I was promoted at work

[Keymaster]

Aaron congrats again. I assume your going from represented to management. Is there any affect on your retirement?

One if the problems we have at our company is the retirement difference between management and union employees. We used to all have 401Ks. Then the company changed that to a cash balance for management and newly hired represented employees several years ago.

The problem is that the older employees who have many years of experience doing their job who would make great managers will not go into management because of the huge loss their retirement will take going from a 401K to a cash balance. So people currently being hired into management are new employees who have very little time in the field. Many may have never done the job! Just know the policy and procedures.

I have been asked to go into management myself but am apprehensive due to my retirement getting hit so hard. And the fact that the pay is more but there is no overtime and without that you actually make less! If the company allowed the employees going into management to keep their 401K they would get better candidates.

My retirement will be the same but I will get more monthly at retirement as it is based on a percentage of what you made monthly when you retire. Right now I am still on hourly and the overtime is pretty good. Like I said my union took a month bickering over the contract for me to have this job since it is interim for now. I've been sworn to secrecy of what will happen when the interim is up but I can say it is only good.

Sounds similar to our V assignments for management. You get to keep your seniority, retirement, etc because it is a voluntary and temporary contract. They give you a 3% raise but you go from hourly to salary and no overtime. These assignments have been pre-negotiated through the union contract with the company. It used to be that these V assignments would allow easy transition into management until they changed the retirements.

So if you go permanent does your retirement still stay the same? I only ask because it seems after the Enron fiasco most companies changed their 401K retirements. I am thankful I had enough time with the company(over 10 years) to be grandfathered in to keep my 401K. All the employees that had less than 10 years had their 401Ks rolled over to a cash balance program and took a hit.

The less time you have to retirement the worse the cash balance is when moving from a 401K. Starting at a young age with a cash balance is not bad because the gains are gradual through your life. You make more on your 401K during your last 10 years.

So the closer you are to retirement the more your 401K can be affected going to cash balance.

Also our retirements are based on the last three years of pay. So if you spend the last three years at a much higher pay scale it increases your retirement pay out.

I have a retirement plan through washington state retirement systems called pers 2. it will remain the same after going to salary. salary wages will out way hourly when that bridge gets here

[Vir]

congratulations!

[SmokinKat]

How exciting!!!   So glad to hear that!     Enjoy your delicious free meal-- promotion sure looks like it tastes good!   

[flbentrider]

That's great news Aaron.

I've never worked in a union shop...

[TwoPockets]

Again, that is great news and it is good to hear your retirement will not be less and will even be better. There are still some good companies out there who take care of their employees.

I worked for a very large regional phone company for 30 years, 15 in an hourly union job and 15 in management. When I accepted the management job it was because of the benefits. I knew that the pay would be more, but without overtime pay it would actually work out to be less. The pension for management was much better, the 401k was much better and the insurance was much better and there were many other perks available to management that the hourly workers did not have. Management had the option to take a lump sum retirement and the union didn't. Over the next 15 they systematically took benefits away from management while they were not able to do it to the union employees due to contracts but kept nibbling at them as much as they could on each new contract. By the time I retired the union guys could take a lump sum and the ones that hired on with me were getting between 80-100k more than I did. The 401k match had dropped a lot and by then the union guys had the same as management. The insurance had degraded but was still pretty good but costing $500 a month while the union paid nothing per month. Since I retired my company was bought by another regional phone company who had just bought the original mother phone company and things only got worse. Management employees took a big hit but the union is still protected at least until the next contracts are negotiated. I basically don't have health insurance anymore unless I have something really major happen. The deductible is much more than I pay in a years worth of monthly premiums so most years I pay much more in premiums that I can get reimbursed for unless I have a catastrophic illness. I just got a mail that said when I get to 65 years old I can no longer be covered at all. In the past when you hit 65 you went on Medicare as primary and the company insurance was your secondary, now you can't do that.

OK, done with my rant. I need to get off before my BITD (beer induced typing disorder) gets worse.

[Smokin Soon]

Mixed thoughts on that one. I just got a letter from I.A.M telling me that they are basically broke. No more cash out, no more 25 and go. This effects all that will retire in the next 4 years. Not good.

[Saber 4]

Congratulations.

[tnjimbob]

Congrats on the promotion! Well done.

[RAD]

Awesome, way to go. Glad to see good things happen for you

[drholly]

I think I speak for all of LTBBQ......OK I don't. But I love when good people get the bumps they deserve. Way to go!

You speak for me.. Congratulations, Key! Good for you!

[Keymaster]

Thanks so much guys I can't wait until tomorrow to start my second week