Are you set for retirement without a pension?
Used to be, pension plans were the ticket to a less-stressful retirement. You work for a company for years and in return the company continues to provide a regular check for your golden years. Not so much anymore.
According to the Employee Research Institute, over the last three decades the share of private-sector workers in pension plans dropped from 28 percent to only 3 percent in 2008. During the same period, the share or workers enrolling in 401 (k)-type plans was up to 31 percent from 7 percent. Twelve percent were able to take advantage of both plans in 2008.
With a pension plan, known as defined benefit plan, the company promises you a certain income for the rest of your life based on the number of years you put in. With a 401(k) plan, known as a defined contribution plan, both you and your employer contribute to a tax-deferred savings account designed to supplement Social Security and a pension, if you have one.
As the AJC reports today, SunTrust Banks will freeze its employee pension plan at year’s end, following the examples of other companies trying to cut their costs. The freeze doesn’t mean SunTrust is getting rid of its pension plan, but the company no longer will take into account compensation earned after the end of the year in determining future checks.
How are you set for retirement? Will you be able to rely on a pension, 401(k) and/or Social Security without taking on another job? Are you looking at a life of toil?
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71 comments Add your comment
KJ
November 18th, 2011
12:30 pm
If a freeze is the worst thing that happens to you, consider yourself lucky. My dad’s company looted his entire pension, and refused to pay out over half of his severance earned over 30+ years of service.
greedybosses
November 18th, 2011
12:49 pm
You expect anything different? How else can the ceo’s and cfo’s keep there huge bonuses and golden parachutes? lets balance the books on the backs of our employees while keeping the proftis for ourselves.
I used to listen to the BG's
November 18th, 2011
12:57 pm
While I never want to look a gift horse (defined benefit pension) in the mouth, I know that a defined contribution pension (401Kk), etc.) is far more sustainable by the company. That’s probably better in the long run – you know, working for a company that can actually stay competitive. At least I’ll continue to have a job.
You only have to look at the recent defined benefit pension problems that forced Jefferson County, AL (Birmingham) into municipal bankruptcy and Rhode Island into a comprehensive pension reform legislation to understand the need, particularly by municipal, state and federal governments, to move toward a defined contribution format.
Butch Cassidy
November 18th, 2011
1:28 pm
I’m curious. Did the ERI do a comparative study showing how much CEO Golden Prachute clauses have been reduced over the same time period?
economist II
November 18th, 2011
1:36 pm
All the CEO bonuses combined don’t equal what Obama spent, which was $800 billion, in two short months to “stimulate” the economy. Sure, the greedy CEOs took their loans and paid themselves for running their companies into bankruptcy, that goes without question. The question should be how do we stop spending on political programs that are masked as social programs….
CJ
November 18th, 2011
1:44 pm
@economistII: It was under Bush that the housing bubble expanded and then burst, causing our economic meltdown. Why didn’t he have a closer eye on the situation? What did he do to stop it? Obama is trying to clean up another man’s mess.
squirrelly
November 18th, 2011
1:55 pm
I am a former SunTrust employee, and SunTrust is a horribly managed, profit on the backs of the employees, top down company. It wasn’t always that way; ALL employees used to get yearly bonuses based on how the company did for the year, and then they did away with that about 10 years ago for the EMPLOYEES, but top execs still get huge bonuses every year. This is just the latest example of how employee un-friendly SunTrust is as a place to work. Over the last 10 years, SunTrust has degraded as a workplace, demanding more and more work out of the employees while figuring out a way to pay them less and less every year. Thankfully, I took my pension in a lump sum & retired this year before the SunTrust execs could loot that!
Tychus Findlay
November 18th, 2011
1:55 pm
If you’re not planning to foot your own retirement, don’t plan on retiring.
Um
November 18th, 2011
1:56 pm
CJ well you don’t clean up a mess by throwing #$%^& into the pile!
Nancy
November 18th, 2011
2:06 pm
Google “Ellen Schultz” and watch the many video clips on what she has found out about how companies are raiding pension funds. Using pension funds to provide for CEO golden parachutes, using pension funds to further increase executive pension plans, “dead peasant” life insurance plans on low level employees. Truly mind boggling.
joe
November 18th, 2011
2:07 pm
CJ, you need to look at WHO was running the organization that started the housing bubble crisis. It was none other than Barney Frank. He caused this by forcing Freddy and Fannie to advocate housing loans to unqualified people who could never afford the mortgages. DEM Barney Frank. End of story. You can’t blame Bush for that…so pin the blame where it’s due. And Obama trying to stimulate the economy with never ending spending is going to fix anything…it will things worse and therefore, he must be voted out next year for our country’s future.
jay
November 18th, 2011
2:08 pm
Once again, the rich screw up the economy and want to correct it on the backs of the
middle class. Are the ceo’s, cfo’s and board of director’s foregoing their bonuses, golden
parachutes, stock options? My guess would be no.
joe
November 18th, 2011
2:09 pm
oops, should be not going to fix anything…it will make things worse…
jay
November 18th, 2011
2:10 pm
Hey Joe. Did you learn about Fannie and Freddy’s history from their chief historian Newt Gingrich?
Reader
November 18th, 2011
2:14 pm
CJ, You people are wearying,Bush did try to clean it up but was assured by the great statesman Barney Frank that things were just fine.
Former ST employee
November 18th, 2011
2:38 pm
I worked at SunTrust for 11 years before my escape. It is horribly managed and they treat their workers terribly. I am surprised it has taken them this long to dump the pension plan. The insurance I have at my new company costs half as much and covers twice as much. SunTrust goes on these cost cutting sprees every few years but they do not do it with any forethought. Instead of investing in smart technology to create efficiencies, they cut people then double the workload of those that are left. SunTrust is so far behind in technology it will never catch up. How the IT management has kept their jobs is baffling.
GetAGrip
November 18th, 2011
2:38 pm
“Private-sector pensions are becoming less common as firms seek to control costs.”
Defined Benefit pensions were/are being suffocated out of existence by decades of well-meaning government regulation.
@CJ – You are a president/party off.
A book to read is “Reckless Endangerment” by Morgenstern and Rosner. Gretchen Morgenstern is a Pulitzer prize winning NY Times business reporter. The Bush administration inherited an out-of-control Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, and struggled against a anti-redlining, pro-affordable housing, equal opportunity, Acorning, economic justice cabal to rein in progressively looser and more dangerous lending practices.
This book names names, along with dates and verbatim quotes. To help you keep up with everything, it begins with a “Cast of Characters”.
Included in the “Fannie Mae and Friends” section are Bill Clinton and Barney Frank. Our current Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, leads off the “Feckless Regulators” section in his former role as the president of the New York fed.
old man
November 18th, 2011
2:52 pm
@Economist II
If you could go back in time and undo TARP and the Stimulus, you would do that? Really? When every economist on the planet (except, I suppose “Economist II”) is telling you that your failure to act will trigger the greatest economic meltdown in history? Thank God we did not have a President in 2009 with the tremendous “courage” you would have shown in the face of such unanimous pleading by the most prestigious intellects in the world. I guess we will never know exactly how bad things could be right now if there has been no Stimulus Bill, will we? Thank God for that too.
Truth
November 18th, 2011
3:11 pm
Instead of the Stimulus, why not give all Americans a tax holiday for 12 or 24 months. This would have let all Americans spend the “Stimulus” money in their local areas with no corruption issues such as Solyndra.
We don’t need to trust Government to know how to spend our money better than we can.
Truth
November 18th, 2011
3:15 pm
Be careful of putting too much of your money into retirement accounts such as 401k or IRA’s because the money is taxed when you take it out not what your rate was when you funded your account.
The government can raise the tax brackets with the stroke of a pen and make the retirement accounts very bad investments from a tax standpoint. Also, if both you and your spouse pass with a large amount in your retirment account then the Government counts it as income in the year of your death which could put you in a higher tax bracket than you ever were in during your working years.
gregory
November 18th, 2011
3:24 pm
Wanna bet a thou this not affect the upper management, that is what 99 is about, its all about these men who are clearly gods that run these corporations and the politicians live in a different world than the rest of us, politicians allowed to do inside trading? Warm up the tar, I have some chickens.
Ted
November 18th, 2011
3:27 pm
Why should we care after they start charging every fee under the sun (no pun intended)? $1 for check image!!! Let them go out of business!
Terri
November 18th, 2011
3:39 pm
EconomistII- I guess you MUST HAVE FORGOTTEN how the budget was balanced when Bush, Jr. got into office and within 90 days we were in the RED!!! It amazes me how racist pitiful people – such as yourself- want to blame President Obama for this jacked up economy…give me a break! He is trying to bail us out of the 8 very LONG-LONG years that Bush was President.
gregory
November 18th, 2011
3:44 pm
If corporations had to cut all of our pay for the new world economy then why has theirs grown by so much? Right wing losers love to yell about a Solar Company whilst they give gas companies billions every year in tax write offs, while they ripe us off again with gas going up for no reason, except greed from Wall Street. Its not the left or right, its all of them, they are bought off. The politicians are the pimps, the corporations are the Johns and guess show is the one’s that gets it?
Charlie The Tuna
November 18th, 2011
3:56 pm
I worked at Scientific-Atlanta for many years and the pension amount I had been set to receive was cut by 2/3 before I was able to start collecting, so I have advised my children to invest their retirement savings first in a Roth IRA up to the max, then only in a 401K up to the match if there is one, then in non-sheltered investment accounts they control. Everyone should keep their retirement accounts under their own control as much as possible, and away from the greedy, crooked, dumb-dumbs at their employers. Much as they would like you to believe otherwise, they are not the all knowing and caring masters of the universe they want you to believe they are.
mem
November 18th, 2011
3:57 pm
@Nancy, I saw her on John Stewart and it was truly mind blowing to hear what they have/are doing. Interestingly, I’ve not heard anybody else talk about her book.
GetAGrip
November 18th, 2011
4:08 pm
Ellen Schultz has been doing excellent reporting on pensions and other employee benefits for the Wall Street Journal for years.
Kady
November 18th, 2011
4:18 pm
I am a former SunTrust Employee – I bled Trust Company Blue. When I started, I loved working there. They cared about not only their employees but the community they were making money off of. Bud Gould is rolling over at the mess going on there now..Shame on you SunTrust management. I still own a red truck!
economist II
November 18th, 2011
4:26 pm
Terri you just showed that you are as ignorant as everyone else who doesn’t agree with the current admin by calling them a RACIST. I guess being as black as Mr Cain also makes me a racist.
zylepp
November 18th, 2011
4:48 pm
While I never want to look a gift horse (defined benefit pension) in the mouth, I know that a defined contribution pension (401Kk), etc.) is far more sustainable by the company. That’s probably better in the long run – you know, working for a company that can actually stay competitive. At least I’ll continue to have a job.
You only have to look at the recent defined benefit pension problems that forced Jefferson County, AL (Birmingham) into municipal bankruptcy and Rhode Island into a comprehensive pension reform legislation to understand the need, particularly by municipal, state and federal governments, to move toward a defined contribution format.
******************************************************************************
The AL BK was caused by kickbacks (2 in jail so far) on their new sewer system and had nothing to do with pensions!
Z
November 18th, 2011
5:25 pm
Phil Graham, a Republican was the politician who drew the bill up to do away with Glass Stielgal. Yes, Clinton signed that bill in December 1999 when all tricky bills that they want to screw the public with get passed. Clinton has said, signing that bill was a big mistake, I’ll say. Barney Frank was in the minority party until 2007 what could he do? On Video, on YouTube, you can see Bush saying he wants everyone to be able to buy a home.
When you have no regulations you will have problems, that’s just the way it is. Humans will always default to the dog eat dog mentality when they don’t have a master to watch over them. In other words unless you have rules and regulations in place there will always be those who will default to their worst. In the housing mess that transpired from 2000 to 2008 we had this fiasco created where almost everyone jumped on the wagon of destruction and the wheels fell off. Very sad situation not for just this country but the whole world as it turns out.
This mess came about long before Obama was on the scene. Thank Goodness we have an intelligent President in office trying his best to get this country turned around. It has not been easy, with no help at all from the majority Republican 112th congress but Obama hopefully will prevail in spite of this hateful congress. Vote smart come election time 2012 and remember do not vote against your own self interest.
GetAGrip
November 18th, 2011
6:23 pm
@Z
Fannie Mae lit this candle in the 90’s under Clinton’s watch – Community Reinvestment Act ring a bell? Acorn? Redlining? Clinton drove the ‘homeownership for all’ bandwagon.
@zylepp – Yes, what you said. Jefferson County’s/Birmingham’s bankruptcy is a tale of interest swaps/derivatives gone wrong; it is not pension-related.
Esquatisha
November 18th, 2011
8:40 pm
The key to a financially successful retirement is to have NO DEBT. If you enter retirement debt free you don’t need a huge pension to sustain yourself. I still see retired seniors struggling with six figure mortgages – just insane.
Already Done
November 19th, 2011
6:03 am
Obama will take care of me, right?
TrustCompany Blue(many years at SunTrust)
November 19th, 2011
9:43 am
Let’s face it. Traditional pension plans are not sustainable so what SunTrust is doing here is reasonable. That being said, SunTrust is a company that’s been managed into the ground over the past decade. This used to be one of the best companies to work for in Georgia, and at one time I would even argue it was one of the best banks to work for in the country. The company once treated its employees as family and its employees returned the favor. The culture of the place really started to change about a decade or so ago when some greedy executives decided to start throwing hundreds of their IT employees to the curb and replacing them systematically with cheap labor from India while being paid large bonuses for doing so. What was done was criminal for all intents and purposes and it helped to ruin what was once a great company. The company showed it could care less about its employees, and the feeling of employees toward the company’s leadership was degraded to the point where few cared anymore to go the extra mile. Once you ruin the culture at a great company, it’s only a matter of time before that company is as far from being great as one can imagine. That’s the story of SunTrust. But it’s no different than the story at so many once great companies.
Tom Saunders
November 19th, 2011
10:35 am
All of you that continue to attempt to exculpate Barney Frank and his fellow Democratic cronies from being ground zero of this housing mess are ideologically delusional. You are so delusional that you don’t have a frackken clue that in offering your pathetic excuses you continually highlight your own inability to absorb information – which has pretty much been the case since you skipped the punctuation classes in the 4th grade. As far as CEO bonuses go, take back the massive payouts to Franklin Raines (google him as I sure you don’t have a clue who the man is) and then lets talk.
Now, get back to uttering some idiocy like “People before Profits” or some such other blather.
roughrider
November 19th, 2011
11:03 am
Don’t be bitter about losing your pension. Someone has to pay for the bailouts,TARP, Bush’s War in Iraq and his tax cuts. Surely you don’t expect the rich to pay.
Old Timer
November 19th, 2011
11:26 am
I’ve been drawing my pension for 14 years. I got out while the getting was good, before the company froze pensions, stopped offering them to new employees, got into financial trouble, and then had to merge with another company and offer pathetically small fringe benefits. The new merged company, however, is still offering large bonuses and deferred plans to top execs. My early retirement allowed me to latch on with another company, and as a result I’ll be drawing a second pension in a year. Coupled with savings, a 401k plan, Social Security, Medicare, and health insurance I’m allowed to carry into retirement, my retirement benefits will be adequate.
The campaign to stop defined benefit plans began in the 80s, and it continues to this day, with astounding success. The unbridled greed of the Reagan and Bush I years led to the practice of regarding employees as “resources” to be treated as any other resource—disposed of whenever practicable and rewarded minimally. I feel a great deal of pity for younger and middle-aged employees, some of whom have even accepted this BS that companies cannot “afford” defined benefit plans and thus are justified in pension freezing, downsizing, right-sizing, perpetual reorganizations, and other antics designed to reward top executives and dispose of every employee possible. They’ll never know what it was like to work for an employer in a situation where employees are valued and regarded as members of a team.
Pension?
November 19th, 2011
11:37 am
What’s a pension? I’m 34. My (global) company quit matching 401k contributions three years ago. I will not receive ANY of the Social Security or Medicare that is stolen from my paycheck. Retirement? Ha! For my generation there isn’t going to be any retirees!
zeke
November 19th, 2011
11:39 am
having worked for banks while going to undergrad and grad school years ago, it was easy to see the game….first efficiency experts made operations run smoother, then middle management squeezed some more and after thinning out working ranks, the big boys then thinned out the middle management ranks…with the guys at the top patting themselves on the back and in the wallet for their great efforts……truth be told these guys at the top could be replace almost as easily as the worker and mid manager bees…yet they really make the big bucks and get to keep pensions….but in truth they are just overhead
2012 can't get here soon enough
November 19th, 2011
11:52 am
Obama is nothing but a train wreck. Anyone else would be better than this loser.
It’s hilarious reading political blogs at the ajc… obama supporters only know how to point fingers. Oh look, McDonald’s is to blame for this mess, PILE ON!
yuzeyurbrane
November 19th, 2011
11:52 am
Thanks for column. About time. Both fixed benefit pensions and 201k’s (before 2008, they were 401k’s) are vastly overrated. Only your “financial advisor” is guaranteed a secure retirement from these. Additionally, our pals who brought us the 201k’s are trying to get the SS action for themselves (i.e. privatize). There has been class warfare for some years and essentially the middle class has lost. Argentina here we come.
Obama can we have our stimulus back you moron
November 19th, 2011
11:55 am
Occupy the White House… with somebody else.
Hope for change to bankrupt us?
November 19th, 2011
11:58 am
Hey Obama-
The democrats are so brainwashed they think you’ve actually been doing a great job. Sure, I guess we are just dreaming all this.
Signed,
Everyone you have screwed since you have been elected
Obama is just following the European model
November 19th, 2011
12:00 pm
Give the Pres a break-
He doesn’t know what he is doing. He doesn’t care either. More Solyndra scandals please… we’ve got money to burn.
Hey Democrats
November 19th, 2011
12:03 pm
What is it that Obama has done well?
Or are you are just waiting for the results?
I guess we’ve got time to wait eh?
Oh yeah. We don’t.
Blaim it on the rain.
November 19th, 2011
12:16 pm
Keep blaming Obama. Keep blaming Bush. Keep blaming Repubs. Keep blaming Dems. Meanwhile, politicians on both sides are laughing all the way to the bank.
Brian
November 19th, 2011
1:10 pm
All pensions should be frozen and all new ones outlawed. People should take care of themselves and not depend on the government or their company.
Prof
November 19th, 2011
1:10 pm
I will probably attract your scorn by relating my story, but I don’t care.
I am one of those public school/college/University teachers who managed to get along on a modest salary for more than a total of 30 years, but always on the general understanding that one gave up the big salary for the benefits, including a solid retirement income. Public policemen and firemen also are in my situation. My family has always lived frugally: a bungalow we’ve lived in for 25+ years, no travel vacations, and no debt when I retired last Spring either.
And now we live nicely on my benefits from a defined benefit pension from TRS. In addition, Georgia does not require retired public school employees to pay state income tax; and of course I don’t have to make Social Security payments now either.
The ancient Latin writer Aesop had some great animal fables that seem relevant here: the tortoise and the hare, the ant and the grasshopper…..
Political Mongrel
November 19th, 2011
1:18 pm
Georgia doesn’t require retired public school employees to pay state income tax? In what universe? I’ve had Georgia taxes taken out since my retirement, have paid my taxes, and have most certainly NOT been getting all my state taxes back. It may be true past a certain age, but it’s not true for all PS retirees.
Pension plans where the company properly budgets for and takes care of its pension obligations most certainly can be run properly and stay solvent. But plans where companies refuse to take care of their obligations (often deliberately to torpedo their plans and their workers) will fail. The fault is not in pensions themselves. The fault lies with employers who’re happy to cheat their employees in the name of higher profits and compensation for their executives.
Prof
November 19th, 2011
1:42 pm
@ Political Mongrel. Yes, you’re probably right about Georgia state income taxes and the age of PS retirees…I was over 65 when I retired. Sorry for the misinformation.
I agree with your second paragraph here—although sometimes the blame also lies with the retirement foundations that made risky, huge investments and then lost a lot in 2008 and after. Many state university retirement funds are in that situation, though not Georgia’s.
bill
November 19th, 2011
1:48 pm
JC, For your information Bush did try 12 seperate times to reign in Freddie Mae and Fredddie Mac.
All 12 times demcorats shut it down. Even Clinton claimed he wanted to do it as well but he knew democrats would block it.
The housing bubble is almost entirely a demcorat failed program. Bush inherited the mess from demcoratas just like he inherited a recession from Clinton.
Look which side even now infests and protects Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Hell Obama even used one of their guys as one of his advisers.
Barney Frank and Chris Dodd were up to their eyes with Fannine and Freddie.
In fact you look at who benfited from both those companies and all democrats.
Obama even INCREASED how many mortages now go through Fannie and Feddie while they still get ever more bail outs.
Now also take a look at which side fought against privitizing retirement plans so you would not have to worry about companies or the goverment raiding the funds. DEMOCRATS did!
Which party benifits from poor needy people needing more and more from the government and then ask yourself why their programs seem to always just create more and more needy people.
Lisa
November 19th, 2011
2:35 pm
As usual, the AJC doesn’t seem to check their facts very thoroughly.
Pension plans can either be defined-contribution or defined-benefit plans. Defined contribution plans are far more common today, as they are typically much cheaper than the other option. With this plan, the Company would define their contribution to the plan (i.e. 3% of an employee’s salary) and the future value is up in the air, depending on how funds are invested, how long, the rate of distributions, etc.
With a defined benefit plan, the Company defines the future benefit (i.e. 75% of a retired employee’s salary) and then it is up to them, with the help of an actuary, to fund the plan annually in accordance with numerous regulations. Generally when the markets fall, companies must make up the shortfall with increased contributions to ensure that adequate funds are available to provide the promised defined benefit.
atlanta banker
November 19th, 2011
2:36 pm
i used to work for another atlanta based bank that used to treat employees like family. Now they terminate postions right when employees about about to be fully vested so they do not have to pay retirement benefits, freeze employee pay while the top execs still collect HUGE benefits and 6 figure saleries, 7 figure golden parashutes and are only concerned with protecting thier own interests at the expense of employees who have work 25+ years. It is typical of the corporate greed in this country and in the end will be the demise of this once great nation. I am glad I retired and took my lump sum before they could get this dirty hands on it.
Tychus Findlay
November 19th, 2011
2:56 pm
Where’s the outrage at government employees’ outrageous pensions at the taxpayers’ expense?
TCS
November 19th, 2011
3:20 pm
CJ, Joe is right right on with his comments. Bush tried to stop Barney Frank and Maxine Waters, but it was derailed Get your facts straight. Dem or Repub facts or facts!!
Retired Government Worker
November 19th, 2011
3:29 pm
Where’s the outrage at government employees’ outrageous pensions at the taxpayers’ expense?
You’re severely misinformed, Tychus. Unless a government worker was under the old program, the pension of a federal worker amounts to 1% per year of service of the average of the top 3 years’ salary. Work 30 years and your annual pension amounts to 30% of your average salary. Work 40 years and your pension is 40%. Most private employees who are covered by pension plans would scoff at such a pension benefit.
GetAGrip
November 19th, 2011
3:56 pm
@TCS
Right on. As the late Patrick Moynihan once said, everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
GetAGrip
November 19th, 2011
3:58 pm
Of course, the same ignorance repeated long enough BECOMES fact – e.g., the Democratic party as the party of civil rights and racial equality.
Prof
November 19th, 2011
4:09 pm
@ Tychus Findlay, “Where’s the outrage at government employees’ outrageous pensions at the taxpayers’ expense?”
Said the grasshopper that had sung and fiddled all summer long, to the ant that had labored all spring and summer to gather and store grain for the winter.
The traditional payoff for the modest salaries of government workers–especially public servants such as teachers and police/ fire officers–are their benefits, that include retirement benefits. Don’t begrudge us what we’ve put in our years (and our own contributions) to get just because YOUR employers have treated you so shabbily.
Ripped off Boomer
November 19th, 2011
4:11 pm
“How are you set for retirement? Will you be able to rely on a pension, 401(k) and/or Social Security without taking on another job? Are you looking at a life of toil?
I was doing well towards retirement until an employer who directed where my 401k was invested (in their stock) went bankrupt and lost $750K. After the Enron fiasco Congress made changes that do not allow companies to direct your 401k plan. I can not afford to retire till max age for SS now. I will be working forever.
Thought about running for Congress but I have morals and could not lower myself to that level.
no cash
November 19th, 2011
7:08 pm
my company dropped our pension plan 4 years ago and switched everyone to a bad 401k plan—the benefits went way down! I need a better job.
Already Done
November 20th, 2011
9:21 am
Obama! NOT!
Lies, hipocrocies abound. Says “white”, does “black”.
RJ
November 20th, 2011
11:20 am
We can spend years pointing at each other placing blame.If democrats and republicans cant find common ground this country is going under.We have no one to blame but ourselves we have to vote and be more pro active in every aspect of our lives.
atlmom
November 20th, 2011
11:33 am
Be careful about amassing too much in a 401k too…the congress looks at that money and drools, but doesn’t quite know how to get at it. It’s amazingly annoyingly terrible, given all the things I have given up over the years, while others have gone on spending sprees. Those people don’t have so much in their retirement accounts, and they’re probably going to look at mine and tell congress how ‘fortunate’ I was. When I went without cable, without a smart phone, without flat screens, without upgrading my computers, without nice vacations, etc etc etc to amass that money. Oh, it’s so tough being a person who earns money and goes on spending sprees.
but i’m not bitter.
bob lilly
November 20th, 2011
12:57 pm
I am set. I have a good pension plan, nice 401 (since 1983) avoided being too risky when all said I was nuts and theirs dropped out the bottom. I have bought 4 rental homes for next to nothing the last 2 years and borrowed only 50%. I van rent for far less than those that bought at the peak. You just have to be money savvy and spend your time away from Dancing with the Stars. I feel sorry for those who’s pension were stolen….like the union members.
bob lilly
November 20th, 2011
1:06 pm
Start to move toward gold. Inflation will cause the dollar to disappear. Do not let the “experts” lie to you. They have been wrong every step of the way. BUY GOLD. I saw the housing market bubble in 2002 when I moved and saw the exact home selling for 40% more than from where I moved. In come rose just 2% in 7 years while houses rose 80%. Only an idiot could not see the housing collapse coming, yet the experts said nothing. How could they. They had to keep the lies going.
Brent Walker
November 20th, 2011
1:18 pm
Blame it on the rain has it. The blame is Washington DC period. If they; are in vote them out.
Yup, your right
November 20th, 2011
1:30 pm
CJ, you are so wrong about Bush. Bush did try to stop the housing bubble and so did McCain. They put a bill fourth to the house and the house hid it, Your democratic house did not think there was anything wrong with Freddie and Fannie. I love the posters who think that democrats want whats best for you. All they care about is keeping you down and keeping your vote.
If you want the real facts, all you have to do is go into the archives of the house and look under McCain’s speeches and you will find where McCain and a lot of other republicans tried to put the halts on Fannie and Freddie and how the democrats opposed it. Get your facts right before you post ok.
flat broke
November 21st, 2011
5:09 pm
the country’s broke–get rid of all government pensions, asap. No more free rides for government loafers.
Gmoney
November 25th, 2011
4:35 pm
Lowe’s was the same way when I started in 1999. They had stock options for employees that were Ast. Mgrs and up. A company profit sharing plan and 401K with match. They used the Enron scandal to eliminate options for everyone but Store Mgrs and Directors and above. Next to go was the profit sharing plan. Then went the company cars. Then insurance went from 100% coverage to 80% with a greater cost, etc, etc etc. Left in 2008 and took one very important lesson with me. Loyalty means NOTHING!!!!!!!