Opinions on the State Retirement system

LASERS is for civil service workers which means you're poor.








Sorry, a little of the OT came out of me for a second there. LASERS is a decent retirement plan and better than most but I'm not very familiar with it. I'm with the state but not LASERS.

LASERS is a dedfined benefit plan as opposed to a defined contribution plan. As such the retirees receive benefits determined by a mathematical formula based on several factors. In general defined benefit plans are considered superior to defined contribution plans for the participants, and they are definitely more expensive for the employer. The few people still covered by defined benefit plans are mostly government employees and union employees. Many defined benefit plans are underfunded due to their high costs and ability of plan sponsors to defer funding.


Several of my clients collect benefits from LASERS. The income is exempt from Louisiana income tax which is an added benefit.

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Poodlebrain

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Many defined benefit plans are underfunded due to their high costs and ability of plan sponsors to defer funding.

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Worst problem we've had. Every Legislature since Edwards has kicked that can down the road. Now Jindal wants to say its the fault of "bloated state government" that we're underfunded.

I can understand him not wanting to take on the true challenge of keeping the promises others have made when they never paid for it, but turning the gun around at state employees is cowardly.

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The retirement system my parents retired from the benefits are treated as income and taxable

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In Louisiana you don't pay income taxes on benefits from a LA plan.

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Opinions on the State Retirement system

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It, along with all the other La. state pension funds, should be closed down with the beneficiaries paid off with their currently vested balance and all state employees should then be enrolled in social security with the rest of us schmucks...

That's probably not the kind of opinion you were looking for. Sorry.

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Now I need info on why you're so butthurt about it?

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Who do you think pays for the lifetime 100% of salary pensions without retirees having to pay state income taxes on the pensions?

How many tens of millions of dollars are paid annually to investment advisors, asset custodians and pension agency employees which must be replaced by ever increasing payments by taxpayers into the pension funds?

And for what? So politicians can buy off state workers to get their votes by increasing pension benefits or by reducing the years of service required to get bigger pensions.

And all state workers do is gripe about how abused they are. And this is in spite of a 2010 compensation survey which showed public employees in Louisiana now have a higher average compensation that the average private sector employee.

When I'm elected governor I will make it my top priority to close down all public employee pension funds, pay out the vested benefits and put all public employees into social security.

The only pension staff remaining will process the monthly checks of already retired state employees until all of those retired employees die off.

ETA: Thanks for letting me vent. I spent most of the weekend working on my fed and state income taxes. I'm feeling much better now, thank you very much......

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I agree 100%

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That means you're pretty damn smart!!

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Thanks for letting me vent. I spent most of the weekend working on my fed and state income taxes. I'm feeling much better now, thank you very much

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I'd have been more than willing to sell you the leisure time you used this weekend to prepare your tax returns, and saved you from the aggitation and frustration you experienced. Just think how much more enjoyment you could have had during that time using Poodlebrain to prepare your tax returns? Not to mention the confidence you would have knowing someone of my expertise prepared you return. And I'd be willing to bet I could get a lower tax liability for you as well.

Sorry for the self-promoting threadjack, but you can't lob softballs like that.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.