Railroad retirement

[mackb4]

 R.R.retirment is alittle hard to understand.

 I"ll give you an example for my mother's and late father's  retirement,then try to explain what I was told by the r.r.retirement board.

 He worked 42 years,she never worked.She was 64 when he retired at 60.This was in 2002.

 When he retired my dad and mom combined received $5500.00.When my father died in 2008, my mom dropped her part of her retirement but picked up my dad's part of $3550.00.

 You max out your 30 year benifits when you pay out of your tier 2 twice.Every year after 30 years you add an additional $20-$40 a month for each year of service when you make under approx. $90,000.00,or up to $100.00 each month for over approx. $90,0000.00 .

 Remember that disabilty pension is also figured out this way starting after 20-30 years of service.

 I've worked 24 years and my disabilty pension figured out at $3480.00 a month when I checked in JUne of this year.

 On 20 years disabilty you will receive your pension,but your spouse will not until she reachs 60.Only partial insurance for you will be paid,your spouse none.

 On 30 years disabilty again ,you will receive your pension your spouse will not until 60,but your insurance will be paid,and some of your spouses will.

 At 60 both employee and spouse receives insurance,but just like regular retirement in order to have the same coverage as when working you must pay a suplimental to do so.

 On disablity if you have children under the age of 18 they recive some money until the age of 18.Not sure on insurance coverage.

 And according to how they classify your disabilty you may still be able to work in at another job,just nothing railroad related.

 But once you take regular retirement at 60,your done with the railroad,but you can work another job making a set amount of money,not sure how they figure out how muc.But at age 65 have at it .You can make as much at another job as you can stand.

[Deggesty]

jeaton

Carl,

By federal law, Railroad Retirement payments may not be subject to state income tax.  Illinois does not tax Social Security, but many states do.  

Jay

 

Utah is one of those which do.

[jeaton]

Carl,

By federal law, Railroad Retirement payments may not be subject to state income tax.  Illinois does not tax Social Security, but many states do.  

Jay

[CShaveRR]

Tell your wife that Railroad Retirement is pretty good.  It probably doesn't beat Social Security plus an organized pension, but it's a lot better than plain old SS.  I never in my life made 85K per year, so I assume that the monthly income from that would be better than our $6K or so combined.

Basically, the spouse of the railroader receives roughly half of what the railroader does.  And when one of you passes away, the survivor recceives the railroader amount (roughly two-thirds of the combined total).  That's how it's supposed to work.

Your results will vary, of course, depending on what you have withheld for taxes, your health insurance, prescription insurance, Medicare, etc.   It's also interesting to note that some states--mine included--don't tax this at all.

If you are the railroader, you should be able to go onto their website and get a decent estimate of your payments--they already know what you've earned, and the site should be able to compute it for you.  

[NKP guy]

I know more about Quantum Physics and Advanced Theology than I do about the Railroad Retirement System.  But I do know about Google and if you use it to search under Railroad Retirement System you'll find the same resources to answer your question that I did.

As far as explaining the intricate workings of the system to one's spouse, you're on your own there.  I'm still trying to explain to my wife how to correctly load the dishwasher and she's still trying to explain the Art of Laundry to me.  But I can tell you this about the information you want:  Hie thee to a computer;  Seek and ye shall find.

[SteamRoller88]

Hey guys!

I tried explaining to my wife what railroad retirement is and how good it was but she didnt believe me. Can someone breifly in laymen terms so I can show her this how good it is. If i was to make $85,000 my last 5 years of service, worked 30 years, and am 60 years old... what is an estimate to what I would collect and her? she doesnt believe me when I say she will get a check as well even though she never worked a day in her life out there.

Thanks!