Honestly looking for constructive feedback here — not just “it won’t exist!” comments etc.
I’m in my early 30’s and about 3 years in at tfc. I don’t love my job but I’ve come to realize it’s decently cushy and I am fortunate to be one of the few that has remained fully remote.
My question is should I stick it out another 2 years just to try to get to the pension vest point? Am in a dept where there don’t seem to be any imminent layoffs anymore. Thanks.
In my case yes. I'm 6 months aways from 65 and vetted for 18 years. I always loved my IT jobs until BB&T became Truist. I checked out 3 years ago and am just biding my time now hoping to get RIF'ed. If you're young forget about it. It's not worth the dysfunction & false hope. Good luck. I couldn't imagine working at Truist for years...That's a nightmare scenario.
Stock grants no longer immediately pay out when terminated. They follow the vesting schedule. Unfortunately, I know.
@4hui+1sMYhZ7X What a thoughtful and thorough response. Thank you so much for your insights and wisdom. Planning for option 1 (and happen to have finally gotten an in-person interview for a good role at another company this week). I appreciate you. -OP
As someone else said, "That is a decision you need to make on your own.". But I am happy to share my cr-ppy opinion on the matter. At your age, my advice would be to choose one of the following:
Anything in between is a waste of time.
Option 1 you get a small monthly check when you retire. Go out to eat at a nice restaurant one a month. Take a chunk out of a car payment. It's a nice to have, but it certainly will not support you in any meaningful way. And you will get to go on to have a meaningful career without being tied to a single company.
Option 2 is a heavy life choice. On the one hand you will have a livable annuity, which will carry on past your death to your spouse (you'll have to chose the right option when you collect). If you climb high enough you will also have some stock options (which I highly recommend you cash out as soon as they vest and move into an IRA and index funds - do not base a large chunk of your retirement on a single stock!). But on the other hand you will likely have poor mental health due to a variety of reasons. You will be stuck at a job for the rest of your life. It's a vicious cycle of stay until March to get your bonus then stay until July to get your pension credit, then you coast through the summer and then stay until March to get your bonus and then July to get your pension credit. Your skills will deteriorate. You will not feel like you accomplished anything professionally. Nothing to be proud of. Whatever you built or did will be offshored or replaced by whatever shiny new object executives are chasing in their myopic vision for the company and short term profit. Your whole professional identity will be for a company that has no identity. A ghost. A worthless, soulless shell of what used to be two wonderful companies, led by a clown named Bill. After about 15 years you can go into f-you mode, if you chose to because if you get laid off you get a package and all your stock options immediately mature.
Personally I wish I would have chose option 1, but I am too far along not to chase option 2. Life is short, go with option 1.
Heritage ST here. I'm sticking it out for the pension but Im old. Minute BR pulls the plug on it my green "open to work" circle on LinkedIn will be activated. Leadership is a joke. RTO 4 days is a joke. This place is a dumpster fire. If I was young I'd RUN!
According to this site the company won’t exist so please don’t stay for the pension get out while you can
My pension will max out at $260k. Who is this id--t?
Pensions are a dying value prop. Building retirement wealth through a 401k, coupled with above market salary increases and company matching, is your reason to move on - TFC will never provide those. Plus you can direct your investment allocations with a 401k; pension performance lies solely on the corp. A nice-to-have to cover groceries and incidentals, but a pension won’t make you “rich”. MTC
No, the harm to your career at your age is greater than the pension benefit you might accrue. It’s only worth anything if you manage to stack up 20+ years of service. What do you think the odds of that are?
Pensions are a dying value prop. Building retirement wealth through a 401k, coupled with above market salary increases and company matching, is your reason to move on - TFC will never provide those. Plus you can direct your investment allocations with a 401k; pension performance lies solely on the corp. A nice-to-have to cover groceries and incidentals, but a pension won’t make you “rich”. MTC
I don’t think SunTrust people were automatically vested at day 1 but they did get credit for vesting service for their SunTrust years so most ST people are already fully vested, only the ones who joined just before merger are not.
Do not rely on the "pension estimator" tool provided by the bank. It is not, nor has it ever been, accurate. Not suprising, considering the ineptitude of the company. HR will run a true number for you, but it takes them a couple of months to provide. I had this done on two different occasions before I decided to take the pension in 2023 and move to a new position.
I typically see younger people undervalue or just completely misunderstand pension benefits. Also people who have never known anyone who earned/received a pension (which is becoming more common) - they just have no idea how to value it to compare to other benefits. And younger people expect to change jobs more frequently so probably disregard benefits that have a 5 year vesting period.
For those of us who lived through the Great Recession, I think we value it more because we have seen retirement accounts crash before and know the value of having part of your retirement strategy being guaranteed/insured.
I was riffed with a good severance package, I waited till I was 65 and started receiving my pension. I get $1,000 per month for the rest of my life, not bad if you ask me.
As a one time event, so wouldn’t be in the current SPD, SunTrust employees were given credit for SunTrust years of service for vesting purposes. It’s in the “hours” section of our NetBenefits site, we see 2,080 hours for every year of service going back to your SunTrust hire date. They did that just for vesting, not the actual benefit calculations.
No, you can go read the SPD. SunTrust employees began receiving creditable service on January 1, 2020. You need 5 years of creditable service to become vested (which means you are eligible to receive the compensation for the credits you earned). Sorry folks, but Bill has 6 months to freeze the plan, he’s done it before.
SunTrust people were automatically vested on Day 1 of Truist, right? I don’t think there’s anything to the “5 years to avoid SunTrust vesting” if true. Tough interest rate environment to make the case that the pension is too expensive right now but wouldn’t put it past em
In my opinion, too many people overestimate the future value of the pension and under-weigh the opportunity cost of staying at a toxic employer like SunTruist.
Most who consider leaving will have increased earnings, career growth, quality of life, and will likely be in a better environment.
3 years in….lol. For f-kes sake dude
If your priority is the pension, you won’t have to wait 2 years to vest because it will most likely be 6 months and you’ll know if it’s a factor for you.
If they freeze it, just as Bill did at SunTrust, it would likely get announced by the end of this year, specifically to avoid the 5 year vesting milestone that came with SunTrust employees getting access to the hBBT pension plan. By the way, Truist made an intentional decision to reduce the pension funding amount this year, that is a sign that they don’t believe their obligations will increase.
I dont understand the career advancement eroding value comment. With each year you stay, your pension gets more valuable. If it goes away (and you are vested), then you take your pay out and invest it. Its still money you arent going to have at most other places.
Even if it does exist, inflation and 30 years of natural career advancement will erode its value to you. If this is all that's keeping you, it’s time to move on.
I think a little bit of math would give you an answer. Use the pension calculator via the Truist pension site to see what you would receive in retirement if you stay until the vesting point. Decide which pay out method you would likely choose. Yearly vested amount x years defined in payout method. Input to inflation calculator to understand what that amount will be worth in ~35 years.
Now, can you find a job that keeps you remote and gives you a raise to the extent that it makes up for the amount above? Keep in mind, it doesnt have to make up for it in a single shot. A very basic example: if you were due 10k value in retirement, but you got a raise for 1k now, you could put that extra amount in to an index fund (pref. in a roth) and certainly make up the difference and more in 35 years time.
That is a decision you need to make on your own.
Let's assume you like butter on your toast. If you try jelly on your toast and like it better, would you switch to jelly?