PENSIONS

       I have a neighbor who lives about 5 houses from me. She has lived in the house since she was about 5. Her parents passed away many years ago. I taught B in middle school and she's been my neighbor for 60 years.

      I often visit with B. Every once in a while the R word comes up. Today I jokingly brought up retirement. So she told me she's 64 and will retire at 65. 

    People who work for government or large corporations have pensions. Usually around 10% is taken from your salary to pay for your pension. You usually contribute to cover your benefit plan. 

     What I found out is that she knew nothing about retirement and how it works. 

     A big part of pension is the benefit plan. The benefit plan looks after us when we're working. So the benefit plan covers things like :teeth, eye sight, physio therapy, drugs, hearing, travel insurance and more.

    When you retire make sure you take the benefit plan with you. You still have to pay for the benefit plan but that's much less than paying 100% of you treatment. . Some people opt out of the benefit plan and that's a big mistake.

   There's much more to know when retiring. Make sure you get reliable advice. 

   I've been retired for 28 years so I know that I've had many benefits and it's given me a good life.