Officially lost my pension today
 

Well, it is not really lost, it is just frozen. I know there are a lot of people out there who would kill for a nice steady job like I have but I can still bitch a little. I've been with the same company for 23 year. After 14 years they were sold and the old company's pension was split off from the new company. It is still growing and I can draw it from the old company at 55 YO even if I am still working for the new company. We all knew there was something special legally that happens once you have 10 years vested with the new company and that would have occurred on Dec 31st, 2012 but the new company just froze our pensions (they will not be lost but will not grow any larger) before that 10 year mark. We cannot take them until we hit "retirement age" AND leave the company (not sure age that is - I was shooting for 55 but I might not get them for another 10 years after I leave). When I first started with the company we had something called COMBO 85 (100% retirement if your age + years of service = 85). I would have hit that at age 53 (100% retirement) the way the plan was years ago. Until today I could have retired and got a 50% pension at age 55. Now at age 55 (or maybe 65) I can get a small fraction of my former retirement benefit.

The good news is that they now match 6% on the 401K. I know a ton of people who get much more than that but it is better than the old 3%. I have not done the calculations to see if that 3% will make up for the loss of pension. My hopes are that it is better but who knows. Anyway, I am officially just working for a paycheck now (well, some health benefits, etc) but no longer is my pension a reason to stay because I will not grow.

I have my work retirement set-up for max-match, but the majority of my cash goes to an ING RothIRA for a reason...that reason being the owner of my company or my boss can't ever take it away.

Dollar #1 goes into my Roth (and my wife's). After that we max the 401K and then do an additional stock fund. No bills and a frugal lifestyle means we have money left over at the end of the month for investing. I'm so tight that I will probably never spend it but at least we will have a little bit for the gov't and the 99% to take when we get older.

I also do my own retirement stuff (ira's and stuff) for exactly that reason. If nothing else the military taught me to never depend on my employer for anything.

I thought the thread title was "Officially lost my penis today".

For the year that I did work full time, my employer wouldn't match a dime for my 401k contributions.

that sucks.

but yeah, dollar one should always be whatever it takes to max out the matching. that's "free money" in that it's increasing your gross salary. THEN to the Roth.

That really sucks Robert. From everything I have read, you seem to be in a better position than the average to be able to take this financially. Good thing you invested in something outside of your company pension.

We max out my wifes 403B and our Roth IRAs, and then invest in various stuff in our control. She has her Teacher Retirement System money that she should be getting at combined 80 (age + service years), but we are trying to handle everything outside of that. I really don't see that system disappearing, but you really never know.

Get more details, in writing, before making any decisions or changes. If the pension is vested (and you terminate employment?), there is the possibility that you can roll a present value lump sum to a traditional IRA.

Either way, I do not see how you "lost" your pension. You may have lost some potential growth in the pension retirement payout or lost some number of years before you can collect it, but it doesn't sound like you lost it - the way someone with an employer who went bankrupt might.

I will shed no tears for you, nor shall I even play my tiny violin for you.

Umm, that's only $5K a year. You need to find additional money to invest if you hope to retire one day. Just being honest. You really need to build up a plan so you KNOW how much you need to do to retire when and how you want to.

Same here. We cap both Roths, cap both 401Ks (well, I can't due to key empolyee/highly compensated) so can only put in around $7-8K a year and another $25K or so each year in general mutual funds for us.

You are right. I should have phrased it that way....

My first sentence of the post:

Well, it is not really lost, it is just frozen.

My second sentence:

I know there are a lot of people out there who would kill for a nice steady job like I have but I can still bitch a little.

Still, my plan is to give this company 32 years of faithful service and they have not held their end of the agreement that we made in 1989. In the end I am more faithful to the company than they are to me. I have turned down quite a few jobs (yeah, I know it is stupid to do that) to stay with them. I cannot remember them ever going out of the way for me. 23 years and I have taken less sick days than I have fingers. Things like this make you rethink what you have done over the past couple of decades.

This is the part that makes it suck the most. You work for them longer them most people on this forum have been alive, and they ---- you. For them not to hold up to their end of the agreement after telling you they would really irritates me. I hate liars.

The part that chaps my ass is them telling me that they are offering something new and wonderful that will really benefit me when I know they are only doing it to save money.

When the student loan is gone, I'll move that additional $500 over into another retirement account. I don't want someone else in charge of my retirement. It's foolish to expect my employer to let me keep my retirement when their company goes to ----. I'm a fed and the new thing for the president's budget for 2013 is to require me to pay more into retirement...a retirement which I don't control.

I was just giving you a hard time. I agree that it's unfortunate and disappointing, but you can't fairly view your decisions through the lens of hindsight. It sounds like, for the most part, you did the right thing given the information you had at the time.

There is intangible value in being a loyal, stand-up guy. :winner:

Pension? Retirement? What that?

Directive 10-289 is a buzzkill.

:(

Directive 10-289 only serves to further the decline.