Cash Out My Vested Pension?

[@cnewton6527]

Easy answer. Take the $74,000 and then put it in a brokerage account. You could easily have $400,000 if you wish to retire at age 60. This money could be used as a bridge account until you reached your Social Security age.

[@nelsonk6454]

I would not touch that pension not knowing if one will ever go back to public service. Most of these pensions have reciprocity clauses that allows you to work at other public agencies and final compensation is based on the average of highest 3 years of salary. At his current age, he has never seen a market downturn/recession. So he thinks he is invincible with his investments. A pension is good insurance against any market downturn at the time of retirement age. I agree with Mark's recommendation.

[@princesskaitlinhazelwood4703]

I think these pensions will slowly phased out for new hires, possibly buy outs and freezing them. They have already made changes at the federal state and municipal level around the country. It I would not Pooh Pooh a pension. They are wonderful things for people who have earned them. But we knew the days of full govt pensions were over when even the military water down their pensions. My husband and I both have pensions plus tsp. The combo of the two is wonderful

[@tomstraw-dj3qv]

I expect that these ridiculous government pensions are going to have to be means-tested by the time this young couple retires, so if I were him I would focus less on hunting around for another government job just because it offers what he thinks is going to be a sweet pension in 20+ years, and look for a real job in the private sector instead.

[@rickm8456]

Dude, yeah we know your position on pensions. And they are real jobs.