This was written as I was trying to decide whether to keep my money in the Nortel Pension Plan or extract it, I luckily made the right decision (and took the money out).
One of the options I have as part of my severance is what to do about my pension.
My employers pension was a Defined Benefit (up until January 1 this year), it is now a different plan (and my old pension has been capped).
The options I have are:
- Leave my money in Nortel’s pension scheme and start drawing from it at either age 55 or later.
- Take the money out and put it into a Locked In Retirement Account, or at least the portion that the government allows.
As background my current employers pension plan is under funded, by a fairly large amount. I also have passed a point, so that I can draw from the pension when I am 55.
The question now is, do I leave the money in, or take it and run. My wife and I have decided to take the money and run, just for safety sake, given rumors I am hearing, and the fact that the fund is under funded significantly.
I am curious to hear if there is anyone out there that has gone through this and what they did in this situation. Either comment, or if you want send me an e-mail at bigcajunman AT gmail.com, if you don’t want to publicly make any statements.
The one time I was faced with this decision, I took the money in an LIRA. I then invested in a stock that returned 1000%, so that was lucky.
Anyway, at that time, I only had about 3.5 years in at the company, and was moving on. I was 30 years old, and would have had to wait a long time to start drawing from the pension. The amount would have been small, and I like managing my own money. So, I took the commuted value of the pension.