Pension at 62

I can say that since my house was appraised at $370,000 in 2006 and today it appraises at $270,000 that I have lost $100,000 but that would not be the whole story. When I built the house in 2002 it cost $220,000 so I could sell it today and make $50,000 so have I really lost money? I mention this because something similar is happening with public pensions. Over the years defined benefit pension plans provided to public employees have been overly generous and now many of these plans are underfunded, that is, they don’t have enough money to pay the promised benefits. People now say they have lost income because their pension must be reduced to avoid bankruptcy. Most of these plans allow employees to retire at age 62 and have more net income than when they were working. That tells you something is out of whack. Average life expectancy for someone age 62 is 21 years.