conversation: User (jamesfinity): "My wife is still far from retirement (25-30 years).  And, while it is certainly possible that her employment/employer could change, currently she is in an extremely stable job working for the state of Minnesota (she pays into the MSRS pension plan).  Lately, there have been many headlines regarding pension plans on the verge of failure (not for Minnesota, currently, however that could change?).  What resources do I have to evaluate her plan?  I'm pretty financially illiterate, what red flags should we look for over the next few decades?   If things do start to go south, what options do we have? \n\nBackground: I have a separate 403b, and we both try to max out our rothIRAs every year.  We take advantage of matching."
  Self: "Look at funding levels of the pension plan.  Honestly, none of the state pension plans are 100% funded, but many are in the 90% range.\n\n[This states 92% funded after FY2014](https://www.msrs.state.mn.us/documents/10179/38099/2015+Winter+Messenger/e89013ff-12e3-4eda-b4a5-8fd833d06395), however that's after a large bull market, and it was only 65% funded 5 years prior.\n\nState plans are generally more solvent and reliable than employer plans give that many employer plans are facing a reduced # of workers contributing (Central States Pension Fund, for example, which has been in the news), and states can "always" raise taxes, etc to help fund the plans.\n\nPersonally, I'm very conservative, and would count on some reasonable percentage of the pension, but not 100%"
  ProfessionalWil (ProfessionalWil): "401(k) &gt; pension plans"
  available_username2 (available_username2): "that's the biggest lie corporate america has pawned off on the american people"
  ProfessionalWil (ProfessionalWil): "Over a long time period, large amounts of large corporations fail. GLHF if your pension was just a liability on their balance sheet.\n\nIMO pension plans are akin to having your pension being held entirely in a single companies shares."
  available_username2 (available_username2): "your contributions are still invested, you just don't have all of the risk (or benefit)"
  ProfessionalWil (ProfessionalWil): "Lots of pension funds don't seem to be completely funded, unlike 401(k)s.\n\nIf you max out your 401(k) each year for a 40 year career, you can withdraw $158k a year in todays dollars without even touching your principal. Can't imagine many pension schemes offering the same."
  