PENSION 2019

Changes are coming in 2019. Anyone know what they are?

 

The old pensions are terminated. 401k only.

 

I believe reps that have accumulated significant pensions will have a major reduction in payments if they continue to work. I'm not sure when the deadline is but it may begin a major stampede out of Merck for many long term employees.

 

Wrong. The pension will not change for those fully vested. All change will affect only those new to Merck, and those not fully vested.

 

Cash balance pension in 2019

 

I posted about this two years ago and most people thought I was bull shitting. Change in the pension law a few years back, kicks-in 2019. It allows a lower payout calculation. Before i retired I used the Merck pension calculator which allowed anyone to calculate how much would I get if I retired in 2015...2019? I did this for each month and calculated the result then plotted the growth. Each year the growth in my pension was smaller and smaller (not 3% like people believe). Finally, in 2019 it turned NEGATIVE. Good luck everyone. I don't think it was just Merck, it was a change in the pension law under the last administration.

 

Merck changed the pension calculations in 2019 to cash balance only.

 

The Merck plan changed to a cash balance plan more than 5 years ago. The change does not begin in 2019 therefore there is a hit for longterm employees that stay on in the company. Something else is being done to the plan and I don't know what that is but will lower payout beyond 2019.

 

Why is Merck so quiet about the changes??????

 

Because those that need to know accurate information will generally refer to their benefit documents or call HR instead of checking a graffiti forum.

 

The pension does not change in 2019. It changes in 2020. At that time, the pension goes to a cash balance pension. Any new hires after Jan 1 2013 were automatically enrolled in the cash balance.

The bad part for long term older employees is they get their legs kicked out from under them since the escalation of their pension dramatically slows down. The old Merck pension is back loaded and gains value quickly as you get into your early to mid 50’s. Starting on Jan 1 2020, The old pension stops acrueing and the company just adds 10% of your total salary into a cash balance account. This happens every year. It sounds good until you realize most long term employees were picking up 60 to 90k per year in the old pension.

The bigger issue is losing the retiree medical if you were not 50 by the end of the 2012.

 

I left Mother a few years ago after 16 yrs and the pension calculator said I had a balance of about $25K. When I tried to cash out recently they told me I couldn’t do it because my balance was over 50K.
Am I being jacked around?

 

The pension does not change in 2019. It changes in 2020. So much bad information floating around. Read the summary plan descriptions. The sad part is most of the people who made these changes to the pension to reduce its value don’t even work for the company anymore.

 

At last, reason. People have had several years to figure this out, read, attend sessions.
The transition period ends at the end of 2019. One cannot lose what one has vested between the two plans, assuming a longer term employee.

 

Those leaving within the year really don’t get affected by the change. If you have 5-7 years left to work, you get screwed over big time since the pension is back loaded and the company is taking the “backloading” away.

 

You absolutely keep what you have earned. The plan changes at the end of 2019 and will continue based on a different calculation. Wont take in to consideration years worked,

 

it does consider years. If your age plus years of service are 70 or over the cash balance rate is 10%.

It is the new retiree medical that does not consider years if you did not turn 50 by the end of 2012. If not it is Obama care.

 

Just want to check again. 3mil or 5mil for retirement???????

 

no more retiree medical.

 

It’s 10 now.