(If you chose the 403b instead of the pension).

It was honestly really hard in those early years before tenure to make ends meet having something like 7.5% retirement + 7.5% payroll tax + 7.5% state/federal taxes + 10% tithing + every other nickel and dime tax imposed on us.

But, having started very late in the saving for retirement game because of PhD and postdoc years, it has been a huge blessing to be forced to save that much and just figure it out.

Fortunately for me, I don’t think the state can ever decrease that amount as I would be grandfathered in. I can also voluntarily go up to 10%+10% after age 50.