Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

Does Pension Funding "add up" ?

According to the most recent Pension Funding notice on Fidelity NetBenefits, as of 1/1/2021 the AT&T Pension Benefit Plan had Total Plan Assets of $50,883,498,000.

And if I remember correctly a few years ago CFO John Stephens said ATT had over 500,000 retirees on Pension.

So, then just as a "gee wh-z" exercise, how much funding per person on pension?

Taking $50,883,498,000 and dividing by 500,000, that gives just over $101,x-x of funding per person.

I know none of us may be actuaries, but that funding rate doesn't sound like the 95.8% funding rate which was claimed for 1/1/2021.

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| 2244 views | | 14 replies (last October 26, 2022) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1jiRiQjr

14 replies (most recent on top)

glad I left and got my lump sum and out of the hands of creative financing rand and stank.

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Post ID: @6ued+1jiRiQjr

98 percent of T employees couldn't read a balance sheet to save their lives. Efforts to attract popular attention to this conspiracy theory will go nowhere

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Post ID: @4mgm+1jiRiQjr

A few years ago AT&T had over 500,000 retirees. We lost so many over Biden's bungled COVID response that it's tragic. Removing all the precautions just so he could "end the pandemic" last January was awful and caused another spike. In any case, it saved our pension budget. We lost 150,000 retirees which is why the pension is still 95% funded.

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Post ID: @3hno+1jiRiQjr

Pension funds works just like a business, You have a balance sheet, that includes capital assets (the pension balance), income ( the cash value ATT adds), minus expenditures (payout to retirees over time). If the pension fund starts falling below a certain value, the company has to "fund" the pension to keep it from running out of money. The last time this happened, Randall funded to pension with special Mobility stock (Randall was very good at cooking the books).

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Post ID: @3xud+1jiRiQjr

No, pension funding does not add up, it never has!

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Post ID: @2zrq+1jiRiQjr

No, I really meant unkie randall.

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Post ID: @1llv+1jiRiQjr

Stankey hired Randall Stephenson as a consultant to at&t. One of his first priorities was to study and report out on pension termination

I think you may have meant John Stephenson

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Post ID: @1ylu+1jiRiQjr

Stankey hired Randall Stephenson as a consultant to at&t. One of his first priorities was to study and report out on pension termination.

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Post ID: @1fjq+1jiRiQjr

"The Stink commissioned a study of ways to terminate the pension plans. "

@1cgk+1jiRiQjr -- this is an interesting comment, do you happen to know the person who shared this information?

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Post ID: @1gox+1jiRiQjr

I walked away with my 1/2M in hand. The funding of the pension is no longer my concern.

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Post ID: @1kkf+1jiRiQjr

First - John Stephens once said he had line of sight regarding reduction of the debt load. He had a law degree from a third-rate school who was not a CPA/CFA or actuary, just a crony.
Second - a defined benefit pension funding rate is based on many assumptions, the rate of return on pension assets over time, the assumed mortality rate of pensioners, how many employees will be eligible in the future, and what their final salary will be among other factors. The funding rate is an educated guess and can be easily manipulated by management by picking a higher expected rate of return.
Third - A cash balance pension previously mentioned is different than a defined benefit plan that many AT&T management employees and pensioners have.

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Post ID: @1nuu+1jiRiQjr

Stink is a tool.

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Post ID: @1svr+1jiRiQjr

Sometimes the wrong person is invited to meetings. Such is the case here.

The Stink commissioned a study of ways to terminate the pension plans.

For active employees, your lump would go through a magical formula and the significantly reduced amount would be deposited into you 401k as ATT stock.

They are looking at options for current retirees with on annuity. And how to terminate healthcare for retirees that are pre-medicare.

The theory is that at the end there will be a pile of cash leftover that the Stink can get his hands on!

If this does not make your stomach turn than you must be a real Stink lover!

You best GTFO of Toxic-T NOW if you want a lump before it goes down 30% next year or completely evaporates.

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Post ID: @1cgk+1jiRiQjr

We have a cash value otherwise known as defined contribution pension. Money goes in every year and it is like an IRA . It’s already funded. The money then buys you an annuity or you take lump sum. The problem occurs when you want a lump sum. You have to sell the investment that the pension is in. These days the investment is way down and if you cash out you take a huge loss

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Post ID: @1wrd+1jiRiQjr

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