Ah, Rick, I’m sorry to hear that. I guessing it’s worse when they offer some plum and then pull it away than if you hadn’t been considering the plum in the first place. And you’re absolutely right - they did an unbelievably bad job of this. Well, looking at the bright side, you know what kind of company you’re dealing with now, so fore-warned is fore-armed. You might need to re-consider your future financial planning so you don’t depend too much on a pension that might disappear on you.
Hey, at least it wasn’t “FUCK YOU, we accept your resignation, and you get no pension.”
Rick has a defined benefit pension plan. Those are company assets. Thus, if Ford goes bankrupt, they can default on the pension.
401ks are safe from that sort of deal. Although people have “lost” their 401ks. Its not a good idea if you leave the firm to leave your 401k with their trustee - just move it - either roll it to your new firm or transfer it to an independant IRA. Most often they simply do get lost - you leave a firm and leave the money sitting there, the firm switches 401k providers, tranferring your money around. You move and they don’t find you, so your statements are in never never land, but you don’t notice, they switch again, then the firm goes under. When you retire you start looking for the money - but the firm has been gone 20 years and no one can find out who was holding the IRAs at the time.
Also, some companies need to “release” your money to you. My former 401k had that clause when I went to roll it over - my old HR department had to sign off saying it was OK to release my money (which they did). Apparently, they don’t always do that - and getting them to cooperate can involve lawyers.
sigh
Sorry to hear that, Rick. Hang in there. Shit.
As for your questions, zwiesamkeit, I know what the going rate they say “ought” to be for retirement is, but I fight with every cell in my body against the idea that we have to work until we’re too old to enjoy a full life rich in adventure and relaxation. One of my big fears is that I really will be getting ready to die and hearing the alarm go off at 6 on some Monday morning, knowing that means that instead of enjoying a sunrise, I’ll be getting ready to go make some money for some other pain in the ass probably thirty years my junior. I do not want to be like the women I’m surrounded by here. They’re all gray haired busy bodies who have no idea what they’d do without the routine of work. They’re proud to say that they’ve stuck it out here for 25 or more years no matter how bad the company has screwed them. They’re forgetting that there’s a world out there that is not so small…that there are more fulfilling things to do than stare at these bland walls.
Jeez, you know, it just pisses me off that because social security is hitting the skids and people happen to be living longer, that we’re fed a load of horseshit about how we also HAVE TO work longer. Gawd, I hope not. I don’t tolerate working very well at 34. I imagine it would be sheer torture 20 years in the future.
Remember when retirement age was 55? Was it ever, or did I just imagine that?
Ahh, okay. I agree with you, then. That’s why in my first job, I immediately started my 401k at 15%. I’m now at my new job (woo!) so I have 90 days to figure it out, but I’m staying at at least 15% and going to try to go up a bit, maybe up to 20% if I can swing it.
I’m 24. I know social security won’t be around for me. And I don’t want to eat cat food when I retire. The more I save/invest now, the more money I’ll have decades later (and the more time it’ll all have to compound). I guess I just have a weird perspective, since I’m in the first generation in my family (including most of my extended family) to be college graduated corporate office people; everyone else has worked in roofing, auto shops, sheet metal factories, etc. So while I want to retire earlier if possible, all of my experience growing up has been the exact opposite.
Don’t count on the government registered pension plans, either. Sure, they will probably still have all your money when you retire, but I personally am not putting all my pension eggs in any one basket. I have multiple baskets, in case something unforseen happens and one of my baskets gets dropped.
zweisamkeit, it sounds like you have the right idea. Are you thinking about going into retirement debt-free, too? You don’t need all that much to live on if you have very few expenses and a paid-off house to live in, you know.
Most definitely. This is my first real job (graduated college in 05, live in Michigan with a shitty job market and had to make do with a part time job at a credit union till now), so my plans are (in rough order):
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set 401k at 15-20%
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save 6 months of living expenses in a high yield savings account (this is my 'only to be touched in true emergencies, like ‘Hi, I lost my job!’)
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have $1000 in immediate emergency funds at my immediate-access savings account
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save for a down payment on a car (don’t know if I want to buy new or used; edging towards a newer used car since cars just depreciate. My car is 16 years old and I’m gonna hold out as long as I can, but I can’t pretend I’m not gonna need a car in the nearish future. I want to have a decent amount for a down payment so I don’t have a large monthly payment. Regardless, after the car is paid off, I’m still going to make “car payments” each month… to a savings account)
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later on investing and probable house buying (I know this is a bit in my future, though). I’m a bit iffy on house buying now, since I don’t know how long I can stay in Michigan with how we’re going down the shitter and the housing market is in the same predicament. I do know that I plan to pay extra on any mortgage, only get a house I can afford and do research on investing before going off into doing that.
The last part is a bit vague, but I’ll be honest and say I’m rather proud that I have a plan at all. Compared to most of my peers, I feel way ahead of the game, heh.
hecK I’d almost say you’e ahead of me 
You’re certainly ahead of where I was at your age.
Oddly enough, our company will allow you to contribute up to 100% of your earnings to a 401K. Not that I’d recommend that, of course 
At least it’s only 90 days. At many companies it’s 6 months to a year before you can enroll.
{sniff}
And they say kids these days aren’t on the ball.
(Don’t forget to have fun, too. It’s not all about saving for getting old.)
You are way ahead of the game, and these are great ideas, though I would seriously reconsider the last. Don’t pay extra on the mortgage necessarily. Not all debt is bad debt, and tax deductible, low interest debt can be a very good thing to hold onto as long as possible, if you have the discipline (and it sounds like you do) to take the money you would have paid extra, and to place it in an investment that provides a likely rate of return higher than the real (post-tax-benefit) interest rate you will be paying on the mortgage.
Of course, if you sleep better at night paying the mortgage off early, that has a utility that should be factored in. But don’t assume that just because it is debt, it is per se bad.
You can’t make this shit up
I swear to OG if Dilbert had this as a story line nobody would believe it.
I just got a call from my manager. Sweden found some money after all, I get to retire with all the benefits.
::: Does happy dance:::
::: Pops champane cork:::
I would write more, but I am giggling so hard, I can barely see the keys.
Congrats! I’m happy to hear you’re not going to be stuck like you thought you were.
(welcome to the ranks of unemployment!)
OMG!! That’s fantastic! Congratulations!
Get the check, endorse the check, and deposit the check. Then make sure it doesn’t bounce. THEN celebrate.
Seriously. Doublecheck that everything is in order first. I would not trust them after this fiasco.
Yes, but was your supervisor Accessible and supportive?
No, no, no, don’t deposit the check, do what I used to do with a guy I used to work for who had vague ideas about cash flow. I’d always go over to HIS bank and CASH the check, RIGHT after he gave it to me. Because he never really understood that just because there was money in his account right this second that didn’t mean he could write checks on that money if HE’D ALREADY WRITTEN OTHER CHECKS ON THAT MONEY.
If you cash the check at his bank you’ll either get your money, or you’ll know right away that the check’s no good.
Actually I don’t cash the check (from the retirement account) it goes straight to the guy handling the IRA.
As far as the pay check goes, yes that one gets direct deposited.
Yay! Yay yay yay! Here’s keeping my fingers crossed until the deal is completely done and it’s not possible for them to screw you out of anything any more.
Actually he was. Very. I have never thought that highly of my boss, but through this ordeal he has been supportive, accessible, and there for me. When he had to call me and tell me that I might not get it and when he called me back to tell me I did not get it, I could hear in his voice that he truely felt bad for me. When he called back this afternoon to tell me I get to go, I could tell he was happy for me.
His stock when way up in my eyes over the last week.
Congratulations, congratulations!
A few years back, I was part of a 6-year project (about 250ppl in the team). In a company of go-getters, we were the ones who made everybody else feel like a rheumatic slug. If our VP said “the business would like this, is it doable?”, by “this” we had 3 different ways to do it and by “doable” we had cons and pros for each, as well as for option four: “not doing it”.
One day they make us all attend this big meeting (those who were away had to attend remotely) and tell us that, since it’s only one year till the end of the project, they want to start getting rid of people, so we should start preparing resumés and circulating them. We’re not required to tell our supervisors when we send one or get an interview, just if we accept.
A meeting for 250 people, of which 180 are in remote: a kaboodle.
A dude to show us slides about how to prepare a resumé: another kaboodle.
The look in their faces when, five calendar days later, one of the top 3 people in the team said “hey guys, I spoke with the guy who was hiring for this long-term internal position and he’s offered me the job, so I’m moving over in two weeks”? Priceless.
Those people need a Gitta Ogg headology crash course. Exam will be graded by Esmerelda Weatherwax.