This isn’t “free”, though. It’s a health insurance policy, just like almost any other, but very affordable (even compared to equivalent coverage provided as an employment benefit).
Aha - I don’t think there’s such a thing in Canada as an employer-managed retirement account. Our RRSP’s (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) must be run by an independent fiduciary (same as any pension plan funds) and must be reasonably balanced. Basically, if it’s not fully managed by an outside independent financial institution, it’s not a retirement plan of any sort.
I know the company I worked for whined back in the 90’s that they were paying a huge amount for employee benefits, when they decided it was advantageous to teach employees about the financial side of our business. So they presented us a financial statement. Reading the fine print, over 50% of the huge benefit expense was going to a retirement fund. Further questions revealed the company had a benefits program for retired employees, but was paying it out of general revenue. The government came along and said - if it was for retirees, it was by definition part of the pension scheme, so gave them 5 years to build a stand-alone fund for retiree benefits (which I find are pretty generous, mostly match some current employee benefits). So now those benefits are (supposedly) sufficiently financed to support future retirees regardless of what the business does, must meet the same rules of being checked every 3 years to ensure the amount on hand matches actuarial future demands. Plus, it gets easier for them every year, i presume, since they stopped offering the DB pension to any new hire almost 20 years ago.
oh, something else that the government has been doing is if you have dependents that are on SSI aka disability you pay part of their check via a yearly hit on your retirement benefits …
How I learned this due to some late 90s creative bookkeeping between the state of ca and the social security admin I was getting half of my 700 as SSI from the state of ca and the other half as SSA from the government
Well, about 2006 dad finally retired from gm/Delco after 40 years and has a very nice pension thanks to the UAW and all the bonuses from the company Well that June I get a piece of paper saying I’m no longer getting anything at all… In a panic, I call The local office whom I knew very well at the time and come to find out I wasn’t sent all the paperwork I was supposed to be getting
What was going on was The administration was applying for full SSA on my behalf because of new laws saying dads retirement was good enough that it was able to pay for my upkeep through the SSA check… (in the words of the worker doing the paperwork dad won’t live long enough to spend it all) So between the government’s and dads involuntary contribution I get almost 1300 a month which in CA isn’t much …
As to this part above and these responses below. …
All of the above is true. Today in 2022. And much of it has been true for 15-20 years now.
But back in the 1980s when I was in, there was no such thing as a non-deductible IRA contribution*. Not for civilians, and not for military. IRAs were 100% in lieu of pensions. If you were “eligible” for a pension you could not contribute to an IRA, period.
The screw job (or at least legislative incompatibility) was between the 20-year brick wall vesting of the DoD pension program at the time versus the IRA rules at the time.
* At that time both 401(k)s and Roth IRAs had not been invented yet either. Nor had Spousal IRAs. The term “traditional IRA” didn’t exist either, since there was only one kind then, called an “IRA”.
Sorta like how nobody fighting in WWI called it that. They didn’t think World Wars would be so popular they’d need to start numbering them.
I thought that there was such a time - and I was so unable to find any info about it that I assumed I was misremembering.
IIRC it was about 1996 & Reagan’s big tax cuts for fat cats that ERISA and all the rest of the self-funded retirement alphabet soup got started.
It looks like IRAs were closed to people who had workplace pension plans, but I’m not surprised I didn’t know it–that situation ended in 1981. Starting in 1981 you could contribute to an IRA regardless of whether or not you had a workplace retirement plan/pension, up to $2,000 per year (prior to 81, dating back to 1974 when the modern IRA was created as part of ERISA, you could only contribute $1500 and only if you didn’t have a workplace plan); in 1986 they modified it so that “high-earners” could no longer deduct their IRA contributions if they had a workplace plan, but they could still contribute without taking the deduction.
If the Germans had been slick about it, they might have called it the War of the Eighth Coalition in press releases and had a go at inviting the British into one last alliance against the French as the surest way to maintain Belgian neutrality.
Just to add a little:
I can get treatment through the VA for any of my rated disabilities. For general health insurance, I still use Tricare, which IS very affordable.
I wanted to pop in because I fall into this ‘unusual year’ category. Admittedly, I have not read the entire thread yet.
I retired in 2015, after 15 years, 9 months and 17 days of active duty, after all of the calculations that go into working out service dates between commissioning date, “service for basic pay dates,” and “service per 10 USC 1405” dates, on my retirement orders and my DD-214. I do not get 50% base pay, but it works out to about 38% base pay (pro-rated based on the aforementioned service).
I applied for an early retirement, based on the Air Force’s offering to my AFSC and yeargroup, during the drawdown of military strength around this time. I was on my last possible EOD assignment, and was looking at going back to Civil Engineering yawn!. So I rolled the dice, submitted a package, and was approved for early retirement. I retired at the top of my game, and two weeks later, started working for my current company.
I have my blue card, TriCare benefits, PX/BX and MWR access, and the ability to book lodging at bases worldwide. I use my access and shopping privileges often, down at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, and look forward to ‘FamCamping’ across the country with the “Travelling Tripler Trailer” when I retire ‘again’. I’m also using my GI Bill benefits, which aren’t strictly retirement benefits, but hey, I’m retired. Having a third paycheck every month is a nice thing, and I’m glad everything worked out. I also took good advantage of the Thrift Savings Program (like a 401k) when on active duty, so that’s sitting there waiting for me too. It’ll pay for a pizza or two. . .
Tripler
I’ll re2tire (re-retire) again someday when this working gig gets old.
My cousin worked for the Portland power company, which was owned by Enron. There was a LOT of arm-twisting for employees to put their money into their 401(k), with veiled threats and accusations of disloyalty. He came home one day and told his wife he wanted to shift all of their retirement assets into that 401, and she told him that he could do whatever he wanted with HIS half of the money, but he wasn’t touching hers. I don’t know how long he had to continue working after it all went bad, but it was many years and a divorce later.
Friend’s wife took advantage of this. There was a glut of Majors. She got a bit of a lump sum and annual payments for a set number of years.
I am shocked no one else picked up on this! 
The military retirement plan certainly is generous given that the Government provides a spouse and dependents for life! Not sure what my wife would say about that arrangement, but given that it is done by the Government it must be legit.
The good news is they issue you one spouse and 2.1 kids. The bad news is the Supply Sergeant, not you, decides which ones you get.
The servicemember who doesn’t carefully cultivate a relationship with the Quartermaster or Supply NCO is making their lives needlessly difficult.
A fact the QM, etc., was not above taking advantage of. Like the prettiest girl in school, they knew what they had and knew how to use it.
Fun memories. Mostly.