Fidelity?

[papadad111]

OK, I just saw the 'prior employer' so I didn't put that together.



But like others have offered - each plan can have its own twists, so the new manager (Fidelity or anyone else) might need to do quite a bit of digging to find an answer. I guess it isn't as simple as it sounds.



-ERD50

Thanks. Yep. I guess It's complex.

Maybe there is a laymans guide in plain English - needed with some hypothetical examples.

The genesis of my question to fido is whether to hurry up and take lump sum today and roll it to 401k etc before interest rates rise because I am told the lump sum amount will decline with a rate hike. . I want to understand why that would happen and sensitivity analysis to that change in interest rates.

I want to maximize the lump sum as I think I can do better self directing this money for the next 3-4 decades versus keeping in a low return pension. (Annuity).

 

[Texas Proud]

Thanks. Yep. I guess It's complex.

Maybe there is a laymans guide in plain English - needed with some hypothetical examples.

The genesis of my question to fido is whether to hurry up and take lump sum today and roll it to 401k etc before interest rates rise because I am told the lump sum amount will decline with a rate hike. . I want to understand why that would happen and sensitivity analysis to that change in interest rates.

I want to maximize the lump sum as I think I can do better self directing this money for the next 3-4 decades versus keeping in a low return pension. (Annuity).

OK, more questions.... is this a DB plan

IOW, you mention that the lump sum balance might change due to interest rates.... that cannot happen with a cash balance plan or a DC plan... with these plans you have a certain balance and your benefit goes up and down based on the interest rate....

 

[bingybear]

I am OP.

Fidelity entirely manages that prior employers pension plan - It's through netbenefits ( that's fido) although perhaps it's not a standard pension plan. Mistakenly I guess, I assumed they know something about calculating a pension benefit that they are responsible for administering and distributing. The megacorp hired them years ago to do that job. The HR droids at megacorp are my next stop since fido was clueless. It's a tiny / small pension, peanuts actually, so my fault for not inquiring years ago. It's more seeking the why and how that I was wanting. Thanks to the actuaries who chimed in. Helpful !

I was boggled around on the net benefits call line between pension and 401k staffers. Low Confidence in fido now.

In the early 2000's ... the tech bust, I had an employer change the bond they used to calculate pension payouts... I jumped in before the change. They would not tell us the difference, but we knew it was not in our best interest. I will bet that fido.. or most employers will not just give you the numbers because they can get held accountable if they are not right. HR will only tell you what it is ... not what if based on my experience. If you have a cola'd pension it may be more complected. Look at it as an income stream to a given age.... 85 maybe. Now change the rate and see what it takes to meet the same stream. Overly simplistic... but should help. Small changes in rates... likely small changes. Large changes... larger...

If you were talking with an HR department...you would only get the present value now of days. When my company changed the tracking rate... it went up several %. They would not tell us the difference in our payout even though they knew the rate changes on a given day.

I still use several brokers... not really thrilled with any of them.

 

[MBSC]

The genesis of my question to fido is whether to hurry up and take lump sum today and roll it to 401k etc before interest rates rise because I am told the lump sum amount will decline with a rate hike. . I want to understand why that would happen and sensitivity analysis to that change in interest rates.

I want to maximize the lump sum as I think I can do better self directing this money for the next 3-4 decades versus keeping in a low return pension. (Annuity).

Here is a pension lump sum calculator. It calculates the lump sum based on a monthly benefit, interest rate, mortality table, and other factors. I entered some data with a $1500 monthly benefit and 3% interest rate and it gave a $143K lump sum. Changing the interest rate to 3.5% gave a lump sum of $125K.

https://www.pensionbenefits.com/calculators/cal_main.jsp?sub_item=lumpsum_cal

One of the items returned is the 'Lump Sum Factor' (multiplier). The calculator below allows you to enter different interest rates to see how the multiplier changes.

https://www.pensionbenefits.com/calculators/cal_main.jsp?sub_item=lumpsum_factors

 

[scrabbler1]

OK, more questions.... is this a DB plan

IOW, you mention that the lump sum balance might change due to interest rates.... that cannot happen with a cash balance plan or a DC plan... with these plans you have a certain balance and your benefit goes up and down based on the interest rate....

I have both a cash balance plan and pension plan from my former employer. The pension part got frozen at the end of 2001 for those who were not grandfathered into remaining in it. The cash balance part of the plan was based on a pay credit and interest credit. The pay credit continued to grow as long as I kept working with the company. However, the interest credit keeps my balance growing a little bit each year, as I compared the latest statement I just received last week to the one I received a year earlier.

Late last year, I wanted to know my options for cashing out the CB amount before I turned 65 (13 years from now). I called them (the plan's administrator, not my former employer) after going to their decent website which did not have the answers I sought, including those for cashing it out at much younger ages than 65. I got bounced around once or twice but did speak to one of their plan experts and got my answers. If I wait until at least age 55, my options improve.

 

[RockyMtn]

My 401k is with Fidelity and has been for years and years. Our options are good, not great.

Here's a new one though....got an email from Fidelity that says my former employer negotiated a fee credit from Fidelity and that they were adding the funds to my account. Sure enough I had $92.15 deposited into my accounts today!

Better than nothing I guess.

 

[eta2020]

My 401k is with Fidelity and has been for years and years. Our options are good, not great.

Here's a new one though....got an email from Fidelity that says my former employer negotiated a fee credit from Fidelity and that they were adding the funds to my account. Sure enough I had $92.15 deposited into my accounts today!

Better than nothing I guess.

So is my 401k with pretty good options.....

I think they are nice, friendly people willing to help if you call them. I just can not comprehend why they do not provide Hardware Token authentication on 401k accounts.

You can have million dollar 401k and you will not get it and I do not like accounts which are not protected by hardware token hanging on my keychain.

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/...GQubs3ZWJCIbgafmZ5dXnpt7QZcVLTQIbtOb8CRwpSUzW

 

[RetireBy90]

I would agree with op that it is very frustrating. My megacorp has 401K administered by fido, and trying to get info is a constant back and forth. However, my HR is the one really responsible not fido. I'll be glad to transfer my pension lump sum and 401k to IRA and be in control of them. Pension is frozen and my vested balance is drawing like 1%, 401K we have funds that were setup just for this plan.