Quote:
Originally Posted by wwkayaker
I am a teacher/principal. Those of you speaking about the pension teachers enjoy sound misinformed. I am impressed if you do know the facts about the teacher pension, because I have no information about pensions in other fields. And the workload of teachers, that is another bee's nest I won't touch.
That being said, I am interested in engineering. One poster mentioned engineering being the worst decision of his/her life. I am looking into going back to school for engineering. I have done research into the different areas of engineering and I am leaning towards materials engineering. I am interested to hear from engineers on here about what the typical engineer's day looks like. (I don't mean to hijack this thread but, this question may serve the OP as well.)
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Here are some rough numbers on my understanding of pensions. Will you please correct me if I'm wrong?
I've understood you will receive 70% (or is it 80%) of the average of your last five years in your job. Principals make around $125K in Calgary (I think, although maybe it's more like $140k). That means when you retire after 30 years (assume you started teaching at 23, so at 53 you work your last day), you would make $87,500 per year (adjusted for inflation, too) from 53 to around 90 (assuming that's when you die). That's a value of $3.2 million in today's dollars. On top of that, it's also my understanding that you will have full medical and dental benefits during that time, which also has a high monetary value. Finally, this pension is bulletproof since it's backed by the taxpayers. If it's underfunded, the taxpayers will top it off.
That, to me, sounds like a guaranteed stress-free retirement. You will never have to worry about money. Never have to worry about medical or dental care. Never have to watch the stock market. Never have to meet with your financial advisor and discuss going back to work. It's amazing. Am I wrong on any of that?