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In other words, federal employees have to save their own money for a decent pension.

Enlighten me then... I'm under the impression a federal pension is paid as long as the retired pensioner or their spouse is alive. Which will probably amount to far more than they contributed.

Unlike mine, which amounts to my contribution, my employers match, and any capital gain. Is that incorrect?

If it is I'll stand corrected.

The FERS plan is funded by the employee. There was a time when the feds did a 2-1 match, then a 1-1. I do believe there is no matching now. The matching was done to entice people from the old CRCS system to switch over. So a federal employee on the FERS system has their own 401K and social security.

You are thinking about the old CRCS system which was a pension system based on years with payouts to the employee for life and to the spouse in the event of the employees death. However, if the employee wants the spousal coverage, there is up to a 40% cut in the payment from the get-go. A CRCS employee does not contribute to social security, so they depend on the pension only.

A CRCS employee may also contribute to a thrift savings plan. This has no matching at all and the employee can choose or not to choose to participate. FERS MUST contribute to the FERS plan.

The CRCS plan is in many ways superior to the FERS.

Hope this clears it up a bit. BTW, can you guess which system the congress critters are covered by? Sure you can!

The FERS plan is funded by the employee. There was a time when the feds did a 2-1 match, then a 1-1. I do believe there is no matching now. The matching was done to entice people from the old CRCS system to switch over. So a federal employee on the FERS system has their own 401K and social security.

You are thinking about the old CRCS system which was a pension system based on years with payouts to the employee for life and to the spouse in the event of the employees death. However, if the employee wants the spousal coverage, there is up to a 40% cut in the payment from the get-go. A CRCS employee does not contribute to social security, so they depend on the pension only.

A CRCS employee may also contribute to a thrift savings plan. This has no matching at all and the employee can choose or not to choose to participate. FERS MUST contribute to the FERS plan.

The CRCS plan is in many ways superior to the FERS.

Hope this clears it up a bit. BTW, can you guess which system the congress critters are covered by? Sure you can!