Did something massively change?Switching from the private to public sector this late in life has MAJOR retirement implications. You would be wise to vet that out.
You'll not work long enough to earn a full pension and you'll pretty much lose social security. In fact your pension can and likely will cost your wife her social security too. I'm being serious, look into it.
You really need to do your retirement planning before taking that leap. Make sure you COMPLETELY understand the long term implications of switching from private to public sectors at this point in life. Or you and your spouse could be working for the rest of your lives because of this career change. In fact if your wife is working in the private sector now as well I can pretty much say with absolute certainty, absent you having a million dollars in a 401k already - you WILL f*** your family over if you make the move. Neither of you will ever be able to retire.
Don't make a decision now that you will regret later in life. Hate to rain on the parade, but that's life. I'm just trying to do you a solid because you probably don't know...
Public pension programs are separate from private (where SS pays you). AFAIK if you "retire" from both (20 yrs in each) you will be double-dipping, one doesn't cancel the other one. You just can't have 2 federal pensions (e.g. military and later civilian federal employee) as I recall.