Thinking about early retirement, but have a question

[TimeToGo]

From 1973 to 1984, I worked for a company in Texas. I resigned from that company and hired into a company in Colorado and have been employeed at the company in Colorado since 1984.
Am I able to collect any retirement dollars from the company in Texas when I finally decide to retire?
I'm trying to get all of my ducks lined up before deciding to retire early.

[DayDreaming]

If you are vested in the Texas company's pension plan, which you probably are for having worked there 9 years, then you should have a pension coming to you. Best thing to do is to contact that company's HR department and get details about the pension: how much it's worth, if it's COLA'd, if you can take a lump sum vs monthly annuity, at what age you can collect it, etc.

[TimeToGo]

Joe, thanks for the information. I will call and see what's there.

[growing_older]

It all depends on the plan from the Texas company. I worked for a company long enough to "vest" a pension there, but the formula to define the benefit was heavily weighted to favor the founders who were the only people there longer than 5 years. A few years after I had moved on to other employment I got a notice that they were ending the plan and would payout the "value" of my account. Based on the number of years until I could collect the pension, the projected value of the pension at that future time, discount for inflation and expected investment results of my account until I was retirement age, I received a check for $38. Pension plans have wide latitude about these kinds of rules, but with 10 or so years in service and 25+ years of investment returns you should verify with them what the value is. Hope you are pleasantly surprised.