It’s Going to Be a Cold Day Before We Freeze Our Pension

May 2012

What does a pension “freeze” mean and how much does it cost us?

“Freezing” means to stop contributions toward our pension benefits: whatever our current pension benefit accrual is today—would be “frozen in place”.

In other words, if we retire in 5 years, or 20 years, we will only get today’s benefit. And that means we lose thousands of dollars.

CHECK  OUT THIS EXAMPLE:

55 years old/Level II RN      25 years credit      Your pension is frozen at the rate of $3911 per month (today’s level)

If your pension is NOT frozen, you will earn approximately $6570 a month in pension payments.*

The “freeze” will cost you: $2659 per month in pension payments and over the course of your retirement up to $224,094 in lost pension dollars.

The Pharmacy Guild will experience a pension freeze as a result of their negotiations with Kaiser last year.

*Assumptions: a 55 year-old Level II Registered Nurse with 25 years credited service in 2011; 3% annual wage increases beginning October 2012 going forward; defined benefit pension benefit is frozen effective January 1, 2014; retiree dies at age 82.

Download and print a leaflet with this information to share with co-workers.