retire. But I have never heard of a district dropping a years worth of sick days on you after accumulating so many sick days. |
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Post by 19delta on Jan 6, 2022 17:42:18 GMT -6
That seems like a most bizarre human resource policy. Accumulate X and we will make it 4X. Nice deal indeed, but I would look for any potential fine print. Yeah I need some info on this one... We can accumulate sick days for as long as we are employed, we get 10 sick and 3 personal a year, then sell them back when we retire. But I have never heard of a district dropping a years worth of sick days on you after accumulating so many sick days. Yeah. It's definitely a sweet deal. I talked to a retirement counselor today. She said that as long as I maintain the 2 years of banked sick days and buy those 2 years from when I was in the Army, I can retire at 57 (in 10 years) at full pension. |
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Post by coachd5085 on Jan 6, 2022 17:53:44 GMT -6
Yeah I need some info on this one... We can accumulate sick days for as long as we are employed, we get 10 sick and 3 personal a year, then sell them back when we retire. But I have never heard of a district dropping a years worth of sick days on you after accumulating so many sick days. Yeah. It's definitely a sweet deal. I talked to a retirement counselor today. She said that as long as I maintain the 2 years of banked sick days and buy those 2 years from when I was in the Army, I can retire at 57 (in 10 years) at full pension. A little envious here... we get 10 days, 3 of which can be personal (not 10 and 3) |
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Post by larrymoe on Jan 7, 2022 5:33:29 GMT -6
Current job we get 1 sick day a month, so 12 a year. 3 personal business day- 4 if you don't call in sick all year. You start at 10 vacation days a year, go to 15 after I think 4 or 5 years. If you work OT you can also comp it and take days off using comp time, but there's a whole system of hoops for that.
We also get "holiday time" for working on holidays that can be used as days off, but I hang on to it because when you retire you can pay it all out at the salary you make then, not now. For me, if I promote, that could be a difference of up to $20 an hour. I currently have about 380 hours of holiday time because I work a lot of OT on holidays. (For me, since I'm 3rd shift, OT on a holiday is the morning after. So working first shift on December 26th would have gotten me 30 hours of holiday time, but I didn't get to work). Paying out my holidays today vs when I retire could be a difference of $8k just with the hours I have accumulated right now.
All in all, I have about 90 days worth of "time" on my books right now. I work with more people than you can count on one hand who are negative "time" right now because they can't get their asses to work.
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Post by CoachBurk on Jan 9, 2022 19:25:29 GMT -6
Hey all. First time back to this site in probably 10 years. I don't even know my old username!
Anyway to the topic: I bought almost 5 years from my previous state (OH) to Michigan. Cost about $16K, took it out of my 403(b) based upon advice of financial advisor. Had also been preemptively buying years in MI for a grand total of almost 8 years of service. Add to my 22.5 years of teaching in MI making an easy decision to retire when administration started getting, well, you know. Retired Feb 2020, a month or so before covid, coincidentally. MI takes 3 highest years average, which was in '08.'09 and '10 for my district which struggled balancing the books. Pay cuts and impending declining enrollment in my former district made the decision easy for me. I coached at another district, which I still do. I teach online classes part-time now for a not-for-profit school which doesn't affect my pension and a few other gigs here and there to keep myself busy.
In my situation, buying the years created 2 possible scenarios: first, the one in which I retired at 56 with full pension. The other would increase my pension if I stayed teaching, which was my original plan. I saw the writing on the wall with the admin as I was pushed into a part-time teaching position. I made the same money as a part-time teacher as I do retired, but I don't have to report anywhere, do mindless PD, and deal with admin. Kids were never the issue, that's what I miss, but get that interaction at the district where I coach.
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