IYO What Are the Jobs/careers That Has the Best Retirement Benefits?

Which post?

I know that public union jobs are about the last hold out for the defined benefit plans. Can't get better than that.

In the real world anything that offers a 401k with matching.

Really the more you can save the earlier you can retire or the better you can live once you retire. Any job can fill that. My dad retired never making more than 32,000 a year. He gets 3,200 a month from his pension and accumulated over a million in assets. He is a saver, ya know?

One of the things I've realized is that the days of Daddy working at the same company for 30 plus years and then retiring with a 401k and a pension are pretty much over. People don't typically stay with the same company for that long, because the needs of the job market are ever changing (outsourcing, corporate mergers, etc.).

So, my husband and I realize we have to take our retirement into our own hands. Getting aggressive with retirement savings now (while we are entering our 30s) is becoming a huge priority fast.

My Dad works at Bell Helicopter and has earned top seniority in his department, and has secured excellent pension benefits for himself, as well as his substantial 401k, but people like my Dad with those fortunate circumstances are a dying breed, unfortunately.

My Mom is self-employed and, recently divorced from my Dad, has absolutely nothing to speak of with regards to retirement (other than her half of his 401k that she was entitled to in the divorce). It's pretty much inevitable that she will rely on social security when she gets to that age.

Military and/or government jobs.

Military probably has the most. You can get a pension, medical benefits (before you're eligible for Medicare), cheap/free flights (flying Space Available out of military bases), discounts on lots of stuff, and cheaper shopping at a commissary or base (post) exchange. You can also stay cheap at military bases while traveling, if they have availability.

It all depends on what company you work for and how well their strock performs and how much do they match funds you deposit with them.

The companiy's performance makes such a difference that I would take a job at a real good company and work for less income than a job at a poor performing company. Especially if everything else was the same.

Example: If you went to work for Wal-mart in 1975 or before and saved $100 per month in their ESOP*, you would have retired in 2000 as a multi-millionaire. If you had done the same thing with GM, you would have retired in 2005 with less than $200,000.

Having real good 20/20 hindsight, I should have invested in real good high paying dividend stocks and I would be very well off now. There are very good, high quality companies that pay a 9+% dividend now and have done it for years. $10 per week invested at 10% for 30 years is over $1,000,000. $1,000,000 invested in 10% dividend stocks would give you $100,000 in dividend income. I could live on that. Could you?

Most people throw away more than $10 per week on sodas and treats bought at AMPM or 7-11 or similar stores.

Good luck to you and yours.

*ESOP: Employee Stock Ownership Plan

Well I work in the retirement plan administration industry. Pharmaceutical companies typically have excellent retirement plans, as do finance companies. The downside is that you're working for the dark side (just kidding I know they're not evil and greedy). Unions also have very generous retirement plans and many still offer pensions - my dad worked for the phone company for 45 years and retired with pension and 401(k) the likes of which most of us will never see. We have quite a few clients who are fairly small companies (2000 or fewer employees) who have very generous matches, excellent investments and employee education and profit sharing as well. But for the most part, the largest average account balances we see (normalizing for tenure and salary) are in the pharmaceutical, investment, union, and some manufacturing industries (like department of defense contractors who make missiles, fighter jets etc.).

Outside of things like profit-sharing contributions made over and above employee contributions, it really is a matter of a generous company match in a 401(k). Pensions in the private sector are a relic.

Military/police/firefighters.

High risk, high reward.

Judiciary, federal electeds, some state electeds.

Retirement is the trade benefit added to low salaries to attempt to make the job recruitment good enough to compete with private sector pay.

My husband was in outside sales for years with raw materials. In 2005 we had an opportunity to slowly start our own LLC with brokering raw materials, consulting, etc. In 2009 we went full time running our own company and under our business plan and forecast with our legal and financial team, we set up everything possible to maximize retirement benefits. When I do hire employees, they will have a fantastic plan and all medical is 100% paid for my our company.

We have always been heavy on saving, investing, delayed gratification, and being diverse with our money. We are numbers people, he is an MBA from a well top ranked school. We are both vested with companies we worked with in the past which is not much money per month (about $2000 between the 2 of us) but hey... it's money we didn't have!

We have plans set up with a financial advisor but we also like to be hands on and we have investments,ets we do on the side as well. (Ex: numismatics, savings bonds, 401K, Roth IRS, regular IRA, savings accounts, daughter's college fund, etc)

Once you get started and you understand the numbers, it is fun to watch it grow (and sad on the days you see some loss). We were more aggressive when we were younger. My husband is mid 50's and I am approaching 50 TOO fast. We don't participate in high risk right now because our daughter is 17 and will soon be off to college and she needs the funds we have set aside for her plus, we don't want to lose any ground from where we are right now.

Good luck!