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of pension plans, as well as cuts to existing retirement benefits,
you need to ask yourself: “How safe is my pension or medical
plan?” The double-whammy of slashed pension and medical
benefits are a financially troublesome reality that most people
leaving the workforce for retirement have to face.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, insuring pensions for
43 million Americans, saw its deficit swell to $51 billion as of
September 2018.
Source: Pension Bene t Guaranty Corporation, 2019
Medical Benefits
As the quest to cut overhead costs picks up steam in the troubled
economy of the early 21st century, medical coverage is also on
the chopping block like never before. Employee healthcare is an
overwhelming fiscal obligation for businesses of all sizes, and
businesses are anxious to cut those costs. By the time younger
workers reach retirement, most will have to face the reality that
healthcare subsidized by their employer is no longer available.
Although Medicare is ostensibly there to pick up the private
sector’s slack in the arena of healthcare coverage, government-
sponsored health insurance is less comprehensive than private
plans of old. Retirees must share costs for prescription drugs, as
Chapter 5: Things That Can Wreck Your Retirement
