re: When do you value pension benefit vs pay?

quote:

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Meaning how much do you value a pension plan? If it meant dropping salary and changing jobs for one, would you do it just for the sake of having that benefit

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There's a vast amount of other things you should be taking into account as well (change in travel time/cost, change in potential future earnings, etc). The balance of that determines your opportunity risk.

The short version is that I think it comes down to how risk averse someone is, combined with how content they are with the job and their employer.

For the longer version...

401s can have a greater return but pensions may be more secure. For example, if you work for the state of La. the formula** is (after being in the system for 10 years) you get 2.5% per year of employment of the average of your highest 36 months of earnings (years of service * 2.5%(average of monthly pay over the last 36 months)).

So if your average pay over the last 3 years comes out to $100k/yr and you worked for 30 years, your estimated retirement will be .025*30*$100k, thus $75k/year until you die. If you start early enough you can retire with your pension being 100%. This is something you know the day you start (unless your HR is slacking).

** = there are a couple of different formulas, depending on which part of the state government you work in.

As a final point in all of this, in a pension situation you can also fund your own 401k (you just won't be getting matching from your employer).