Over the forty, fifty or sixty years that you spend in the workforce, it’s conceivable that you’ll have more than one job. It’s also not unusual then, to end up with more than one pension along the way.

But what happens when the company offering the pension is no longer around? How do you collect your pension at retirement if you can’t find the company?

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (http://pbgc.gov) is a federal corporation created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide assistance with this very thing.

Using their website, you can search to see if you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of people that are eligible to receive a known lost pension.

But even if your company isn’t listed, all is not lost. PBGC can help you track down your old employer and get access to the pension benefits you deserve.

To get the best results, you’ll need to have some information available when you contact PBGC. In addition to your name, address, social security number and date of birth, you’ll also need to provide the name of the employer that sponsored your plan and, if you have it, the employer’s tax identification number and plan identification numbers.

These can be found on the pension documents that you were given when you first entered the plan.

Over the forty, fifty or sixty years that you spend in the workforce, it’s conceivable that you’ll have more than one job. It’s also not unusual then, to end up with more than one pension along the way.

But what happens when the company offering the pension is no longer around? How do you collect your pension at retirement if you can’t find the company?

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (http://pbgc.gov) is a federal corporation created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide assistance with this very thing.

Using their website, you can search to see if you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of people that are eligible to receive a known lost pension.

But even if your company isn’t listed, all is not lost. PBGC can help you track down your old employer and get access to the pension benefits you deserve.

To get the best results, you’ll need to have some information available when you contact PBGC. In addition to your name, address, social security number and date of birth, you’ll also need to provide the name of the employer that sponsored your plan and, if you have it, the employer’s tax identification number and plan identification numbers.

These can be found on the pension documents that you were given when you first entered the plan.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Tags: Retirement Planning

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