In May, I made the first of several visits to an independent financial adviser – and the due-diligence box was ticked to enable the transfer of my funds to another pension provider that would let me cash in my investment.
The plan comes on top of another pension-deferment plan approved in 2010 — and backed by Mr. DiNapoli — that allows municipalities to borrow from the pension fund to pay their pension costs.
Looking back over the individual paperwork, all three appear to have what they call 'optional protection insurance' added.This was despite the fact I was a retired staff member (made redundant at 50 with pension) and then being employed continuously at a university until retirement, at the age of 62 in September 2010, with another pension.
The elderly have been hit particularly hard, with tens of thousands of pensions unpaid as of Tuesday afternoon.
When workers change jobs, the fund would be rolled over into another form of pension saving.
The new rules would make it easier for cost-conscious companies to switch to another type of pension plan that would shrink their pension liabilities, reducing some employees' benefits.
For instance, on the advice of Wilshire Associates, another leading pension advisory firm, the Iowa state pension fund, as well as the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, poured millions into a hedge fund called Westridge Capital.
A 20% reduction in the minimum wage, another round of pension cuts and 15,000 public-sector job cuts are among the measures the politicians are being asked to swallow in the next 15 days.Once the deal is done, Greece can arrange a "voluntary" debt swap, in which private owners of Greek bonds would write off 70% of their value, but could eventually recoup a chunk if the economy recovers.
Integrated Management first came under criticism in 1999, eight years after the collapse of the pension plans of another big, bankrupt airline, PanAm.
Another round of painful pension cuts is looming, on top of earlier across-the-board reductions averaging 30%.The newish finance minister, Gikas Hardouvelis, an America-trained economist, wants to slash the troika's list of some 700 reforms to be enacted by the end of this year, arguing that such micromanagement is no longer required.
Rumours are rife of another cut in pensions to help plug a widening deficit at IKA, the biggest social-security fund.
