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Retirement

far-trader

SOC-14 10K
I've long wondered just how to "fix" the Retirement payout plan from CT character generation on.

Why?

Well given the costs of living and travel that Cred Thousands per Year is pretty insignificant.

And given that most of the retired characters muster out with assets hundreds or thousands of times that, or expenses in the same heady hieghts, again the Retirement payout isn't even pocket change.

Who, playing with the amount listed, even bothered going in to the Starport after the first year of adventuring to collect? NOBODY right.

My first and simplest fix followed my usual 10 rule, though in this case it was x10. As in a 5 Term retired citizen would collect Cr40,000 annually, NOT just Cr4000. Hey, this way that retired citizen might actually travel!

My second thought was to make it monthly instead of annually, so a x12 instead of x10, but pretty much the same effect overall, just a little more generous and accessible.

Thoughts and comments?

I'm especially interested in how it will mesh with the posted changes to ship operations suggested by tbeard1999 (here) since they are almost identical to my own. I think the two are quite compatible but maybe I've missed something.
 
Well, we can infer the pay scales by looking at starship crew salaries. Pilots make cr6,000 per month, or cr72k per year. So your x10 multiple seems pretty reasonable to me. I'd also allow the players to take a lump-sum payment in lieu of the annual payment.

Assume that the average life expectancy in the Imperium is 100 years. When a character retires, he can take a single payment at that time. If he chooses this option, he gets no lifetime income.

This lump sum payment is determined by the character's age and the amount of the annuity. For each cr1000 received per year, the lump sum payment is equal to the PMT listed. There's no reason the character couldn't take part of his retirement in a lump sum and the rest as an annuity.

Age......PMT
30.......9,987
34.......9,981
38.......9,973
42.......9,960
46.......9,942
50.......9,915
54.......9,875
58.......9,817
62.......9,733
66.......9,609
70.......9,427
74.......9,161
78.......8,772
82.......8,201
86.......7,367
90.......6,145
94.......4,355
98.......1,736

(Assumption -- 100 year life expectancy, 10% interest factor).

For instance, a 42 year old character who gets a retirement payment of cr20,000 per year for life can instead take a (20 x 9,960 =) cr199,200 lump sum.

Note that the ability to take a lump sum might be limited to a percentage of the retirement benefit. A lassez fair state would have no limits, while a "nanny state" would severely limit the lump-sum option.

If asked why they should ever take the annuity payment instead of the lump sum, I'd state that annuity payments cannot be garnished or taken by creditors. Obviously, once the lump sum payment is received, it's exposed.

--Ty
 
Excellent. Thank-you very much for the lump sum payout calcs! Yes, part of my resoning was also from the listed salaries and gave a good gross estimate. And the reason to opt to stay in the plan is a great one. Kudos again
 
Well, lets see.

Canonical Upkeep costs (from MT PH) Cr250/mo per point of soc, all routine expenses met. So Joe Normal needs Cr1750 per month. M'lord Baron needs a cool 3000/month.

at 13 months per year, a pensioner needs 22750 per year. At Cr2K/term (IMTU) 7 terms leaves a major deficit... 8750/year.

Your times 10 is too much, my x2 is too little for the only canonical direct "upkeep" rule.

Side note: at Cr5K/year, one can live at soc 1 ON AN IMPERIAL ECONOMY. (Cr384 and change per month)

Note that by going to a backwater, where one pays in LOCAL credits, one can more than treble the value of the CrImp...

Terms x 5000 provides 3 soc per 2 terms. so at 5 terms, soc 7. Pretty comfy.
 
Originally posted by far-trader:

My first and simplest fix followed my usual 10 rule, though in this case it was x10. As in a 5 Term retired citizen would collect Cr40,000 annually, NOT just Cr4000. Hey, this way that retired citizen might actually travel!
From the Imperial government's point of view, a yearly lump sum is FAR FAR FAR better to administrate than monthly payouts.

First, look at the current garbage administration of the American Social Security Administration. Now, you multiply the difficulty of that administration by 1,000 times. And voila. Now you see how hard it will be for the Imperium's services to administer a pension program for billions or trillions of retired citizens. The Imperial Navy alone has to worry about several billion servicemen past their prime, tracking their month to month payments.

And then there's the banking lag information problem: a retired Captain (homeworld Regina) picks up his monthly payment while travelling in Darrian space. But will Navy Administration in Deneb (Domain of Deneb navy treasury) know about the transaction right away? Of course not. They will know about it 2 or 3 months later.

Hence, from the Character's point of view... a monthly payout is wonderful, because it is instant gratification. From the point of view of the Imperial treasuries, a yearly payout is the only manageable way to do it.

Of course, you could still IYTU go with monthly payouts if you like, just like pensions work in 21st century Real Life. However, the Imperium hardly works like real life. And the Imperium has its own unique problems and limits, like the fact that it takes nearly 1 year for information to travel from one end of the empire to the other end of the empire.

The IISS did the smart thing: they refuse to give retirement pensions to any Scouts. :D

Just my opinion, of course. But if I were an Imperial Treasurer (for any given Domain), I certainly would be opposed to paying out billions of servicemen on a monthly basis. Just something to consider on the "monthly versus yearly" debate.
 
I've always imagined that the Imperial government doesn't actually send you a check like the modern-day SSA.

What happens is more like a 401k plan. The Imperial government deposits a certain amount of money in a slow-maturing trust for you while you're in service. This money is deposited into a banking insitution of your choice (though the Imperial government suggests large Megacorporate banks for the sake of stability). If you leave before retirement age, the government takes the money back. If you retire, cash (as modified by interest on the fund) is set aside for you to collect every month. You don't have to collect this every month if you don't want. You can come by and collect it once every few months, once every year, etc. - indeed, it's beneficial to both you and the bank if you don't collect it every month, since uncollected money still bears interest and the bank can still use it for its own purposes.

You can also yank the entire fund out at once, but you take a massive hit in penalities (like 60% of the fund), but you can also have it in one lump sum that way. The payout assumes that the average citizen lives to be 120.
 
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