[quote=bearishgurl]I don’t see the average public worker (ESP safety and CALTRANS) living beyond their seventies and even that is a stretch to me.

Again, SDCERA workers are but a microcosm of all public workers in CA. I myself am a SDCERA “deferred retiree.”[/quote]
Data for life expectancy: http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_dyn_le00_in&idim=country:USA&dl=en&hl=en&q=average+life+expectancy

Average right now is 78. So, assuming average public employees have similar expectancy to average American, then I would say you made a valid statement that the average won’t make it past their 70s. A good portion will make it into their 80s, though <50%. See that trend line? It's going higher.

Are these average pension numbers public information?