Topic: Retiree News of interest to retirees (Read 69907 times)

allancoleman · « **Reply #105 on:** April 23, 2004, 08:09:14 PM »

kilo869 ,

i'm afarid there will be alittle of both in the future : more out of pocket & alittle less care . or certainly one will have to consider their options in the future .

for myself , i've opted to pay for the highest deductable plan and make more of the decisions for myself and just be covered for the major things .

one of the priorities in retirement planning is after you've gotten together a sum necessary to retire ( called critical mass ) is to FOCUS on your health . cause without that , the rest is questionable .

allancoleman · « **Reply #106 on:** April 23, 2004, 08:21:09 PM »

A.R.X.E. ( Association of Retired Xerox Employees ) http://www.arxe.org[/url] issued a bulletin on the decision from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . see the link above .

A.R.X.E. suggests going to their ( " Legislation " navigation page and use Congressional access links to your Congressional representives ) .

you must be a member to access all of this site . if you aren't a member , you might think about joining while there is time to affect a change . cause the trend doesn't look good right now .

if you can't join A.R.X.E. cause you aren't qualified then consider joining the National Retiree Legislative Network http://www.nrln.org[/url] . they now offer individual memberships .

allancoleman · « **Reply #107 on:** April 24, 2004, 03:01:14 AM »

more on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's decision to let companies reduce health care to medicare retirees . this is their offical press release on their web site : http://www.eeoc.gov/press/4-22-04a.html[/url]

sure sounds like govermental mumbo jumbo to me :blink: national news is giving pretty good coverage on this issue today too .

allancoleman · « **Reply #108 on:** April 27, 2004, 04:18:39 AM »

United Health Group aquires Oxford Health Plans in a $ 4.9 to $ 5.0 billion dollar deal . http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=unh[/url] gives several links as to the savings and benefits of this .

on a personal note , i have united health care and have been happy with it so far . and xerox ONLY offers health care post - 65 coverage through United Health Care ..............for now .

allancoleman · « **Reply #109 on:** April 29, 2004, 04:36:46 PM »

here's a link for the latest studies on health care costs for retirees : http://www.suite101.com/print_message.cfm/...g/103455/955070[/url]

of course , regulars readers on this forum aren't surprised at this information . stay tuned .

allancoleman · « **Reply #110 on:** April 29, 2004, 11:15:10 PM »

A.R.X.E http://www.arxe.org[/url] has released more information on the Berger lawsuit . after filling out the Berger Pension Class Action Settlement Response Form it will take time to determine the recipient's eligibility and then 90 days to issue a check . given this information , it is unlikely that checks will be issued before the end of june for those applications received in march .

more information on A.R.X.E's web site . or call 1 - 888 - 435 - 6192 if you have any questions regarding your status in this suit .

allancoleman · « **Reply #111 on:** April 30, 2004, 04:09:20 PM »

A.R.X.E. http://www.arxe.org[/url] released a e - mail reply from Anne Mulcahy to one of A.R.X.E.'s members in response to the interview in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle about health care benefits for retirees .

when A.R.X.E. issued the article about the interview , they also provided a e - mail link to Anne . it looks like the membership of A.R.X.E. sent Anne e - mails about her comments . in the reply it was stated that there are presently 1.3 active employees for every retiree and that ratio is dropping . the e - mail reply is long and should be read by all xerox retirees . e - mail reply from Anne mentions that the xerox new hires AFTER 2003 will have to pay the FULL cost of their retiree health care coverage . and that health care costs are a national problem and not just a xerox problem . ends with the statement that the Retiree Flex newsletter will be sent out shortly to participants . future news on our retiree health care benefits ? ? .

the A.R.X.E. has been having difficultly with their e - mail system and all members may not be aware of this yet . stay tuned .

kilo869 · « **Reply #112 on:** April 30, 2004, 06:13:03 PM »

i hope that they don't raise the price of Paxil

allancoleman · « **Reply #113 on:** April 30, 2004, 09:51:09 PM »

i hope kilo869 , for all our mental stability , they don't either .

allancoleman · « **Reply #114 on:** May 04, 2004, 03:06:57 PM »

the association of xerox retired employees http://www.arxe.org[/url] released their 2003 Annual Report along with their 2003 Finanicals in preparation for their 2004 Annual Meeting to be held june 10th to be held at the Country Party House located at 321 East Lindin Avenue , East Rochester , N.Y. more details on their web site .

allancoleman · « **Reply #115 on:** May 06, 2004, 08:55:35 PM »

i just received in the mail today my copy of the 2003 Investment Funds Annual Report on the Xerox 401(k) Savings Plans . to those of you who are retired and have not been receiving your annual copy like you did when you were a current employee , you can contact xerox / hewitt and put yourself back on the mailing list .

this is valuable information . as a example , i noticed that the Income fund has increased their asset allocation of high yield ( junk ) bonds from zero percent in 2002 to 14 % last year ( 2003 ) . so i certainly don't need any junk bonds in the rest of my portfolio .

allancoleman · « **Reply #116 on:** May 11, 2004, 03:47:57 PM »

just got off the phone with hewitt / xerox to take my remaining xerox ESOP shares as stock certificates and the rep encouraged me to do the transaction on line . and i did and it was painless . i will receive the stock certificates to take down to my local broker's office to deposit in my personal account to deal with later . hopefully at a higher price later .

the rep also informed me that i would receive one more additional dividend check next year but that this transaction would close out my ESOP account which was my intent .

i also found out that if i was taking a distribution from my 401(k) , that i could in fact stop that withdrawal and roll over the remainder of my 401(k) into a i.r.a. i thought once you began to take distributions from your 401(k) , you could never roll it over to a i.r.a. later .

thanked the rep for hewitt's service . durning my transition from employment to retirement , i always heard the same thing from hewitt , no matter whch rep i talked to . and after dealng with xerox human resources , that was comforting .

allancoleman · « **Reply #117 on:** May 12, 2004, 03:21:05 PM »

A.R.X.E. , association of retired xerox employees , has released on their web site http://www.arxe.org[/url] the May employee benefit newsletter . it's a 16 page newsletter and full of new information . among other things it details the current costs and factors regarding the retiree health care and changes planned for the future . " due to the extent of the changes coming , you will be required to ACTIVELY ENROLL for your 2005 benefits OR BE DEFAULTED to a level of coverage that may not meet your needs " . it encourages people that enrollment in the future will be even more important and that there will additional information in the future . the newsletter gos into great detail on the effects of the new laws on drug coverage and medicare .

newsletter gos on to say there will be a different newsletter going out to other medical plan retirees . this newsletter is for the FLEX plan people . stay tuned .

there was also a link for a e - mail address for suggestions and questions for future newsletters . i gave them my input ? ? <_<

« **Reply #118 on:** May 12, 2004, 05:39:36 PM »

Hi Al, in regard to the ESOPs, ESOPs have been paying an annual dividend with a guaranteed base price. If the place goes belly up, ESOPs will be payed before common shares. I am going to hang on to my ESOPs as long as I can. Remember what Tonto say,ESOP good,options bad. jfs

allancoleman · « **Reply #119 on:** May 12, 2004, 05:53:18 PM »

ifs ,

you're correct that ESOP shares pay a dividend now . but they DID NOT in the recent past and xerox just started paying the dividend again . just as xerox USED to pay a dividend on their common shares and now they no longer do . so weither xerox continues the dividend is at question .

weither a dividend fits your investment strategy is up to each individual investor . at this time holding xerox common shares in my personal account for sale later and paying a lower ( 15 % or less depending on your tax bracket ) capital gains rates on my profit fits my individual investment plan . keep in mind that all funds coming out of a 401(k) are taxed as normal income .

am i buying more xerox shares cause i think they are a good investment ? ? NO . but i can obtain six xerox common shares for a cost basis of $ 13.05 a share for each one of my ESOP shares so that's the route i went .

different courses for different horses . you makes your bets and you play your hand as you see'em . thanks for the input though cause your strategy isn't bad either . :rolleyes:

Author Topic: Retiree News of interest to retirees (Read 69907 times)