Well, I made the decision. I’m cashing out the Time-Warner pension. Having never done any retirement planning whatsoever I was blissfully unaware that I should expect a decent chunk of monthly income from Social Security, should I actually make it to 65. I had no idea I was paying in to that, and that I should expect anything from it. That amount will end up being almost 10 times what I would have received from the pension. As far as I’m concerned that made the pension cashout a no-brainer. Of course this assumes Social Security itself does not evaporate. But that’s another matter. between SS and a fat 401(k) I don’t think I have any reason to think that the paltry pension payout will mean much in 17 years — when I could kind of use the money today.
Rumors had circulated years ago that the Time Warner pension was in peril. but that does not inform my decision to cash out. I think those rumors started in the wake of the AOL clusterfuck. My accountant today said that pensions imploding are extremely rare. He knows people still getting pension payments from Pan Am and other companies that no longer exist. Those old companies dealt out extremely generous pensions. It is rare for anyone of my generation to have even been given one.
It’s just funny to me, those years at corporate have paid off in spades over the years. Next thing you know I’ll find that I still have stock options. They granted me a pile of those before the AOL merger. 500 shares, I think, at a strike price of 70-something dollars. After the merger they became worthless, and they stayed underwater for years. Today they might actually be worth something. But they must have expired by now. I seem to remember a 5 year expiration window. I remember getting that personal letter from Norm Perlstein awarding me the options. I wonder if I still have that.
At the ghetto coffee shop. An off-kilter day. Slept way too late, which has not been my thing these days. Going to watch the debate. I usually wait for the pundit’s summary of those things, but they say this could be the most watched presidential debate since Kennedy and Nixon. I think something utterly insane will transpire. the fact that we are even anticipating a debate between these two human beings is utterly insane. I think the word of the year is going to be PRESUMPTIVE. Neither candidate will make it to election day, some how or other.
I was thinking of renting a car and driving up to see Donald Trump State Park. I looked it up and find that it has since been renamed. The place was like a nuclear wasteland. A total trash heap of dilapidated buildings and unkempt trees. I thought it sounded like a metaphor for a Trump presidency, or a post-Trump United States. I’ve had that thought about the Trump Tower, which I see as a pathetic facade of luxury masking innards made of nothing. Once you are president you cannot hide what’s inside of you any more. That is the price of power. Something ludicrous and even uniamginable will emrge from both candidates. Maybe not tonight but before the election.
