Community Chat

[SharkE]

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@CrazyDaisy wrote:

Working in a Union business, many pension funds are in danger.  Many, many, many  people will be recieving much less than they have been told they will get over the years.

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True, hubbo, was told he could draw from Sears 400 a month. Nope, all he got was 150 a month. We use it for our own dental fund.

They use the term 'recalulated'. I wouldn't count on any pension in this day and age. Mismanagement and greed .

They hedged for months on giving him the 150 till I contacted Dept of labor in Washington, D.C. Pension was direct deposited few weeks later.

[kitcat51]

Well I'm living it...lost a $60,000 yearly pension when the company went bankrupt. Pensions are guaranteed by the PBGC, it's mandated by the government but funded by businesses who must pay into it. The PBGC determines how much money you will receive monthly based on their formulas....I get less than $10,000.& of course all benefits including health care are gone. When a company goes bankrupt getting a lawyer is useless....the company files papers with the court, when they are approved & signed by the judge it's a done deal & everything you worked for is gone. Your situation is different than mine, many pensions are underfunded but the good news is solutions are found to save them with small or large changes to benefits, sadly once a pension is in big trouble it can go downhill quickly & nothing can save it. The best advice I can offer is to make sure you understand the process, talk about it because the stress is enormous, don't hesitate to call any help numbers provided & get ahead of the changes that will occur with the loss of income. I'm 68 & will never be able to retire but it is what it is & I'm grateful for all the blessings I have. I wish you all the best @Happiness Is Inside JOB.

[SharkE]

Shame, at least you can get on Medicare, no more  big huge insurance payments.

We were up to almost 600 a piece by the time we both got to Medicare Part B.

[Tinkrbl44]

I have no idea what the restrictions are in what pension funds can be invested, or how the money is invested.  I doubt it just sits there .... but I could be wrong.   Aren't people supposed to get out of it at least what they put into it?   If they didn't put anything into it, like a 401k, why would they expect much in return?

This sounds like another situation where people don't read the guidelines, but make a lot of assumptions as to what they'll get years from now .....   bad idea, IMO.     

[CrazyDaisy]

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@hckynut wrote:

@CrazyDaisy

A person does not need to be in a union to have this happen to them. I know many that were in management when they retired with my company, and their protection is the same as all of us blue collar workers. AT&T is still a pretty big company.

When our contribution(?) for our Medical goes up, their's goes up the same percentage of their pension. My Medical was free when I retired in 1991, but it is far from free now, and my pension $$$ have not gone up since 1994. And inflation? The talking heads in that city say: "what inflation"?

hn

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Multi-employer, i.e. Union funds, are the ones that are typically required to notify all parties of the funds staus. Thus my comment pertaining to the Union funds.

[CrazyDaisy]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

I have no idea what the restrictions are on what pension funds can be used for, or how the money is invested.  I doubt it just sits there .... but I could be wrong.   Aren't people supposed to get out of it at least what they put into it?   If they didn't put anything into it, like a 401k, why would they expect much in return?

This sounds like another situation where people don't read the guidelines, but make a lot of assumptions as to what they'll get years from now .....   bad idea, IMO.     

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Pension funds are typically employeer funded.  Actuarials will make assumptions on pay outs, return on investments etc., and the company will fund accordingly.  To many times the assumptions are off and funds become underfunded.  Once that happens it usually becomes a downhill spiral.

[haddon9]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

I have no idea what the restrictions are in what pension funds can be invested, or how the money is invested.  I doubt it just sits there .... but I could be wrong.   Aren't people supposed to get out of it at least what they put into it?   If they didn't put anything into it, like a 401k, why would they expect much in return?

This sounds like another situation where people don't read the guidelines, but make a lot of assumptions as to what they'll get years from now .....   bad idea, IMO.     

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 @Tinkrbl44 . Over the years we put a LOT into our 401K!  DH was putting 13% of his salary into his.  Not sure what you mean by that.

[BirkiLady]

@151949  We began our first IRA's in the 1980's and contributed the maximum to them annually until the ROTH's became available. In time, we rolled over our IRA's into our ROTH's to avoid having to pay taxes when retired. (Paying taxes while working and having large deductions made sense to us.) At the same time, we both were in company sponsored retirement accounts and contributed to 401K's as well.. 

The point is:  IRA's have been around much, much longer than 30 years. ROTH IRA's have been around for 30 years.

No one should have to endure such a loss of retirement savings. Your husband was fortunate to have walked away with his portion at a relatively young age. Many do not. You have much to be grateful for. Some of the above stories are painful to read. But when our dollar is not longer based on gold, our entire country could go belly up any day. I've also invested (for my family as well) in gold and silver in the event that happens.

We were always taught to "pay ourselves first." We did and have reaped the rewards throughout our marriage by investing wisely and never having debt. I'm still a huge saver!

[Kachina624]

I belong to a large government retirement system.  Of course their money is carefully invested.  They have a unit of people who just administer the fund.  I contributed to it every month of the 32 years I worked, about the same amount as my SS contribution.  The government entity also contributes to my monthly annunity and pays for my non-SS health insurance.  I've never paid a penney to a health provider since I retired.

[ccassaday]

My dad worked for BF Goodrich which MIchelin bought for 45 years. When he started pensions are what they offered for retirement. Some years later whrn 401k became polular thry stopped giving new employees a pension and offered them 401k. It was grandfathered in so anyone that worked there prior to thr change still got pensions when they retired. My dad was smart and also did the 401k   So he got both.