Hello there. I've been a long time reader of MMM but this is my first question so forgive me if its already been asked and answered. Sorry for the long post...
I currently work for a county in CA which has a defined benefit pension (70% of salary at age 65). I've been working there for about 14 years and have about 11 more to go before I can start collecting the pension in 2030. Based on my current salary and what I expect to be earning at retirement, that yearly pension payment should be around $150K per year.
I have recently been offered another job in another state to work for a company with no pension. The proposed salary ($225K) is much higher than my current salary ($150K). All the other benefits are comparable (vacation, medical, 401K, etc...). There is a relocation package so I don't think I will lose any money there. I also know the cost of living in the other state will be less than CA but let's keep that out of the equation for now. I also realize that my annual raises might make that $75K difference even larger in the future but, again, let's ignore that for easy of calculations. Lastly, I like my current job and location but I also think I'll like the new job so ignore any 'qualitative' considerations for now.
I'm trying to figure out whether this is a good financial move. Here's what I came up with (which is probably wrong):
Value of Pension (Using Excel Present Value formula):
If I assume 150K from Age 65 to 85 (20 yrs), with a conservative discount rate of 5%, the present value at 65 is $1.87M. If I bring that back to current value (today 2019) that is about $1.092M.
Present Value of Extra Salary:
Assume $75K extra for the next 11 years. Present value is $623K.
At first, I thought maybe the move was a bad idea because the difference between them is about $470K (1.092M - 623K) in favor of staying in CA with the pension. I realize there are plenty of other factors like cost of living, housing appreciation,..etc.. but I'm just trying to understand the pure financial implications on retirement of this move.
But then I realized I need to calculate the value of returns on the extra $75K/year might have to my retirement portfolio (assuming I didn't spend it all). But I wasn't sure about this part or how to do that properly. And this got so hairy, I thought I was maybe doing this all wrong in the first place.
Am I doing this right? Any help from fellow members would be much appreciated.