Is your pension plan in trouble?

I lost a supplemental pension plan, into which I'd paid good money, when The Reader's Digest went bankrupt. The pension was not secured.


So this is real. Investopedia says to watch for these tell-tale signs of trouble.

1. Your employer has money troubles.
2. Your employer goes bankrupt.  
3. Your pension is too "rich," meaning extremely generous and a target for cost cutting.
4. There's talk about a "defined contribution" plan.
5. Your company is sold.
6. Your company sends you a "participant notice," meaning your plan has been underfunded.
7. There are complaints about the plan. 

A pension plan termination isn't necessarily a complete disaster, Investopedia says.

With a termination, things can go a couple different ways. Your company could continue to oversee the plan but the amount you'll get in retirement is "frozen" - it will no longer grow over time.

Alternatively, an independent government agency called the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) might take control of the plan, which usually occurs when a bankrupt company is liquidated out of existence. Either way, you'll likely get a smaller pension than you might have been counting on. The sooner you know the fate of your pension plan, the better able you'll be to make adjustments such as saving more on your own and re-evaluating spending plans for your golden years.

You can't trust anybody.