FPPA Members share opinions on the value of their membership

Every other year, FPPA conducts a satisfaction survey with a randomly selected group of active and retired Members; And every other year, we’re reminded how much our Members value their retirement benefits!

This year’s effort began in April, targeting 4,000 individuals with about 10 questions regarding their experience as an FPPA Member and attitudes towards retirement. Of those 4,000 Members, about 16% responded to us (thank you!). Respondents skewed towards retirees (66% vs. 34% actives), and a few more firefighters weighed in than police officers (57% fire, 52% police , and 1% said either Sheriff or declined to answer), but overall, we received enough responses from all groups to have confidence in our findings.

What did we learn from this year’s survey? Here’s a look at some of the results:

Active Members are Heavily Invested in Retirement Planning

Asked “On a scale of 1-100, how interested are you in planning for retirement right now?” active Members replied with an average score of 92. This is a very encouraging score, which has remained consistent across our surveys over the last several years.

Question: How interested are you in planning for retirement right now (scale of 1-100)

We also asked active Members on the same scale, “How confident are you that you will be able to retire someday?” The average response to this question was 84 in 2023, down from 91 in 2021 and 92 in 2019. This is certainly a result that we will keep an eye on going forward as we work to better prepare FPPA Members for retirement.

Retirees Feel Secure in Their Retirement

One of the most impactful data points for our staff comes from the survey question “Do you feel secure in your retirement?” While the results are positive, these results have ticked down in recent years, similar to active Members’ attitudes toward their future retirement… in 2023, 76% said yes (e.g. they feel secure in retirement), compared to 88% in 2021 and 86% in 2019. Based on the comments throughout the survey, it appears that the impacts of inflation and frustrations with Cost of Living Adjustments have played a role in this decline in confidence.

Question: Do you feel secure in your retirement?

To our retirees, rest assured that we have heard your frustrations, and know that we are working hard to deliver meaningful relief for our retirees.

Overall, Respondents Say Their FPPA Membership is Valuable

To close out the survey, we asked all respondents whether they agree with the statement “My FPPA membership is valuable to me.” Overall, 87% of Members either agreed or strongly agreed, including 90% of retirees, and 83% of active Members. These results have remained consistent with scores from 2021 and 2019, and remain a powerful reminder of the importance of the work that we do to serve our membership.

Question: Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statement: My FPPA membership is valuable to me

The best first responder TV series, according to FPPA Members

Finally, we asked all Members a bonus question: “What is your favorite first responder related TV series?” Unsurprisingly, police officers generally liked police shows, and firefighters (generally) named firefighter shows. But there was some overlap. Here was the top ten for all respondents:

1. Emergency!
2. Rescue Me
3. Hill Street Blues
4. COPS
5. Tacoma FD
6. Law & Order
7. Chicago Fire
8. The Wire
9. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
10. NYPD Blue

To break it down a bit further, here are the top five shows among just police officers:

1. Hill Street Blues
2. COPS
3. The Wire
4. Law & Order
5. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

And here are the top five shows for Firefighters, including the only service crossover between both lists at number 5:

1. Emergency!
2. Rescue Me
3. Tacoma FD
4. Chicago Fire
5. Hill Street Blues

Thank you to all who participated in this year’s survey. If you have any questions about the results, please contact us.