Start Retirement Now To Avoid The Rush?

Given the combination of involuntaries and the inevitable increase in interest rates for lump sum pension, an involuntary in 2023 is one of the worst case scenarios. It looks like retiring in 2022 and taking the lump sum pension is the most prudent option. Given the potential for a deluge of retirees, I'm thinking of starting the process early. However, I wouldn't be opposed to a package (voluntary or involuntary) to help with the transition. I understand you can also cancel your retirement process a few days or a day before (I've heard both from NESC) your last day worked.

Any thoughts on this approach? One downside I see is they may offer a package (voluntary or involuntary) that excludes employees in the process of retiring.

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Thanks, @qqk+1hWmQ46y. I wish we had more helpful posts like yours on this forum.

The easy way out is to ask for volunteers...Ford does not want any bad press to cloud up the good 2nd Qtr news. If they want the numbers they need to hang a pretty big carrot out there. Like years of Service for the folks who are close to 30 yrs and some cash for the folks who are waiting for Jimmy to get off the pot.

Ford does a terrible job sharing talent between programs. Rightfully so some LL6s hoard their good team members for fear of getting in a tough spot with newbies. The ICE vehicles are extremely complex and the go to engineers are being worked to the bone. The smart engineers will always have jobs so even if they leave there are always opportunities to come back as contract to help out.

If you have set a retirement date by all means call NESC and cancel. The only hassle with the paperwork is to get a notary if you want the lump sum and are married. If you have any outside agreements to your pension due to divorce and such give your self more time. Getting an ex-wife or friend of the court to sing off on a lump sum might be impossible without some extra time.

As long as your commencement date listed on your "Signed and NESC Accepted" Pension Choices Form is no later than Dec 1 2022 they will use the Aug2021 rates. That means your last possible day of work can be Nov 30 2022. Lump sum will be payed in in 45 days.

Hopefully we don't need come down to the wire and they create a package to streamline the process like last year when everybody was out the door by Oct 31.

I spoke with NESC yesterday and they said they were not receiving any unusually high call volumes and did not have any issue cancelling my retirement paperwork. They said there would be no record of the original request and I got an email confirming my action. The Pension Projection tool was also restored to myfordbenefits options which was not available when my retirement date was set.

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Start Retirement Now To Avoid The Rush?

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