Tag: benefits

Why Do Jobs No Longer Offer Pensions?  | Retirement
Money

Why Do Jobs No Longer Offer Pensions?  | Retirement

For many years, companies often provided workers with a pension plan, a valuable benefit that set them up with a steady source of guaranteed income during retirement. These days, fewer employers offer a pension: Only 15% of private industry workers had access to one in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Retirement plans that rely on employee contributions and the rate of returns on their investments are more prevalent today. According to the BLS, 69% of private industry workers had access to such plans in 2022.Why are pensions less common? Consider the following: How pension plans work. Understanding why employers used to offer pensions. Changing times: the shift from traditional pension plans. Contemporary factors contributing to the disappearance of pensions. Alterna...
No, Social Security Isn’t ‘Earned’
Health

No, Social Security Isn’t ‘Earned’

Joe Biden and Donald Trump have something in common: Neither wants to touch Social Security. The program’s benefits “belong to the American people,” Mr. Biden said in February. “They earned them.” A month later Mr. Trump said: “We’re going to take care of our Social Security—people have earned that.”Both men have used the program as a cudgel against political opponents who have supported reining in benefits to balance the program’s troubled finances. The same goes for Medicare, which the progressive group Social Security Works has described as “an EARNED benefit,” adding that “anyone who proposes cuts to this program is reaching into your pockets and stealing from you!”Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 ...
How to Find a Lost Pension Plan | Baby Boomers
Money

How to Find a Lost Pension Plan | Baby Boomers

Pension plans offer some of the best retirement benefits you can get from an employer. But if you had one from a previous job, you might have lost track of your plan by the time retirement rolls around.The last thing you want to do is let valuable benefits go unused, but it could take a bit of legwork to find the information you need to hunt down your “lost” pension plan, including contacting your former employer – who might have moved, changed names or even closed down – or contacting the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.Follow these steps to track down your plan: Contact your former employer. Consider financial and insurance companies. Search at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Collect the paperwork. Look into spousal payments. Make sure you are vested. Consider a fi...