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To: sammaster who wrote (123493)	9/18/2001 8:30:14 PM
From: oldirtybastard	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

nobody talks about the pensions, who needs to, stocks always go up over the long term (and/or your $ goes down) maybe they will just inflate everyone's pensions away -ng- I want a ringside seat to watch the upcoming thunderdome event between inflationary and deflationary forces

To: sammaster who wrote (123493)	9/18/2001 8:30:40 PM
From: Tradelite	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Sammaster...re: pension funds You might want to get some info about the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), administered by the U. S. Department of Labor. Here's a place to maybe get your questions answered: dol.gov

To: sammaster who wrote (123493)	9/18/2001 8:37:29 PM
From: Joan Osland Graffius	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

sammaster, Re" Pension funds. I am not sure if corporate pension funds have to send yearly reports to their employees, but the folks that are retired get an annual report on the health of the fund. For sure pensions are not guaranteed by the government. There are government regulations on pension funds and the funds must report against criteria set up by these regulations. i.e. if they are funded sufficiently to meet their obligations. One interesting note here is I know of people that took a payout when they retired instead of payments from the pension plan. If these folks have those funds in the stock market - god help them. I do know one person that is in this fix. When I started collecting from my pensions, I looked at taking the pay out and I could not buy any government debt at that time that would give me the income I would receive from the payout, therefore I elected to receive monthly payments. Joan

To: sammaster who wrote (123493)	9/18/2001 8:48:13 PM
From: Alias Shrugged	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Pensions (ie, amounts payable from Defined Benefit Pension Plans) are guaranteed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Plan sponsors pay annual premiums to the PBGC; the more poorly funded the plan, the higher the premiums. There are limits to the guaranteed benefits. Most plans are still in good shape, but may require corporations to begin contributing cash again. Also, lots of companies were realizing "pension income" on the income statement due to the overfunded plans; the income will certainly decrease or flip over to an expense item. Some plans were in bad shape (think of Steel companies and maybe airlines) and obviously the last 18 months of asset performance have not helped. Some of these plans may need to be taken over by the PBGC. A typical asset allocation would be 60% equities and 40% fixed income.