Retirement looking BRIGHT

The website I need to run with my personal information is under maint. But i ran some figures with my guessing....

• With the purchase of buying retirement from my 16 year old days... it will cost anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000.00 and i get at least 1 year of service... maybe even up to 3. Either way, it's worth it. Assuming the worst and it increases my monthly pension by $70.00 a month and costs me 5,000.00 I'd get all that money back in my first 6 years of retirement. (by the time i'm 61). after that its profit!

Why the gap in price with my calculations??? Well some weeks I work only 10 hours when I first started out... other weeks I worked 15, 25, or 30 around the holidays. They have a formula where so many hours worked equals a year. So i won't know until the forms are officially done. Plus, my part time work has already automatically vested me 1 year's worth of retirement for free. (can't beat that).

HR has all that information down to the hour... But I won't find out how much it will be until all the forms are filed. I need to call up HR and have them tell me all my start dates for all the part time temp posistions I've had since I became full time.

So assuming at max that I get an additional year of service by the end of the year... That means I'll have 4.55 years of service as of DEC 08. Once I reach 5 years I can then purchase an additional 5 years of service at my current salary (minus benefits). Which means come June I can buy more time at June's salary rate:

• June's Estimated Salary: 18.47 an hour.
• Ultimately buying 5 years will increase my pension 320.15 a month or $3,841.80 a year

here are the payment figures:

• 2 years: $517.42 a check for a total of $26,905.84
  2.5 years: $421.51 a check for a total of $27,398.15
  3 years: $357.65 a check for a total of $27,896.70
  3.5 years: $312.09 a check for a total of $28,400.19
  4 years: $277.98 a check for a total of $28,909.92
  4.5 years: $251.50 a check for a total of $29,425.50
  5 years: $230.36 a check for a total of $29,946.80
  5.5 years: $213.11 a check for a total of $30,474.73
  6 years: $198.76 a check for a total of $30,006.56
  6.5 years: $186.66 a check for a total of $31,540.54
  7 years: $176.32 a check for a total of $32,090.24
  7.5 years: $167.38 a check for a total of $33,2639.10
  8 years: $159.59 a check for a total of $33,194.72
  8.5 years: $152.74 a check for a total of $33,755.54
  9 years: $146.68 a check for a total of $34,323.12
  9.5 years: $141.27 a check for a total of $34,893.69
  10 years: $136.43 a check for a total of $35,471.80
  10.5 years: $132.07 a check for a total of $36,055.11
  11 years: $128.12 a check for a total of $36,642.32
  11.5 years: $124.54 a check for a total of $37,237.46
  12 years: $121.27 a check for a total of $37,836.24
  12.5 years: $118.28 a check for a total of $38,441.00
  13 years: $115.54 a check for a total of $39,052.52
  13.5 years: $113.01 a check for a total of $39,666.51
  14 years: $110.68 a check for a total of $40,287.52
  14.5 years: $108.52 a check for a total of $40,912.04
  15 years: $106.52 a check for a total of $41,542.80
  

But there is a lump sum payment idea:

• $24,957.95 till May 20th 2010.
• $26,201.11 Till i get a promotion.....
  

I wrote till I get a promotion... because I'll top out of my pay ladder when i get my raise in may of 2010. So unless I get a promotion... the lump sum option might save me money and sanity in the long run.

If i start saving for it now, setting monthly amounts aside from each of my paychecks-- saving extra paychecks completely and tax returns... I could come up with the money in a few years and then buy it and save all the interest... plus the account would grow interest too... and i'd have the cash in case something huge happened.

If i only pay $26,201.11 for 5 extra service years... it's an extra $320.15 in retirement money each month, I'll get all of my money back by age 62, after that it's a great investment.

Looks like I have a new savings goal: $26,201.11 (unless i can use pre- tax dollars to fund it monthly... then i might want to look into something on the monthly deductions-- maybe.)

kinda sad i opened that Roth IRA CD... I could have used that cash to pay for part of my contributions now... pitty... oh well... But first I need to buy back my old time and then start saving like mad...