pensions retirement

as borrowed from another source:

Contrary to popular belief, a defined benefit pension is not guaranteed.

Question:

What happens when the amount of retirees in a retirement fund is greater than the amount of members paying into the retirement?

Answer:

The fund looses valued and the recipients (retirees) are forced to take a lower payout.

Example:

The city of Miramar fund is losing money at an alarming rate forcing the city to renegotiate the terms of the pension from 20 and out at 80% to 25 and out at 75%.

The Florida Retirement System has elected to allow members to decide between an investment option and the defined benefit plan in order to reduce the amount of money paid out of the fund annually.


Additionally the funds are managed by private investment companies which answer to an elected pension board that makes decisions about the allocation of investments. A few bad investments or a board member with criminal intent and your defined benefit will resemble employees of Enron and Eastern Airlines. The government will intervene and guarantee a reduced rate of your pension not nearly close to the 80% you thought you would receive.

So if less than 20 % of Americans have a private defined benefit pension does the rest of America live in poverty on social security?

IS THIS TRUE about Miramar renegotiating their 20 and out because they can't or will not be able to in the future, cover the pension debt?

Actually, the situation in Miramar has more to do with current oficers screwing future officers. The members actually sat down and figured that the "haves" will outnumber the "have nots" for a little over 13 years so the majority of officers will be reitred prior to being outnumbered. I think they will have to make some major changes in order to even maintain their department.
Think about it this way--- future Miramar hires will have to pay 13+ percent to receive a penion that BSO officers receive for FREE. Why who anyone in their right mind agree to that?

As for our pension (Hollywood)- time will tell but it is doing better than most. Our unfunded liablity is lower than most as I understand it.