SPONSORED: Like many Alaskans, public school teachers worry about planning for retirement. Unlike most of their neighbors, they won’t have a safety net to fall back on.
In 2003, Jacob Bera and his wife, on a whim, attended a job fair in the Midwest where Alaska school districts were hiring teachers. They thought they’d come, look around, and think about what it might be like to move north.The young Wisconsin couple decided to go for it. They sold their belongings, packed the car, and headed north.Jacob Bera teaches ceramics in his visual arts class at Eagle River High School.
“We both came from backgrounds where there wasn’t a lot of stability, so for us it was really important to build a solid foundation,” Bera said.“A defined benefit plan is a pooled system where everybody is in together,” said Dan Doonan, executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security, a nonprofit backed by organizations like the AARP, state retirement boards, and labor unions including the National Education Association.
“On top of not having access to in Alaska, they don’t have access to Social Security,” Doonan said. “It becomes, frankly, a more dangerous combination.”projects that teachers enrolled in the current plan have only a 31 percent chance of successfully funding a 30-year retirement -- “Is it remotely possible?” Parker asked. “Not really. Not unless you have four roommates or a rich spouse. It’s unrealistic to expect somebody making $55,000 a year to put away an extra 25 percent.”
But, he added, a school district that wanted to opt in to Social Security would have to be prepared to pay for it.
Alaska Retirement Plan Bera Security Percentage Vote Social State Money Tier Teachers Sector Parker Income Teacher System Nea-Alaska Plans Lot Access District Social Security Social Security
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