Noticed the estimated Lump Sum payout is LOWER for 2026 vs. 2025, which is both alarming and surprising - especially since interest rates declined in 2025 ….. so, I was expecting to see an increase in the Lump Sum amount. Anyone else experience this, and any insight or explanation ??
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@n6 "@e0 don’t wait till 70 to collect SS. Collect at 67 or 65. Social security is depleting fast and by 2033 you’ll see significant decreases in monthly payments. Use or lose it!"
The decision is highly dependent on a survivor benefit. My wife has far greater longevity in her family than I do. We'll roll the dice since we don't have a crystal ball.
@e0 don’t wait till 70 to collect SS. Collect at 67 or 65. Social security is depleting fast and by 2033 you’ll see significant decreases in monthly payments. Use or lose it!
Can I take my lump sum in bitcoins?
The T is using your pension money to stay in business.
Check out Studebaker Packard - Expect same here.
Just be happy that you have a pension so quit whining.
I recently took the lump and rolled it into an immediate fixed lifetime income annuity with joint survivor and cash return options and it beat the AT&T annuity by almost $900/mo in an apples to apples comparison by my fee-only 100% fiduciary CFP. NY Life is also rated far higher than Athene for safety. The cash return option pays to beneficiary(s) if both annuitants die before the invested sum is paid out.
We have other money in the 401(k) that's fully invested. The option above generated nearly what we need to live on while the 401 can continue to grow and be used for optional spending, and I'll wait to collect SS at 70.
The product I purchased is NOT a high commission product like variable annuities or other confusatorium ideas, so it's not as easy to find someone who sells them without trying to upsell. It's a very boring product. Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab offer them as well.
D9 bargained for tech.
Mine was only a little bit higher but essentially the same as the 2024 November rates because segment 3 (the long term rate) went higher.
Mine is Mobility - cash balance. Not tied to all of that interest rate mumbo jumbo.
Segment 3 rate went up.
Cook the books.
Lump Sum Pension amounts are directly related to the IRS Present Value Segment Rates.
https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/minimum-present-value-segment-rates
AT&T locks in the rates in November, for the following year. If those rates go down, Lump Sum Pension amounts go up, if they go up, Lump Sum amounts go down.
Black rock will ensure the fund is depleted before you get a chance to touch it
Somehow and some ways they figure out an average to fck us and they always do.