As I get older and closer to early retirement there seem to be many decisions to make. Some of those decisions you can't undo so careful consideration needs to be thought thru. Today my wife & I attended a retirement workshop put on by our Union administration. Representatives from our Pension Trust administrators were there to answer questions as well. One great piece of news that they told us is that our union pension is 85% funded and that is calculated on a 30 year pay out. They said that they have a funding improvement plan to get to 100% funding with in 3-5 years. We were also told that our plan is in the top 25% of Trusts in the country. The fellow in charge for the last 15 years really cares about our pension and I have know him for many years.
The biggest unknown is health care. I get a $14 dollar union discount per year of service and I was told today that coverage for me and my spouse will cost $614 per month thru the union. That give Tana and I coverage with Kaiser health services. I have been with them since I was born. Just walk in and show my card and pay $15 co pay. Same for prescriptions and lab tests. If I need to stay in the hospital it will cost me $150 dollar co pay and that's it. The Union is exempt from the Obama care deal right now and our plan is grandfathered in. No one knows if that is going to change or not ?
They said that I could also shop for my own insurance thru the exchange and buy it myself. I will have to look at this as time draws closer and evaluate it.