I have heard for years about the golden handcuffs which tighten around one's wrists after 15 or 20 years in a large corporation. I even know people who have quit their jobs after 15 years to avoid getting sucked down for 30 years. For a long time, I just assumed the pension benefit accrued in some non-linear fashion to keep experienced people from jumping ship. A couple years ago I graphed it up using the online calculator provided by my employer. What I found is that the annual increases in the lump sum do steadily rise in the later years, but not dramatically so. They also max at 30 years (at least in my case) and decline thereafter (the rate of lump sum increase slows). At the peak year, the one year pension lump sum increase is nearly double my current gross pay.
Recently I have focused on forecasting alternative scenarios between now and retirement. The variations are significant. After more years of experience and higher paygrades in the company, the increases in salary, bonus and stock grants from one level to another get quite large. At the same time, savings have built up and the magic of compound interest begins to work. All these things work in concert (pension increases, bonuses, savings, etc) to put a sharp increase in slope on the income graph in the later years.
Bottom line, using conservative assumptions, our net worth will double if I stick around 5 more years and quadruple if I hang around 10 more. As long as the job is as much fun as it is so far, I'm not going anywhere. But the rewards in 5 more years are amazing and after 10 just looks ridiculous. As a frugal person, I can't quit and walk away. I get the impression other frugal co-workers, including several with over 30 years here, can not walk away from the financial rewards they are offered.
How are others of you viewing the pension handcuff dilemma?