pridemom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,843 
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Post by pridemom on Aug 9, 2017 22:29:09 GMT
It is sad that so many teachers retire so young. In our state teachers only earn 1% of their pay for each year worked. I started when I was 50 and if I work until I am 70 I will make 20% of my annual pay. Yikes. Luckily I have a retirement from prior work. I am going back to school now at age 59 for my Administrator certificate. Is that something you might consider? That's horrible. Who runs your state teacher's retirement plan? My husband will get 2/3 of the average of his final three years when he retires after 31 years. He contributes 13 or 14% of his gross salary each year and his district matches it. |
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kate
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,586
Location: The city that doesn't sleep
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Jun 26, 2014 3:30:05 GMT
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Post by kate on Aug 9, 2017 22:46:25 GMT
But I also knew I was running low on tolerance for annoyance -- and too many things were starting to seem annoying, things that used to just be part of the job. A dear friend of mine retired this year, and this was the reason she cited for pulling the trigger. I started late, so I've got a long way to go. I still love it, but my age-peers in the public schools are starting to make their exit plans, and I'm jealous - not because I want to retire right now, but I'd love to know that it was an option in case I do hit the wall! |
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ellen
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,777
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Post by ellen on Aug 9, 2017 23:00:27 GMT
Oh dear I am ready now but have seven years left. I so wish we could retire after 25 years. This is so not the profession to stay in until you can retire. I say go for it!! This is pretty much me. I started at 22 and will leave when I am 57. It will be considered leaving early in my state. They are really trying to make teachers stay until they are at least 62. I'm sorry, but I can't do this for 40 years. I have been faithfully putting money away in my 403b and my husband and I are working on building up a stash of money to use between when we retire and when we can start drawing from it. I don't see myself subbing or really doing any other paid job after I retire. My husband is a year younger than me and he started teaching a bit later than me so he'll probably try to get me to teach one more year and go out with him. I'll make sure he leaves for work every day with a good lunch and a kiss goodbye. |
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Post by kluski on Aug 10, 2017 17:50:33 GMT
I don't mind working. I will get another job but one that ends when I walk out the door not that a carry home on my back and in my heart.
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Post by beaglemom on Aug 12, 2017 1:02:57 GMT
Slightly different perspective. I only taught 4.5 years. The first year I was hired to teach 4th grade, the second week of school was switched to 2nd due to district rearranging of students. Was pink slipped in March, the last week of school I was offered my job back, but at that point, we lived 40 miles away from the school and I didn't want to do the commute anymore (we moved in January). The second year I taught 4th grade at a small rural school and loved it. Loved the kids, loved the staff, loved the community. It was a very small school - K/1, 1/2, 2/3, 4, 5. This was during the downturn and in California, teachers were being cut by the thousands. They cut a classroom, I was the last hired, so the one let go. My third year I taught Kindergarten. Never thought I would like it and loved it. Another very small school - K, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4/5. Was pink slipped in March, rehired the end of July. Was pregnant so taught till dd arrived in March and took FMLA the rest of the school year. Was pink slipped again and the school went down to 3 classrooms - K/1, 2/3, 3/4/5 - 6 years later they still only have 3 classrooms. Went back half time in October the following year and was over that quick. The school day was 7:45-1:45, I worked 7:45-12 and got paid half time. Lunch was an hour - so the teachers worked another 45 minutes than I did and got paid double. And they really only worked those 45 minutes. We were supposed to stay till 3:30 for contract hours. Most days I was the only person there after 2:15.
My oldest is now in 1st grade and her school keeps asking me to sub. It is tempting...except I would make maybe $30 (which would probably be taken via taxes) after paying a babysitter to watch my youngest. So not happening anytime soon! Also, dh has come to really enjoy the flexibility we have with me home and I enjoy being home with the kids.
As I talk to friends that are still teaching and read the threads here I am not tempted to go back. The one nice thing (double edged sword) of working at a very small school is that we had very little oversight from the district. I loved that I had the flexibility to teach the way I felt was best for my students, but I hated watching the horrible teaching that was going on in the other classrooms. There was all kinds of nonsense going on - the 1/2 teacher literally couldn't manage her classroom. So they hired an aid that was not credentialed and as not a teacher. The aid ended up teaching one grade while she did the other. It was a mess. But she was "so nice" so no one would do anything about it. She was widowed and had high maintenance kids and we were always told, "well she needs the money." The poor kids in her classroom, over 50% of the parents were paying for outside tutoring because they weren't learning.
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Post by christine58 on Aug 12, 2017 1:19:07 GMT
It is sad that so many teachers retire so young. In our state teachers only earn 1% of their pay for each year worked. I started when I was 50 and if I work until I am 70 I will make 20% of my annual pay. Yikes. Luckily I have a retirement from prior work. I am going back to school now at age 59 for my Administrator certificate. Is that something you might consider? I'm 58 and retired in June. Here in the NYS our retirement system is one of the best in the nation. I will earn 70% of my average salary over t he last three years. We got 2% per year that we taught up to 30 years and then one and a half percent after that I also got some credit back from a job I held so that's why I'm at 70% |
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 12, 2017 1:49:41 GMT
This thread makes me sad.  Two of my dd's roommates will be starting their very first teaching jobs next week, one in a small town here in Virginia and the other in North Carolina. They are SO excited and full of ideas and cute and happy. And I so hope that the system doesn't beat them down too quickly. As a sub I see and hear so much that makes me even sadder. I loved teaching up until my last year and even then I just hated the writing curriculum. No one should teach from a script. It was the change from teaching from the 80's into the 2010's. The new teachers won't know the difference. The stuff that many teachers hate now will be the norm for the new teachers. I remember having retiring teachers grumbling all the time my first few years and I was just thrilled to get paid for doing something I loved. I do worry about burnout now. It is much worse. |
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 12, 2017 1:53:49 GMT
It is sad that so many teachers retire so young. In our state teachers only earn 1% of their pay for each year worked. I started when I was 50 and if I work until I am 70 I will make 20% of my annual pay. Yikes. Luckily I have a retirement from prior work. I am going back to school now at age 59 for my Administrator certificate. Is that something you might consider? I'm 58 and retired in June. Here in the NYS our retirement system is one of the best in the nation. I will earn 70% of my average salary over t he last three years. We got 2% per year that we taught up to 30 years and then one and a half percent after that I also got some credit back from a job I held so that's why I'm at 70% I retired two days after I turned fifty. My state let me "buy" my four years of working and paying Social Security (high school/college). So I retired with 80% of my pay and a 2% increase each year. Had I stayed, I would have been making an additional 20 cents on the dollar. It is much cheaper to hire a younger teacher with no master's degree. Probably cheaper to pay for insurance too. |
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Post by christine58 on Aug 12, 2017 11:37:54 GMT
I retired two days after I turned fifty. My state let me "buy" my four years of working and paying Social Security (high school/college). So I retired with 80% of my pay and a 2% increase each year. Had I stayed, I would have been making an additional 20 cents on the dollar. It is much cheaper to hire a younger teacher with no master's degree. Probably cheaper to pay for insurance too. We can't do that here in NYS. |
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moodyblue
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,263
Location: Western Illinois
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Jun 26, 2014 21:07:23 GMT
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Post by moodyblue on Aug 12, 2017 15:01:32 GMT
I retired two days after I turned fifty. My state let me "buy" my four years of working and paying Social Security (high school/college). So I retired with 80% of my pay and a 2% increase each year. Had I stayed, I would have been making an additional 20 cents on the dollar. It is much cheaper to hire a younger teacher with no master's degree. Probably cheaper to pay for insurance too. We can't do that here in NYS. I'd never heard of anyone being able to buy non-teaching years. I'm guessing that's a pretty unusual provision. 80% is also pretty high. I'll get just under 75% when I retire, with a 3% annual increase - unless the state of Illinois manages to find a legal way to alter the pension provisions. Also, in Illinois, you don't get the annual increases in your pension until you are turning 62, so if I had retired when I was first eligible, I'd have gone many years with no increase. It's very interesting that there are such major differences from state to state. Beyond the pension, there are other considerations for choosing to retire or not. Health insurance is a big one. I have good insurance through my job and that's become even more important since my husband retired and went on my insurance and then got diagnosed with cancer. If I retired, I could buy decent insurance at a reasonable cost through a state plan for retired teachers - but it would cost a LOT more to add my husband to that plan. |
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Post by christine58 on Aug 12, 2017 15:10:20 GMT
Also, in Illinois, you don't get the annual increases in your pension until you are turning 62 Same here. I am also now paying for my Health Insurance and I do have a good amount in my 403(b). |
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 12, 2017 16:01:41 GMT
I retired two days after I turned fifty. My state let me "buy" my four years of working and paying Social Security (high school/college). So I retired with 80% of my pay and a 2% increase each year. Had I stayed, I would have been making an additional 20 cents on the dollar. It is much cheaper to hire a younger teacher with no master's degree. Probably cheaper to pay for insurance too. We can't do that here in NYS. My brother worked creating pensions for different states. He thought our retirement plan in Colorado was the best he had seen. They pay isn't great, but the benefit of retiring early was. When I was hired, your years of service and age had to equal 75 to retire. Now it is 90. |
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 12, 2017 16:04:06 GMT
We can't do that here in NYS. I'd never heard of anyone being able to buy non-teaching years. I'm guessing that's a pretty unusual provision. 80% is also pretty high. I'll get just under 75% when I retire, with a 3% annual increase - unless the state of Illinois manages to find a legal way to alter the pension provisions. Also, in Illinois, you don't get the annual increases in your pension until you are turning 62, so if I had retired when I was first eligible, I'd have gone many years with no increase. It's very interesting that there are such major differences from state to state. Beyond the pension, there are other considerations for choosing to retire or not. Health insurance is a big one. I have good insurance through my job and that's become even more important since my husband retired and went on my insurance and then got diagnosed with cancer. If I retired, I could buy decent insurance at a reasonable cost through a state plan for retired teachers - but it would cost a LOT more to add my husband to that plan. One of my friends went into teaching later in her life. She was able to buy 18 years of service (as an aide) and apply it to her retirement years. She worked 10 or 11 years and was done. She really benefited from that. I wonder if they let you do that anymore. |
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Two of my dd's roommates will be starting their very first teaching jobs next week, one in a small town here in Virginia and the other in North Carolina. They are SO excited and full of ideas and cute and happy. And I so hope that the system doesn't beat them down too quickly. 