Just a quick note to the surplussed floks with a pension with Fidility. I was told that in the case of death there is no guarantee at&t will do the pay out so it is best to move it to you bank in a Roth IRA - no penalty.
Your 401 is safe.
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I would even roll a 401k to an IRA. Many more investment option than the T plan provides. Pensions vary based on work group. I have a cash balance pension that goes up a but each year. If o left I would roll it to a Roth. Did that with a small pension buyout from an old employer a few years back. The market has treated that money well.
You also have a limit each year that you can put in a Roth, and this is considered a rollover. Roths don't make sense for everyone, but you never get a chance to go back and contribute to a previous year's limit.
Depending on your age, salary, and financial savviness, the advice to see CFP is solid.
I meant to say “a long sit down with a CFP”....better to have all your options known.
Ok, here’s what I believe I know to be true, please correct me if otherwise:
@hQh, AT&T Pension Benefits were ceased after 2007. But verify with HR.
@0bB, when I was surplussed (in 2016) HR explained that T will bridge the final 4 yrs to age 65 and
gave me the payout difference if I took it then or waited til 65. You should still verify .difference may be in Surplus vs simply quitting, freezing a Pension may exist under certain circumstance. I never found out, i was able to stay within the company.
@43yi...be advised that should a T employee pass before retirement the recognized “spouse” (and
only the spouse) has The ability to receive 50% of the Pension, either in payments, or lump
sum, no other person will be recognized as a beneficiary.
@4WTu, makes a valid point. Once your Pension and/or 401K money are out the door, it could be
open season. You worked long and hard to get both “so you need to think hard and clear”
what the safe move is. I suggest a long shot sit down with a Certified Financial Planner, Fidelity
doesn’t have a shortage of them!
Good luck Grasshoppers
NOT ALL UNION PEOPLE HAVE PENSIONS, and don't think just because you are a union member "in good standing" the union won't throw u under the bus also.
If your local fought for tuition reimbursement PLEASE take advantage of it, you never know when you will be the next one or group hit.
I Really miss Southwestern Bell!!
The pension lump distribution has not yet been taxed. If you roll it to a Roth IRA, then 20% may be taxed up front, it is a taxable event.
Post age 55 withdrawals and all growth in a Roth IRA are not not taxed.
If you transfer/roll your pension lump to a conventional IRA, then there's no up front tax, but subsequent withdrawal distributions are taxed.
In any event, a trustee to trustee transfer is the way to go.
Roth 401k to Roth IRA is not taxed at rollover time.
Pre-tax 401k to regular IRA is not taxed at rollover time.
To 136973 - rolling into an IRA /or a Roth is safe. As per a Fedility representative it is not safe to leave it under at&t' s control as in the case of death at&t can and more than likely will refuse to pay the beneficiary.
To The person who says roll over your pension cause it has opportunity to grow, well that's half true .It depends on the markets .you can also lose money if stocks drop and it can take very long time to recover.so you need to think hard and clear if you roll pension into IRA/ROTH. Union represented people get a pension after 1999 they receive cash Balance this is not severance.
Can someone explain me how the pension plan works. I started in 2011 and I do not have pension, just a regular 401K. Thank you in advance.
I started in 2011 and I have a pension and review my pension statement online regularly. I am a L2 manager.
That's not entirely accurate. For union employees the contract determines their pension elgibility. For managers your legacy company and hire date determine it. SBC is different from Cingular is different from BellSouth and so on.
I will get a pension since I started before 1999 but I was really surprised that I work with younger people that have degrees from Berkeley and Stanford that stayed at this company. They don't get a pension and I believe they won't get medical either since they started after 1999. AT&T is a good company but these are some very educated and intelligent people in Silicon Valley and they are 1st levels like me. But they seem to enjoy it though. Now that someone mentioned the 1999 date it seems that only 1 person who was given their notice was hired before 1999, but she was retiring anyway. I wonder if AT&T is going to lay people off who don't qualify for a pension. They would also have to play less in severage pay as well.
I do recall that in 2002, when they had a big layoff, all the people had less than 5 years. AT&T didn't have to come up with much severage pay at all. Has anyone noticed how many years the people have who were given their notice? We only had 10 people given the notice and the one who was hired before 1999 offered to retire and they included her as one that was surplused. Not trying to start a rumor but I just thought of this when I read the early post of pensions before 1999.
that includes union people.
No one hired after 1999 has a pension from ATT ( sbc). all 401 k with company add. It's amazing how many people with this company don't realize this.
Union folks have penisions
You should roll it over anyway. When you leave the company they will freeze your pension. If you roll it over it has the opportunity to continue to grow.
If you started recently you probably do not have one. However, for those of us who have been there for a long time do have a pension!!!
Since when we have pensions?