<p>You’re too young to be old.</p>
<p>If the government runs out of money, we’ll all have way more problems than college vs. a job.</p>
<p>Where have you been? I work in state government, and we HAVE run out of money. We’ve had 4,500 layoffs, cuts in pay, enforced furlough days, hiring freezes. The newest, youngest employees are the first to be let go as older folks are “bumped” into their positions. Grants run out and are not renewed. Research goes unfinished.</p>
<p>I’m quite aware of the budget cuts hitting government everywhere. But the statement, “the government may run out of money by the time you retire,” I took to mean that the government would literally run out of money - i.e. fail to live up to its debts, the doom and gloom “bankrupt it and drown it in a bathtub” mentality.</p>
<p>As I said, in such a case there are way more important things we’ll be worrying about.</p>
<p>Federal civilians don’t get pensions anymore. They have the equivalent of 401K plans with some matching funds from the gov’t. They do have good choices for benefits plans.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad- federal civilian employees still get a pension as well as the 401K. They receive a pension of 1% for every year they work and if they wait until 62 (I think that is the age) to retire it becomes 1.1% for every year.</p>
<p>They get a 401K equivalent, smaller pension, and also the ability to contribute as much as 10% of their lifetime wages into an account that they can rollover into a ROTH IRA upon retirement. They also get excellent health insurance, subsidized by employer. As as posted, they can get education subsidized. Some can even have assistance in paying off education loans.</p>
<p>The old-time federal employees can get larger, more traditional pensions for themselves and a survivor they designate, as well as a 401K that has no match by federal government. They also can take their subsidized health insurance into retirement with them.</p>
<p>i forgot to mention that I’m in Canada, i’m not exactly sure what the benifits are but from what i hear, the private sector comes nowhere close.</p>
<p>If you have been offered a job, it is reasonable to ASK specifically what the benefits and salary will be, including whether there will be moving expenses covered, the process for getting education leave, and anything else that will help you with your decision/choice. Our annecdotes are for US federal government jobs which may or may not apply as well to Canada.</p>