Found Pension Money! Who knew!

[ChiliPepr]

Got a letter in the mail last week and it turns out I have a pension! Looks like a company I worked at from '87-'93 had a pension plan I did not know about.

I will be getting a lump sum distribution in October for about $25k (my other option would have been to receive $126/month for life). I will be rolling it over into my IRA.

That was a nice little surprise.

 

[Alan]

Nice.

In the summer after High School before starting college DW had a job in Manchester Town Hall trying to track down folks who were owed a pension, and she even got to make first contact with them. She said it was a great job doing low level detective work and then hearing the reaction from the subjects once she told them they were owed money.

 

[BBQ-Nut]

Similar situation - I worked for a defense company right out of college for exactly 5 years before switching to a start up. That entitled me to a pension worth about $50/month or a $10K cash out.

I finally got off my duff a couple of years ago after forgetting I had this, processed the paper work and got a direct transfer into my IRA.

Nice little nugget to add to the pile!

 

[DJRR]

Got a letter in the mail last week and it turns out I have a pension! Looks like a company I worked at from '87-'93 had a pension plan I did not know about.

I will be getting a lump sum distribution in October for about $25k (my other option would have been to receive $126/month for life). I will be rolling it over into my IRA.

That was a nice little surprise.

That's a 6% return on your lump sum. Don't you think that in today's low interest rate environment you should reevaluate your asset allocation plan and make the optimal choice while considering inflation and longevity Or maybe just buy a toy

Congrats on your good fortune!!!

 

[2B]

I have the opposite problem. I worked for a company that had a mass layoff in 1982. I remember getting a letter saying that I had an annuity of about $130/mo starting at age 65. I lost the letter and have made several attempts at finding it. No luck so far. I even sent a letter to the SSA which is supposed to keep track of such things and I received no reply.

The money certainly won't impact my retirement but I want it if it's mine.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

Got a letter in the mail last week and it turns out I have a pension! Looks like a company I worked at from '87-'93 had a pension plan I did not know about.

I will be getting a lump sum distribution in October for about $25k (my other option would have been to receive $126/month for life). I will be rolling it over into my IRA.

That was a nice little surprise.

That is awesome.Take whatever you can get without shame.You earned it.

 

[MichaelB]

That was a nice little surprise.

Totally worth celebrating.

 

[Telly]

ChiliPepr, that IS nice!

I have the opposite problem. I worked for a company that had a mass layoff in 1982. I remember getting a letter saying that I had an annuity of about $130/mo starting at age 65. I lost the letter and have made several attempts at finding it. No luck so far. I even sent a letter to the SSA which is supposed to keep track of such things and I received no reply.

The money certainly won't impact my retirement but I want it if it's mine.

I had a small pension from a company I worked at long long ago. It was easy to forget about as the years went by. But I kept every letter they sent me. The company was bought by another, then split up and sold, sold again, spread hither and yon to the four winds, etc. I really wondered when I was "old" if I'd really get anything from it. I still had the paper trail, and it now exists as a consolidated pension plan in a F500 company I never worked for! And well-funded to boot! Along the way it was re-titled, absorbed into another pension plan, then absorbed again, etc. At age 55 I filed for it, and though small, its nice to receive a monthly transfer of $.

An approach for you could be to do research on where the company you worked for is/went to. Bought and absorbed by other companies? If so, contact their pension plan administrator and outline your case with as much info that you are sure of. They can check if you are in their plan(s), or if your holdings were passed onto another company or plan. If so, they can probably get you contact info to go on to the next company and repeat. The info probably exists, just a quest to track it. Happy hunting!

 

[Bestwifeever]

Got a letter in the mail last week and it turns out I have a pension! Looks like a company I worked at from '87-'93 had a pension plan I did not know about.

I will be getting a lump sum distribution in October for about $25k (my other option would have been to receive $126/month for life). I will be rolling it over into my IRA.

That was a nice little surprise.

Awesome! Nice little chunk of change!

I probably would have thought the letter was a scam and tossed it.

 

[Koolau]

Congrats on your "found money". No such thing as "too much fun" or "too much money." True, it's not a fortune, but what a nice surprise!

 

[kaudrey]

2B - is the company still in existence? If so, contact them. If not, do you know what happened to them or the plan? If it is a defined benefit plan, and the company is defunct, the plan may now be with the PBGC, in which case you can use their website to see if they have a record of your benefit - try this link: Find Unclaimed Pensions in PBGC's Missing Participant Database

 

[JLoft]

I worked one summer during college for the state employment service. Since then they send me my yearly pension summary showing how it's growing and what I can expect to receive at the appropriate retirement date (some age or another). It's up to $341. No, not per month, just $341. Them paying for a nice dinner and hotel getaway won't be too bad for ten weeks of work.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

That was a nice little surprise.

Great news. Enjoy the cash!

 

[2B]

An approach for you could be to do research on where the company you worked for is/went to. Bought and absorbed by other companies? If so, contact their pension plan administrator and outline your case with as much info that you are sure of. They can check if you are in their plan(s), or if your holdings were passed onto another company or plan. If so, they can probably get you contact info to go on to the next company and repeat. The info probably exists, just a quest to track it. Happy hunting!

The company was bought out less than a year after I left. I've contacted the company that bought them and the company that bought them from the original company that bought them. I also contacted the company that bought the physical assets of the division that I was at when we had the mass layoff. Everybody was nice and looked into it and got back saying that I wasn't in their pension system.

2B - is the company still in existence? If so, contact them. If not, do you know what happened to them or the plan? If it is a defined benefit plan, and the company is defunct, the plan may now be with the PBGC, in which case you can use their website to see if they have a record of your benefit - try this link: Find Unclaimed Pensions in PBGC's Missing Participant Database

I used this and didn't find anything. There's also a pension finding organization (can't remember the name) that was very thorough (and free) that also couldn't find anything.

It comes down to whether my memory is correct. The other possibility is that I had an annuity purchased in my name that is not included in any pension databases. I have to figure out which company it's with if that's the case.

Thanks to both of your for your suggestions.