At this time many unpleasant thoughts and questions will be racing through our minds. Even though the subject is horrible I feel it's better to be prepared. So here goes. Are you able to retire and initiate your lump sum pension payout 100% online if needed? I'm sure nobody who was eligible to retire wants to get the virus and be unable to retire before dying, therefore denying their family of an available lump sum pension. Also, if you died without retiring, does your family get any pension benefit at all? Thanks in advance and good luck to all.
10 replies (most recent on top)
"Anybody close to retirement should be worried about leaving $700+k on the table that their family should have."
NOTHING is left on the table. Your beneficiary(s) get a lifetime annuity.
If your beneficiary is not your spouse, your beneficiary's benefit is based on a 65 percent joint and survivor annuity, unless your beneficiary is more than 25 years younger than you; then, the
survivor's benefit is based on a 50 percent joint and survivor benefit.<<<
From the book on page 38 ;)
Hey OP, I'm the SPD "page Quote-r" lol. I have zero personal experience with initiating a retirement, but IMO there's NO WAY retiring is do-able solely on line.
Think of it on the order of, say, buying real estate. They are both major legal processes. Many X's need to be crossed, & forms need to be signed & notarized. Approvals will be needed to address every legal possibility, from preventing you from claiming the possibility of changing your mind about retiring at a later date, the pension options that your spouse will have to sign off to, etc. And much, much more. For instance, YOU CANNOT TAKE THE LUMP SUM (or annuity payments, for that matter) IF YER OL' LADY DON'T SIGN OFF ON THEM, I believe.
But I am only surmising all this; any recent retirees care to pipe in?? Please correct me if I'm wrong!
In general, you can initiate the pension online at any time. However, for the pension to be accessible and your elections honored you must reach out to HR to notify them of your intended retirement date.
Separation of service is a requirement to access the pension. Therefore, the system must reflect your intended separation date or actual day you separated for the pension to be released to you.
I'm the OP. Thanks for all the responses. Here is what I now know - If you die before retiring your spouse gets 65% of your pension benefit, only as an annuity, NO lump sum option for your spouse. The question I still don't know the answer to, and which I think is an important one, is this. Can you retire completely online remotely/immediately and initiate your lump sum option? Let me give a morbid hypothetical example, which I was trying not to do in my original post. You are laying in a hospital bed with corona virus and don't think you are going to recover. Can you get on the internet (over your phone) and retire right then and there and the pick lump sum option ? I called Benefits yesterday to ask this and was given another number to call. I was on hold at that number for a half hour with no pick up before giving up. I believe that if things get crazy (they actually already are crazy) you are not going to be able to reach a human being on the phone to retire, and anyway I don't know if it also requires faxing of documents, signatures, etc.. Anybody close to retirement should be worried about leaving $700+k on the table that their family should have. Thanks for any info on this.
"Your spouse or whoever you named as beneficiary would get your annuity at the 50% survivor rate."
From page 38:
Preretirement survivor death benefit
The Plan provides a monthly pension survivor benefit to your spouse or other beneficiary (see
“Beneficiary designation and eligibility rules” below) if you die after you have a vested right to receive a pension benefit but before you start receiving payments (or while your pension payments are suspended during rehire – see “While you are on the active payroll” under “If you leave or retire and return to work”).
If your beneficiary is your spouse, the benefit amount payable to your spouse is based on a 65 percent joint and survivor annuity.
So the surviving spouse gets 65% SURVIVOR ANNUITY PAYMENTS.
Your family cannot take the lump sum of you die before retiring. Your spouse or whoever you named as beneficiary would get your annuity at the 50% survivor rate.
This is actually a fantastic question.
NO question is dumb, and it's great to put some thought into these matters WHILE YOU ARE ABLE-BODIED & NOT READY TO RETIRE yet. Your answer will be found in this doc, page 39:
https://www.verizonbenefitsconnection.com/v3/client_docs/vrz/en_us/Vrz_PensionPlan_MA.pdf
It's a GREAT read, for those who can do so without falling asleep, haha. But it should be essential reading for us pension-eligible landline folks, because NOBODY CAN PREDICT THE FUTURE.
Stay Safe my friends.
I believe your family can also take the lump sum if you pass away before retirement. With the economy in the shape it's in, that's almost a certainty for me.
The beneficiaries you named will get your retirement benefits if you die.
As far as retiring before dying... well that’s always been the plan hasn’t it?
You can retire anytime and take the lump sum. If someone gets the virus and is afraid of dying they would just simply immediately retire.
If a person does before retiring, the annuity goes to the named beneficiaries.