Cindy's 2021 Christmas Card

Cindy sends a Christmas greeting to her Facebook friends.....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cindy Murphy

  

.....and Bob Buerkle responds:

Cindy,

Do you realize, intentional or not, that your Christmas Tree has 10 Rows and 55 dots? It just so happens, as of this Fiscal Year 2022 we are in now, STRS will have avoided paying all pre-2012 retirees their promised 3% COLA for 10 straight years!

Sooo, if your original COLA was $1,000, you have lost $55,000 so far. If the COLA was restored to 3% in FY 2023, you will continue to lose $10,000 per year, the amount that should have been added to your pension base, every year of your life. 

That's what STRS Management calls a "Premier Pension System."

Not so fast!  It is not quite that bad yet because STRS did pay 3 years of 2% COLAs in the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Fiscal Years. Therefore, if your 3% annual COLA was $1,000, you will not reach the losses above until FY 2024.  

Unfortunately it will be too late for approximately 9,650 retirees who will die before the 2024 FY ends. 

Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody except the Grinch that runs the pension system at 275 East Broad Street.

Bob Buerkle

See Bob's COLA Trees here.....

https://kathiebracy.blogspot.com/2010/03/explanation-of-4-versions-of-cola-tree.html

.....and here:

https://kathiebracy.blogspot.com/2017/04/new-cola-tree-from-bob-buerkle_27.html