Reply #5: The traditional pensions were funded by companies, [View All]

[SheilaT]

sometimes with a buy-in from the employees, and even though the money may have been at least partially invested in the stock market, they guaranteed a set amount of pension money per month. Almost no one under the age of 40 has any experience with such a thing, and even those of us over 60 have only a passing acquaintance with them.

When I first started work at age 20 with a fairly typical company, you couldn't participate in the pension plan until you were at least 25. And at that point you'd start contributing some relatively small percentage of your paycheck to the plan, with the company kicking in an equal or greater amount. For reasons I have long since forgotten, when I was about 22 or 23, the pension plan changed, and everyone was included from day one, and the company alone paid into the plan. I wound up working for that company for a little over ten years, and I've been postponing collecting my pension to let it build up to a little more money. The last time I checked I'm entitled to about $150/month. Somewhat like social security, the amount builds if I don't collect too early.