I officially hit the 5 year mark at my company today. Amazingly, I started at this company two months before 9/11. I never thought I’d see the 5 year mark!
I have watched my pension “accrued” benefit rise each month for the last 5 years but always felt a bit of anxiety because, right next to the amount of my future payout, were the bold letters “NOT VESTED”.  I knew that if the company went through another downturn or reorganized me out, I wouldn’t get a cent.
Well, that’s all changed now. No matter what happens, I have rights to that pension. Needless to say, I’m smiling today!
Congrats…Looks like you deserved it!!!
Congrats! I just hit my 5 year mark in the beginning of this year. Feel great!
Congrats! I am holding tight – I have about 1 month till I vest in my pension.
Pensions? What are those? ;)
Congratulations.
That’s great! My company’s profit sharing vested at 20% per year over 5 years; the last few years of vesting were fun, because you kind of get a ‘pay raise’ each year as previous years’ contributions officially become yours.
It’s also nice to have the freedom of losing the ‘golden handcuffs’.
Hopefully your company is solid from a financial standpoint and the pension plan will be around long enough for you to collect.
We’ve got a pension through my wife’s former employer, it’s decent ($1300+ a month when she’s 65) but I don’t factor it into our retirement plans. Besides by the time we’re 65 that will just about buy a nice dinner… :)
I just vested last Friday for my 401K company match. (3 years) Nice to see that extra $6K show up in the vested balance…
Thats great. I still have just over 2 years to vest for mine. At least I can get back out the money I put into it in case I ever have to leave. Thankfully there is no vesting requirement for my 401k.