Asking from a purely financial point of view - medical, benefits, severance, etc. Retirement window is 2021. Sounds like the package gets you severance and lower medical for a period of time vs just retiring. Unless I’m missing something. TIA
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15HP7oDt Thank you!! Based on my research you are spot on.
It's better to burn out than to fade away.
They are not mutually exclusive. If you are RA’d, but retirement eligible, you have de facto retired, but with whatever additional benefits may be offered as part of the RA package (eg severance, subsidized medical/Cobra, retraining, etc). You also retain all retirement benefits for which you would have been eligible without the RA although you may delay utilizing some (eg retiree medical). Net, if you wanted to leave anyway, there’s no downside to being RA’d.
The other benefit of retirement is that you have access to the IBM healthcare plan choices for you and your family (albeit without the company subsidy). The plans aren't cheap, but you have quite a few choices and they're generally better than the ACA choices I had.
Are those plans different than the ones offered to active employees? Because for my family the ACA plans were better and cheaper than anything IBM offered.
Getting RA'd is better, IMO, since it allows you to apply for unemployment. You can always start drawing your retirement anytime after your final day.
I managed to avoid a layoff and was able to retire in 2017, after 16 years with the company. Make sure, while comparing the package vs retirement, to include the future health account (FHA) and access to IBM healthcare plans.
I didn't even know about the FHA when I retired because the company doesn't go out of its way to advertise it, but I was given over $30k in a reimbursement account for healthcare costs for me and my family. Came in very handy. The other benefit of retirement is that you have access to the IBM healthcare plan choices for you and your family (albeit without the company subsidy). The plans aren't cheap, but you have quite a few choices and they're generally better than the ACA choices I had.