What to do with a small retirement pension.

Keep it with the state. You never know if you ever decide to return

Do you think you'll ever go back?

If so, start a Roth (if you don't already have one) and fund it (to at least whatever matching you may get from your new employer) until you go back to the State (and then fund both even if you aren't able to max your Roth donations).

If you think there's a very good chance you won't go back, go ahead and roll it over.

If you do a direct rollover into a Roth, your rollover amount is going to be taxed at the same level as your income, so you'll probably want to roll it over sooner rather than later. Most people's incomes grow over time and job jumps (especially from the state to private sector) are for greater pay.

About 25 years.

I’d just leave it alone and get $1k meh when you retire

My math and assumptions need to be checked, but I would think about it like this: 30k now or 12k a year in 25 years? I use the 4% assumption quite a lot, ignoring the current lower interest rate bias to address the hypothetical question. That means you'll have $1200 of income (4% of 30k) now vs $12000 income (1k a month) in 25 years. So another way of phrasing the question is would you think an IRA could be used to grow that 30k by ten times in 25 years? Many projections show SP500 growth of 5 to 7% over the next 10 years. So assuming 6% growth your 30k would double every 12 years (rule of 72). In 24 years at the same rate your 30k invested in the SP500 in an IRA would be a little over $120k. That would only earn you $4800 a year in income. I'd go with the state retirement plan if the 1k a month in 25 years is real.

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In 24 years at the same rate your 30k invested in the SP500 in an IRA would be a little over $120k. That would only earn you $4800 a year in income. I'd go with the state retirement plan if the 1k a month in 25 years is real.

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That math checks out, but if he drops dead 25 years and one month from now, there will be next to nothing left to pass on from the state pension (I know there would be some lump sum available for a death that early, but it would be tiny).

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Will your wife be able to get the $1,000 if something happens to you first?

I want my wife to get income and not accounts full of Ira money

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Will look into this but think it stops upon my death.

Imho I think this is an easy one. Put it in a Roth IRA. I suggest a retirement fund based on year 2050. Something similar to a Fidelity Freedom 2050 fund. Easy to assume the fund would average 9% annually, easy. This means the value of the 30K will double every 8 years. So, after 24 years the 30K would be worth about 250K.
To receive 12K/yr as is the other option, this is the equivalent of 150K principle earning 9%.
In addition, withdrawls from the Roth will be tax free. The 1K payment will be taxable.

Well if you're an active investor, by all means go for it. I assumed that you might be a more hands off type investor.

FYI, Fidelity Freedom Fund 2030 (FFFEX) which is approaching retirement age has a current10 year annual return of 8.52% .
Freedom Fund 2050 (FFFHX) currently has a 10 year return of 10.85%.

Check out their glide paths. The expense is a little higher, and sometimes Vanguard betters them with less expense. My experience is so little difference it's not worth having multiple accounts or similar investments.

Good Luck!

Fidelity shows a 7.24% return for the life of FFFEX, with higher recent returns. The question should (for retirement planning purposes) be what are the expectations moving forward? I wouldn't expect to match that return (in a target fund or otherwise) as the last 10 years have been historically good for the stock market.