Which insurance companies went under? Health insurers may go under due to the ACA at some point, but they don't handle our pensions. You are aware that there's a pension guaranty fund run by the gov't, right? If it came to that only the big pension guys would be hurt as they have a cap on coverage.
I am paid fairly for the work I do...
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Well your in luck, the portable pension plan offers a cash out option. Doesn't pay as much as you'd have gotten under the traditional pension but it's money in hand.
Goldilocks
Well-Known Member
On average, a FT that has worked 25 years+ will get 2200-2500 a month from the traditional pension. Portable pension is a cash payment determined by the amount of hours you work. I only have about 40 thousand so far in my portable pension.
It will be fine
Well-Known Member
So the portable is more like a 401K? Just an investment vehicle not a guaranteed monthly benefit. Did they force everyone into that or were people grandfathered into the traditional plan with all new hires being placed in the portable?
It's actually surprising they still offer any pension, it seems counter to their desire for couriers to quit after 10 years or so. Maybe if they make it crappy enough no one will worry about losing it if they leave.
MAKAVELI
Well-Known Member
Actually its more like a savings account. They put in a percentage of your annual earnings and collects about 1 or 2 percent interest year.
You can then take it out as a lump sum or monthly payments.
Operational needs
Virescit Vulnere Virtus
When it was first implemented, they gave us a choice of staying with the traditional or switching to the portable pension. All new couriers were automatically put in the portable. Then a few years later, we were forced to switch to the portable.
DontThrowPackages
Well-Known Member
2200-2500 isn't the worst thing possible. That plus your 401k will get you to SS if planning on retiring at 25 years. One could live nicely in Belize on that. Not like a king but nor peasant.
DontThrowPackages
Well-Known Member
Is it possible for the government to garnish a persons social security after an illness causing bankruptcy? Im sure the Rush Limbaugh will have successfully repealed ACA by my retirement.
MAKAVELI
Well-Known Member
The only way I see at the aca being repealed at this point is if a republican is elected president. At this point I don't see that happening.
Even if a Republican is elected, repeal without replacing isn't an option and replacing is something the insurance industry will fight with The considerable profits they make from the ACA.
With the portable pension plan they take your age plus your years of service(your points) to determine whether you are in the 3%, 5%, 7%, or 9% category. For example to be in the 9% category you must have 75 points so a 50 year old with 25 years of accredited service qualifies to have 9% of his fiscal year gross put into his pension plan. If he grossed $50,000 then the company gives him $4500 for his pension. Plus every quarter 1% of his total pension balance is paid into his plan as interest. If he has $40,000 in the plan at the end of a fiscal year quarter he gets $400 in interest. And so on.
Here's the depressing part. Say a 3 year courier makes $35k. He's in the 3% category so he gets $1050 put into his plan. And the 1% interest that quarter would be $10.50. So you can see that for people starting out very little is contributed and it'll take many years for your account to build up into anything.
You can choose to take your portable pension as an annuity paying you monthly. You can take a cash lump sum. Or you can roll it over into another qualified plan like an IRA. You can even choose to leave it in the account to receive quarterly interest but I believe you must withdraw it at age 70. If you have a high paying job and work a long time you might get a decent payment out of it. But for couriers, who apparently the company only wants to work 5-10 years anyways, about the best you can hope for is use it to leave and live on for a short time while looking for other work, or if you've built it up past say $50k use it to pay bills, pay off the mortgage, buy a new car, something like that.
Here's the depressing part. Say a 3 year courier makes $35k. He's in the 3% category so he gets $1050 put into his plan. And the 1% interest that quarter would be $10.50. So you can see that for people starting out very little is contributed and it'll take many years for your account to build up into anything.
You can choose to take your portable pension as an annuity paying you monthly. You can take a cash lump sum. Or you can roll it over into another qualified plan like an IRA. You can even choose to leave it in the account to receive quarterly interest but I believe you must withdraw it at age 70. If you have a high paying job and work a long time you might get a decent payment out of it. But for couriers, who apparently the company only wants to work 5-10 years anyways, about the best you can hope for is use it to leave and live on for a short time while looking for other work, or if you've built it up past say $50k use it to pay bills, pay off the mortgage, buy a new car, something like that.
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
Your disability income is exempt from creditors, subject to a few exceptions. Exceptions. The federal government can garnish yourSocial Security disability benefit to recover money owed to it, such as back taxes or defaulted student loan payments that have been guaranteed by the federal government
DontThrowPackages
Well-Known Member
The ideal plan would be having no debt upon retirement. Hopefully the children would have finished school by retirement and no longer on your dole. One could wait til the spouse is at that age of retirement, sell the home and move to somewhere affordable and in enjoy the final years. Anything she could add to the household income would be gravy. One guy is Filipino and will be taking his wife there to retire like a king. He will sell his home, give his adult kids something and go back to the islands. He make it sound amazing. Living near the beach and eating seafood everyday. Happy for him. Funny guy.
Operational needs
Virescit Vulnere Virtus
I worked with an Indian guy who was building a house in India. He and his wife plan to have it paid off before retiring, sell their expensive house here, and they both live off their pensions and SS. They will be living well. Can't beat that!
That is pretty much what we're doing. No debt when we leave, moving to Central America and living well on my pension. I'm a cool mountain air person, it's hot and humid in the Phils. The problem I see for future couriers is they won't make enough to finance a decent retirement and won't have the option of quitting at 55.
5yearsleft
Well-Known Member
Van, For those of us who left and then came back; do they use total years of service?
Serf
Well-Known Member
Nice. Similar, a Polish guy at the station who has been with Express for 16 years is prepping for retirement back in Poland. His daughter is finishing high school next year and going to college in Europe. With the little money he will make from selling his home, and Social Security collecting early, (plus what FedEx offers him), he says he will be more than alright.
Operational needs
Virescit Vulnere Virtus
I have good friends in another country who have been trying to talk me into moving there for years. The older I get, the more I think about it. I could live pretty well there, and fly back to the US every few months to see my kids. It's a Third World country though, so that makes me hesitate some.
Yes, all years where you worked at least 1000 hrs are used.
