Many of us in public safety signed up with the promise of a pension when we retire. But unfortunately, many of us will be extremely poor in retirement and may not live comfortably in our golden years as we envisioned.
When I signed up as a police officer, I didn’t even think about preparing for retirement because I was promised a pension. So I thought I didn’t need to save anything because it was all taken care of for me.
I was very uninformed about retirement, and my employer did not make it a priority to educate me about retirement properly. So all I knew was I figured I didn’t need to worry about it because I would get a pension, and everything would be great.
I thought a pension was “free money.” It was a gift given to you at the end of a long career for a job well done. In reality, I have been contributing 7.65% of my salary towards my pension every year.
The Double-Edged Sword Of Forced Saving For Retirement
On the one hand, this forced savings is a good thing. But, on the other hand, most Americans do not save 7.65% of their annual income from day one, so this has at least guaranteed I will always get some money in retirement.
Due to the “guaranteed retirement,” many employees who expect pensions are not saving enough. While I am forced to contribute 7.65% of my income towards my retirement, this is not nearly enough to live the life I want in retirement.