Your Retirement

Articles about Your Retirement that may be useful to Massachusetts retirees.

Winter 2015 Association Meetings Approach

Pompano Beach, Tewksbury and St. Petersburg Locations

The Association will be holding its annual winter membership meetings in January and February. Association members are encouraged to attend and welcome to bring a guest. Please note, all Association meetings now begin at 11:00am unless otherwise noted.

Leominster Retirement Board hit over pension-hike denial

By Jack Minch

LEOMINSTER -- A statewide association representing retired municipal employees is criticizing the city's Retirement Board for voting in July not to give retirees a cost-of-living pay increase in their pensions for the fifth straight year.

Leominster's COLA Denial For Fifth Year Unconsionable

Mayor Mazzarella Controlled Board Manipulates Funding Schedule and Treats Retirees as Second Rate

SEPTEMBER 2014 VOICE: By any fair measure, five years is a considerable amount of time. It’s half a decade, longer than a presidential or gubernatorial term in office and exceeds the time spent in high school or college. For Leominster’s retirees and survivors five years may only be the beginning of their wait for a modest and much needed cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).

Members: Share Your Email Address With Us

July 15, 2014: With a growing number of members now using the internet, the Association is expanding our online services. In addition to our website (www.massretirees.com), we are now emailing electronic updates and breaking news alerts to those members using email. We also place weekly updates and other unique features on our website, that are in addition to our award winning newsletter and toll-free hotline. And for those members seeking electronic payment options, we offer dues renewal through our website.

President's Message

President's Message

Let's Deal With The Facts, Not An Agenda

July 2014 Voice: We’ve all seen the steady stream of headlines and heard the sound bites declaring public pension systems a disaster, unsustainable or a failure. To the average citizen these are examples of bloated entitlement programs run amuck. For public retirees, these reports portray a nightmare scenario in which their retirement security is in jeopardy.

Bank Fee Waiver Generates Huge Member Response

Applies Only To State Chartered Banks

JUNE 20, 2014: “In our July 2014 issue of the Voice, we included an article reporting on the Association’s successful enactment in 1984 of a law that prohibited a bank from imposing any fee or assessment on a checking or savings account of a person 65 or over,” according to Publisher Nancy Delaney. “We termed it the "Bank Fee Waiver Law".

Big Year For Pension Fund

Big Year For Pension Fund

Finally Recovered From FY08 Losses

MARCH 2014 VOICE: Year 2013 was cause for a modest celebration at the Commonwealth’s giant Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM) Board, chaired by State Treasurer Steve Grossman.

A strong market year saw PRIM’s Pension Reserves Investment Trust (PRIT) Fund earn 15.2%, and finally climb back and exceed its pre-Year 2008 value with a new high of $57.9 billion at year’s end.

Leadership Agrees To Changes in Funding Schedule

Adopts Conservative Approach & Increased Funding

MARCH 2014 VOICE: Governor Deval Patrick and the state’s Legislative Leadership have agreed to significantly increase  the appropriation toward funding the Commonwealth’s unfunded pension liabilities, along with shortening the pension funding schedule by four years and adopting a more conservative set of assumptions.

Pension Deal Edges Detroit a Step Closer to Recovery

New York Times
April 16, 2014

Detroit’s pension boards and a retirees’ group say they have reached tentative agreements with the city that could serve as a breakthrough in its quest to settle with its major creditors and propel itself out of bankruptcy before the end of the year.

Judge Approves Detroit Pension Cuts

Situation In Mass. Vastly Different

DECEMBER 4, 2013: A federal bankruptcy judge has granted approval for the City of Detroit to move forward with its bankruptcy protection plan – a plan that will include cuts to the pensions of existing city retirees and future benefits of active employees.