I didn’t intend to debate the merits of his compensation, I instead would like to understand how a ‘retirement’ benefit geared to 2.5% per year of service, capped at 110% for extended service on a 3 highest years of service of ~$550K (seen articles saying retirement was based on a mere $240K) turns into a lump sum payout of $13 million after death.

That is a post death payout of 25X his highest income.

While extreme, it’s a good example. The retirement program that lead to this payout is the same style retirement program that many California State employees have, 2.5%/year times the average of the highest 3 years of service. It’s a defined benefit plan, so how does it turn into such a large lumpsum payout?

And by understand, I’d love to see the actual contributions to the plan he made each year to compare to what a private sector person would get with those same contribution. Because in the private sector, if I made $100K, 40 years ago, got a 5% raise every year, I’d be making $600K/yr now and would need a total contribution to retirement of 25%/year to have a value of $13Million assuming an 8% return every year.