The pursuit of happiness in retirement is a lot easier with a pension.

Retirees with regular paychecks report higher levels of satisfaction than those who rely on 401(k)s to supplement their Social Security, studies have shown. The security of a lifelong income is a source of comfort and happiness, those with pensions say.

While 401(k)s can generate more wealth, retirees say navigating all the investing, tax and withdrawal strategies can add to their stress when they are trying to lower it.

Pensions do have drawbacks. It can be hard to amass a sizable monthly benefit unless you stick with one employer for decades, and the income isn’t always adjusted for inflation, said Gal Wettstein, an economist at Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research. If employers go bankrupt, benefits might be cut, he added.

But, as Oscar Wilde said, “It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.” Those who live comfortably on pensions—most government workers and 15% of private-sector workers have access to one, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics—tend to agree.

Below, four retirees who say the trade-offs are worth the peace of mind.

Rick Larson’s two pensions more than cover all his annual expenses right now.

“My friends have to manage their retirement savings for the rest of their lives. I don’t have that pressure,” the retired Air Force colonel said.

Each month, his military pension brings in $8,100 pretax and his private-sector pension gives $800. (The former is inflation-adjusted; the latter isn’t). He receives $4,100 pretax a month from Social Security, and the military provides medical coverage that supplements his Medicare.

Larson spends about $6,000 a month on recurring expenses and saves the remaining $7,000 for travel. He has two mortgages: $2,500 a month for his Reston, Va., home and $1,200 for a condo in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

When Larson, 77 years old, joined the military during the Vietnam War, he didn’t plan to make a career of it. He signed up for the Air Force, rather than wait to be drafted, betting he would have more control over his assignment.

“It seemed like flying would be better than carrying an M16 rifle through Southeast Asia,” said Larson, who never was deployed to Vietnam.

A few years into his time in the military, Larson considered leaving for the private sector. But the Air Force offered him a job in Japan. His wife, Karla, was game and learned Japanese.

The couple moved 17 times. During the 1991 Iraq war, they were in Cairo, where Karla taught. Larson said he negotiated for U.S. aircraft that refuel military planes to be based at an Egyptian Air Force base.

In 2000, he retired as a colonel and became a consultant for a defense contractor, where he worked on intelligence-related projects.

After retiring in 2014, the couple traveled to destinations including Australia and New Zealand. In 2022, Karla died of Covid complications following a trip to Antarctica.

Larson has kept traveling, recently visiting Florence, Italy, where his granddaughter was studying. He is planning an around-the-world cruise and likes to attend Kansas City Royals games in ballparks around the country.

While home, Larson attends an 8 a.m. prayer service on Zoom before heading to the gym. He often sees his two daughters and their families.

He didn’t start saving in a 401(k) plan until he left the military at 53. Because his military pension covered his living expenses, he contributed the annual pretax maximum and saved after-tax money, converting it to a Roth account. He now has more than $1 million.

Larson donates part of his required minimum distribution to his church and plans to leave the rest of his savings to his grandchildren.

“They’re just starting out in life and have to deal with high mortgage rates and jobs without pensions,” he said.

Patricia Pekar retired at 55, once she realized her pension would replace 67% of her paycheck.

Freed from her job, she spends more time volunteering for her church or hopping on her motorcycle and speeding down the open road with her husband.

“I like being out in the open,” said Pekar, 67. “I like the solitude of it and hearing the sounds around me.”

Pekar earned her pension while working—first as a clerk and then as a lawyer—in city and county governments in Ohio for three decades. She began accruing a pension in college, working for Dennis Kucinich, Cleveland’s former mayor who was later elected to Congress.

After getting her law degree, she worked for Scioto County in Southern Ohio, where she lives with her husband, Wyatt Bates. She conducted child support hearings and enforced federal rules that raised payments for many single mothers.

Pekar and Bates, also 67, currently earn about $7,780 a month before taxes, including $5,400 from her inflation-adjusted pension, $750 from her part-time work as a bookkeeper, and $1,635 from his Social Security.

The pension helps enforce spending discipline, said Pekar, who tracks her spending carefully. Monthly expenses include $150 for cellphone and internet service, $370 for heat and electricity and $400 for groceries.

Bates earns another $20,000 a year as a Realtor, which covers the couple’s travel and nonrecurring costs, such as the used Jeep they purchased recently.

Pekar has yet to claim Social Security. She is entitled to about $850 a month from her private-sector jobs. She would have received a reduced benefit—but the Senate approved a measure on Saturday that repeals the reduction in Social Security benefits for people with public-sector pensions from jobs not covered by Social Security. President Biden is expected to sign the measure.

The couple have $382,000 in IRAs and brokerage accounts. They withdraw $4,000 a year for long-term-care insurance premiums but try not to touch the rest.

They take long trips on their Harley-Davidsons to destinations including the Great Smoky Mountains. Next year, they plan to take two cruises and will make a pilgrimage with their church to Lourdes, France.

Bates plays the drums in a band that performs at local bars and restaurants. Pekar is in four women’s riding clubs. Men are allowed, she said, but they have to ride in the back of the group.

“There’s a sisterhood among riders,” she said. “The camaraderie is very special.”

When John Priddy was getting his associate degree at a community college, he was recruited by a not-for-profit utility that provides water to more than two million people in central Arizona.

He stayed there for the next 43 years.

Priddy’s loyalty to the Salt River Project paid off in retirement with a pension of about $4,700 a month after taxes. In his last few years of work, he saved up most of his vacation and sick time, which he was able to cash out for a lump-sum payment of about $50,000 when he retired.

Priddy, 72, never had time or the need to get a bachelor’s degree, he said. He was too busy working and helping to raise his two children, now both adults.

“I worked really hard for many years to get a good pension and I feel fortunate it worked out,” he said.

Knowing he had financial security emboldened him to try new things.

When he was 55, he decided to learn to paint. What started off as a hobby years ago has become the main focus of his retirement. His home has an art studio where he enjoys painting pictures of automobiles. Since retiring at 63, he spends at least three hours each day painting. He has also served in leadership roles at an art league in the Phoenix area.

Priddy has always been a saver, he said. When he was a teenager, his family was at one point almost homeless. Ever since then, he’s made an effort to save as much as possible and keep his spending modest, he said.

He spends about $60,000 a year, with his mortgage as his biggest expense. He has a roughly $300,000 mortgage with a 2.99% rate on the home he bought after his divorce about 20 years ago. He is in no rush to pay off the loan and has no other debt, he said.

Priddy waited until age 66 to claim Social Security from which he gets about $2,600 a month. He has roughly another $850,000 saved in a retirement account that he hasn’t touched and is invested mostly in stocks.

He gets up at 5 a.m. five days a week and heads to the gym for a 40-minute workout. Then, he goes home to prepare a high-protein breakfast with at least three eggs and protein-rich bread. He cooks most of his meals and has hosted friends from the gym at his home for healthy cooking demonstrations.

“I’m busier than ever,” said Priddy.

Ken Thompson didn’t like many of the jobs he held in the 25 years he worked for the state of California.

But the 71-year-old got what he wanted.

“I worked so I’d get a pension one day,” said Thompson, who retired at 64.

He takes home more now monthly than he did when he was working. Thompson gets about $5,900 a month after taxes from his pension along with another $2,200 a month in Social Security. He has also saved another $110,000 that is invested in stocks, money-market accounts and certificates of deposit.

He hasn’t boosted his spending, though. He and his wife spend about $3,400 a month, most of which goes toward their mortgage.

For the past several years, money that was left over at the end of each month was used to pay off other debt including credit cards and car loans, or to renovate their home. They are now debt-free except for their mortgage. These days, Thompson typically puts any surplus income into a savings account.

When he first started out, Thompson worked for various transportation companies. He spent nearly a decade at one with the promise of a future pension. But when the company went belly-up, the pension—which was probably worth a few thousand dollars—vanished, he said.

It was then that he decided on a career with the state, where he mostly worked in information security.

His pension gives him a sense of security, but the couple’s grocery bill each month chips away at that, he said. Before the pandemic, he used to be able to buy the couple’s groceries for the week for about $150. Now, he’s spending closer to $300 a week. The Thompsons track their expenses closely and cut back on treats they used to splurge on. Instead of buying two rib-eye steaks for a meal as they did before the pandemic, they will split one steak.

“We’re spending more and getting less,” he said.

A battle with cancer during the last 10 years of his career set him back healthwise, he said. He’s cancer-free now but has some balance problems that he developed while he was sick. He feels fortunate that any medical bills that aren’t covered by Medicare are largely covered by the state, he said.

His physical activity is somewhat limited, but he’s still able to take his dog on walks around the neighborhood a few times a week. He enjoys reading and keeping up on business and political news.

“I’m just happy I don’t have to work anymore,” he said.