<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
Chapter 274 - What Could Go Wrong[]
Thazi (Independent System)
2nd September, 3047
"Sir, it all the investments we have been making using funds we might need to explain exactly how that benefits the troops." Derek Paulson said
"I have been thinking about that. Mainly because we are getting to the point where those investments are going to start paying off. With our growth, the bonus plan has gotten smaller over the years plus out here, there is not much yet for the troops to actually spend money on, yet. I have been thinking about some sort of pension plan. But high finance is not my strongest skill. The AFFC provides for a pension of 1/2 your salary on date of retirement once you reach 20 years of service. Unless they changed it, there are also added percentages for wounds suffered, I think it was an extra 5 percent for every 5 years after 20 years of service. Plus, they covered 75% of your medical expenses for you, spouse and children under 21 after 20 years of service. Thirty years of service and you reached the magic 100% covered medical."
"I want to model something along those lines for the troops, only better. We can toss in land or a house on any planet we control to sweeten the retirement plan. We have our own in house medical so we can provide 100% medical care for families, which we already do anyway. Start coming up with a viable long term strategy plan." President David Mitchell replied
"Very well. Your the sole owner of Solar Metals, so your set for life there." Derek Paulson said
"I do not count. Neither does my owning Solar Metals, it was purchased with unit funds and everything they have was at one time unit property." President Mitchell replied
"In that case, it would not be that hard to have Solar Metal profits placed in some sort of account to pay for future retirement. As for sustainable, that means forever when talking about retirement plans. Doing some quick mental math, if you plowed those funds into an annuity paying 5% a year, even paying a 100% pension at 20 years would easily cover the expenses. For example, 75 Billion C-bills worth in a 5% annuity would bring in roughly 3.7 Billion C-bills per year, if everyone were to retire right now, we would be looking at an average of 2,500 per person per month or 30,000 per year. There are currently, only the people in SaRI itself, 11,590 on the payroll of the unit. That is 347 Million and change per year, not even close to spending what the interest would draw. You could easily afford to throw out a 20 to 30,000 C-bill per year bonus on top of their normal pension payments and not even get close to spending the interest amount per year." Derek Paulson explained
"How did you come up with the 75 Billion number?" President Mitchell asked
"Pulled it from thin air. You could pay double the payroll on retirement and still not get close to spending the interest. Even quadruple the payroll is still less than half the interest the annuity would gain each year. Who would not want to retire at four times their salary for the rest of their life? Toss in a yearly bonus or call it profit sharing on top and it becomes the sweetest deal ever seen. We could afford to pay four times their salary and expand to 30,000 troops just to spend the yearly interest without bonus payments if we never deposited another cent into the annuity itself. There are funds back in the Federated Commonwealth that dwarf what we would be starting with." Derek Paulson said
"Okay, so your saying that 75 Billion is the magic number to start off with?" President Mitchell asked
"No, Sir. We could start much lower than that. For example, you just sent 2 Billion worth of gold to the Federated Commonwealth. If we deposited that as a start, it would draw 100 Million a year in interest. If we did nothing with those funds at all, in twenty years time that annuity would have grown to over 4 Billion which would draw 200 Million in interest per year. If we are aiming for 75 Billion in the annuity at twenty years, the magic number would be around the 30 Billion mark, possibly 20 Billion since I am not increasing the additional increase of interest each year to the total gained. Ten Billion drawing a 5% rate would allow you to pay your current SaRI payroll forever and then some." Derek Paulson explained further
"Your telling me that I could have simply invested much of our money in a simple annuity to cover our unit payroll forever instead of spending that money on all these improvements and different adventures?" President Mitchell asked
"Pretty much. You did not ask me for my opinion back then on the matter. You asked me to help you develop a long term economic plan for Thazi and then added Boulsi to the mix. If you had really asked me for my opinion back then, I would have advised you to sell everything, invest the funds and everyone live the good life for the rest of their lives. But you didn't." Derek Paulson replied
Boulsi (Independent System)
5th September, 3047
"Everything checks out. The computer system has noted no faults on any of the diagnostics I have run, and I have run every single one I can find three times." Dennis Stinson announced to no one in particular. His usual companions had left to travel back to Linden. Here he sat aboard the reassembled shipyard, and he did not know what to do now. The station's cargo bays were fully loaded with raw material ready to be processed and used in constructing something, but he did not have any orders to build anything. He looked at the main screen, 84,673 tons of ready material. He selected each ship type, and the computer announced the same thing each time, not enough material. The cargo bay only held 10,000 tons of refined Germanium, not enough to even get a good start on construction of anything and he did not have the authority to order more up from the surface.
He gave up on the Jumpships and selected the Dropships. He was surprised when the computer allowed him to actually proceed to the construction screen itself. He studied this screen in closer detail, only because he had not seen it yet. He selected the Titan Fighter Carrier Dropship and noticed that the computer announced a lack of weapon systems for the design to be completely constructed, but it gave an option to install the weapons at a later date. His finger lightly stroked the key that would make the selection, not enough to actually make the selection though. He was alone in the command center, but he still looked over both shoulders as his finger pressed the key.
He was looking at a new screen now, it gave a quick rundown on the time for construction and was asking if he wanted to begin construction of the unarmed Titan Dropship. He once again looked around as he pressed the key. In seconds, he was sure that he could actually feel the station come to life. If anyone gripes, I will claim it was a test of the stations systems, he thought to himself, I just hope Chief Zuniga does not throw me out an airlock on his return.