tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22906998.post6438816897133414858..comments2024-03-29T02:18:35.303-07:00Comments on TAG Blog: And Again the Pension ThingSteve Huletthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537689111433326847noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22906998.post-53984185600205206492011-05-31T14:35:24.679-07:002011-05-31T14:35:24.679-07:00As a VFX artist without benefits, I figure I'd...As a VFX artist without benefits, I figure I'd need to save at least $200/week out-of-pocket to match the IAP/DB benefit. This is based on my 50-hour work week and an estimate of the max employer contribution benefit as about $4/hour (if the $1600/week is for a 40-hour work week):<br /><br />.305 + (0.06*(1600/40)) + 1.2665 = $3.9715/hour<br /><br />It's not an <i>exact</i> match, because (if I understand correctly) the employer contributions are pretax and tax sheltered, while I would be using posttax dollars in my savings.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22906998.post-45697012942556257912011-05-31T11:09:42.982-07:002011-05-31T11:09:42.982-07:00The funding for the pensions goes into a trust fun...The funding for the pensions goes into a trust fund. The union studios that are covered by these pensions couldn't raid that trust fund even if they wanted to. That is indeed a tremendous strength of the system.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22906998.post-128981360832144852011-05-31T11:02:37.253-07:002011-05-31T11:02:37.253-07:00Another good thing about our pension is that it...Another good thing about our pension is that it's multi-employer. So if one company goes belly up, it doesn't have to (and can't) raid our pensions to fund executives' bonuses. ;-)<br /><br />But seriously, in my opinion the multi-employer aspect is a nice safeguard for our pensions. It's like diversification of your retirement portfolio, no one investment can ruin your entire account. No one employer can ruin our pensions. This is kind of old, but it illustrates my point:<br /><br />http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement/stories/gilinger.html <br /><br />The woman got her pension benefits cut down 80%! (from $2500 to $500/month) At the point of the article, she had 20 years in the company. A new CEO came in to restructure the company for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reduced other people's benefits but kept his own. He was only with the company for 3 years at the time.<br /><br />Because multiple companies fund our pensions, we should have to go through what this woman did.... I hope.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22906998.post-37583728686120226602011-05-31T03:18:39.574-07:002011-05-31T03:18:39.574-07:00There are not many industries that provide a pensi...There are not many industries that provide a pension these days, especially in the service industries and including working for the federal gov't [unless you are in Congress, of course.]beladonahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00553302897082898575noreply@blogger.com