My wife got to roll over a couple thousand dollars that she personally had contributed to an annuity, but she got nothing from the state pension that she would've gotten had she worked for the state another 2 years. It just seemed unfair to me that she worked 8 of the 10 required years to qualify to get a monthly payment at age xx, but since she was two years short she got nothing. We had heard that it might be possible for my wife to either work a couple more years to get vested, or else, maybe we could buy into the pension by paying a fee, but it turned out that neither of those options were possible. Maybe that's normal. It just surprised me, a little. I prefer a self directed 401k that clearly belongs to the worker. I can't imagine ever committing to work for a company or the government for 10 years, just to get a pension. I mean, if you love the work you're doing, then fine, but how can you know ahead of time whether, one day, you'll get a real dick for a boss, and you'll want to leave? I just would never want to put myself in a position where I felt forced to stay in a job I didn't like.