Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

If you think that over the next 3 years the drop in your lump sum amount will be 3 years pay or more, then leave now......

If you think your total lump sum amount will drop substantially less than three years salary then stay until you are ready to leave for other reasons..

I seriously doubt that in 3 years your lump sum amount will have dropped by 3 years worth of salary.

Mid 50s here, but not MR75 eligible for another year. Was planning on retiring early, but now thats gonna cost me about $10k a year in health insurance premiums after I leave. So I will probably work five more years to save extra cash and offset the future insurance premium costs. Assuming they don't lay me off before then. Depressing, but there you have it.

The problem for those younger than 55 is accessing any retirement funds without triggering 10% penalty. Thus if you have no liquidity you will most likely pay taxes plus 10% just to get access to $$. If 55 or older then you could access 401K without penalty using Rule of 55. For those of us 54 or younger we are in predicament to avoid 10% penalty (except 72t option). Arghh

I concur with the earlier poster who said there is no fee for Fidelity Brokeragelink. I set mine up in 2018, and it sat dormant with a zero balance until I put $100K into it in 2020. I have never been charged a fee for it.

correction;

@4nyb+1cAeKvrY

You can request Fidelity to open a case and review your concern. The case will go to a group that does an analysis on your pension. Keep in mind it will take several weeks to get an answer.

@OP+1cAeKvrY

You can request Fidelity to open a case and review your concern. The case will go to a group that does an analysis on your pension. Keep in mind it will take several weeks to get an answer.

Regarding the pension and lump sum. I'm under the Mobility PBP and yesterday I was reviewing my pension and noticed that my balance dropped almost 8K from August-in my entire career I've never seen my pension balance drop I spoke to Fidelity and they could not tell me why this happened. Has anyone else seen this and know the reason why?

"@3mof+1cAeKvrY
What's the fee for Fidelity Brokerage Link?

There is no fee, but you have to sign some paperwork with Fidelity to set it up. BrokerageLink lets you transfer up to 50% of your total 401k value. On the whole tho, its done no better than my Core account (which is comprised of the index funds.) Most of the funds I picked were pretty good; only a couple low performers. But honestly, don't have the time to do all the research and stay on top of it daily.

Remember, its time in the market...not timing the market."

Thanks, that's good info, a few years ago they offered it but if I recall, there was a fee. No way I'm adding fee's.

I'll have to look into it again, maybe I can lower fee's, although it's hard to beat our 401k existing fees so it may not save much but Fidelity does have some zero cost funds, fzrox, fzilx, fnilx and fzipx.

And x100 on time in the market vs timing.

@2amv+1cAeKvrY

Age discrimination? Absolutely. Can you prove it, not a chance in he-l.

Company has teams of lawyers signing off on these plans. The elimination or reduction of benefits applies to everyone, not just a certain age group. If you elect to retire, thats voluntary.

@3mof+1cAeKvrY
What's the fee for Fidelity Brokerage Link?

There is no fee, but you have to sign some paperwork with Fidelity to set it up. BrokerageLink lets you transfer up to 50% of your total 401k value. On the whole tho, its done no better than my Core account (which is comprised of the index funds.) Most of the funds I picked were pretty good; only a couple low performers. But honestly, don't have the time to do all the research and stay on top of it daily.

Remember, its time in the market...not timing the market.

@3mof+1cAeKvrY
What's the fee for Fidelity Brokerage Link?

In my opinion, you have all the choices you need right there in your 401k.

Total US stock market
S&P 500
Small Mid cap
Total International ex US indx
Total Bond fund
Stable Value
Target date funds (if your not comfortable rebalancing)

Individual stocks and speculation have no place in my retirement planning.

Regarding the previous post. I’m an active employee and have moved a portion of my 401K to Brokerage Link at Fidelity. That allows me to invest my 401K into any investment I desire. No need to wait until retirement to have thousands of options in Fidelity Brokerage Link. Easy to transfer and it shows up as 401K in my Fidelity summary. Thus I can invest my 401K into individual stocks as active employee. This can be done regardless of your age.

I’m stuck trying to guess how long the pre-Medicare subsidy will last. Looking at how they handled life insurance and Medicare stipend cutbacks I can’t see how our subsidized coverage lasts more than three years. So then comparing three years of the subsidy plus the remaining years until sixty-five on ACA to all pre-Medicare years on ACA is less of a temptation.

One other potential benefit is getting money out of our 401k and it’s limited set of investment choices and into an IRA. All that accumulated retirement savings could perform better with the wider array of choices.

The company wants to get rid of any manager that is making above wage group one pay. Any manager that has any time and knows the job of the outside tech’s. All I’ve been seeing coming into management are from the U-verse world, they don’t make any money and try to manage from a spreadsheet.

Is it just me or does anyone else think that T is at risk of getting sued for age discrimination since they are specifically targeting older workers to move out of the business? Any of the changes they are making to the pension plan, healthcare, taking vacation time away from 25Y+ employees on their own wouldn't set off age discrimination alarm bells but when looking at it in it's totality, not to mention comments made by Chow, Santone, and Stankey basically acknowledging this is the strategy, it's hard to imagine that this isn't age discrimination.

Get out now, it will continue to get worse as time goes by.

Get another job making the same or more somewhere else. Take your lump, keep your medical. I did it. The job market is awesome. You can have it all!! Tough to make a job change but tougher to stay and lose so much. Make the leap.

For they guy/gal who said layoffs are rumor and can't be predicted... I disagree. I am no longer with AT&T; however, during my 20 yr career I made it to the VP circle. Not as a VP but a technical advisor. Since 2016, their goal has been to layoff 6-8% of the force. I even listened to a VP give a stern reality check to a group of employees indicating that 6-8% would be cut each year and they should just accept that now! So.. Not rumor or personal opinion. Layoffs at at&t are part of the business plan. You're better served if you speculate on annual vs bi-annual.

For those saying it’s easy to leave AT&T at 55 and quickly find a job: That may be true for those with technical or IT skills, but it’s a different story for a 2nd line in Corporate Management. Would be taking significant pay cut. Thus I may be leaning towards staying and foregoing the retiree medical that I earned and working an additional 3-4 years. Risk is a reduced lump sum (which is almost a given). But at least I would get active employee medical and the VAC, high salary, etc.

left in my mid fifties - first three resumes I sent I got job offers. all more money than i was making at att. got the pension lump sum and is making more money than if I left it in att's hands.

you people make mid 50's sound like you are on deaths door. get a grip focus and get in shape and move on. I would never go back to att but the two places I have been at since I left I would go back in a second. I wish I left att ten years sooner because there are so many better places to work at than att it isn't even funny. you finally see how bad att is ran when you work at a normal company.

I have a better retirement than att now and making more money and I am doing cutting edge technology. att was a dead end unless you are someone's nephew or niece. that is why the stock price is what it is at att. you have incompetent people just being safe and keeping their job and not caring about anything. just collecting a paycheck and saying yes sir yes mam all the while the company goes into the toilet.

my current company's stock price is like 20 times the price of att and I will retire very nicely on my own terms. att doesn't have a clue.

I don’t envy many in the management ranks faced with that conundrum I’m bargained for and our contract is up April 2022. Legacy T and can’t help but wonder if the company plans on trying to implement the same draconian policy’s (My gut says yes). We may very well be the guinea pigs

Run Forest Run...interest rates in your favor as well as subsidized HC. The company takes things away on a fairly consistent basis so do you want to work for less vacation, lowered salary ranges, and lots of rumors on 401k contributions, severance and even future pension contributions all being being reduced? If you are well educated/ trained and flexible you can find alternate employment

I took early retirement 3 years ago at just over age 59, and now two (2) more years to go before Medicare eligibility.

I was tired and ready to go after a 35 year career in management and financially ready as well (no debt or financial obligations other than meeting essential expenses).
Have not worked a day since I left and with no regrets.

One good point made about the retiree medical benefit stated by an earlier post:
“The value of the subsidy is significant for the amount of time till you hit medicare!“
If you are in your mid-50s, that could be as much as 10 years?

Currently I am Healthy and have Retiree Single Health Coverage under the Bronze Health plan with a monthly premium under $100.00 per month.

Keep in mind that if you stay and continue working into 2022, you are an “Employee at Will” and could be caught in the downsizing and then forced to go into the open market for health care if you are laid off.

Your pension issue also depends on how much supplemental income you need and unique to your own situation and estate planning (Lump Sum vs. Annuity). A topic of debate in itself.

Finally it can come down to “Quality of Life” regarding you work life balance for the next 3 years or so.

Good luck in a tough and important decision.

For the large majority of us who still participate in a pension plan, the lump sum payout is shown in Fidelity at the end of every month. It can't be reduced because it is a cash-n-carry amount that is fully vested. Now, if you choose to annuitize it, then the company gets to say what assumed rates will be used. Of course no one should ever take the pension when they can take a lump sum instead. Put your lump in Fidelity and tell them to send you a check from it every month while you invest it. They will... just like an annuity, except that if you get wiped out, your family still gets the balance. With a pension, if you and your spouse, if you have one, get lost at sea.... the money is gone and your kids get nothing.

Based on the latest posted NPV segment rates there is only a 5K diff in my lump sum if I take it on 1/1/2022 as opposed to 12/1/21 with last nov rates....

I'm still leaving in Nov - just thought the rates were higher

There is no retirement please continue to work until you can’t.

I based it on the lump sum payout this year as compared to up coming years with higher interest rates. I can invest it in my 401K, get another job, and be better off. Add to the fact that T capped pay meaning you probably wont get raises if you stay and other companies starting pay are higher than what I make after working here for years. The HC after retirement was icing on the cake. Add to the toxic culture and it was really no question I was leaving. Find your own why's. You need to be good with your decision.

A prior posting said:
“I would not stay for the purpose of retaining retiree medical”

Did you mean to say:
“I would not leave......”.

You stated that very well and yes gone in Nov.
@hxz+1cAeKvrY please quote your source where this has been made pretty clear. They have not said anything to that effect they were probably playing a wait and see as to whether the medicare age was going to get lowered which looks like No so they will be supplying this benefit for those that leave but get to draw a line in the sand next year 1-1-22 where going forward they don't have to worry about it

If I were in my 50's, or my wife was younger than me and she was in her 50's, I would certainly leave for the medical.

The value of the subsidy is significant for the amount of time till you hit medicare!

You cannot predict what the Stink will do. You have to decide on what is known.

And the biggest bonus of all - you won't have to deal with T's toxic environment anymore!

A few ifs : 1)Do you love your job ? 2) Do you have a nice job to go to 3) Probably will lose more benefits with T as time goes on.

I would not stay for the purpose of retaining your retiree medical. They have already made it pretty clear it’s going to go away soon enough to anway