Secure Your Future
Don't place an unfair burden on your loved ones
Mar 5, 2009 12:57 PM
The UFT’s popular pension clinics — a mini-course in pensions and related retirement matters — have been scheduled for the school year in all the boroughs.
We urge all members to participate in these clinics two or three years before retirement. The clinics are only one part of the UFT’s many services devoted to helping members prepare for a financially secure retirement.
Following clinics this fall in Brooklyn and Staten Island and this winter in Manhattan, the Pension Department has scheduled more winter and spring clinics in Queens and the Bronx.
To be fully informed, Tier I/II members should attend all of the three-part series and Tiers III/IV the two-part series.
4-6 p.m.
Winter- Spring 2009
Queens borough office
97-77 Queens Blvd., 5th floor
and
Bronx borough office
2500 Halsey St.
Tiers I/II
Friday, March 6
Friday, March 13
Friday, March 27
Tiers III/IV
Friday, May 1
Friday, May 8
As part of providing for a secure future, members should discuss with their families matters related to end-of-life decisions.
These discussions should involve health-related matters as well as property-related matters. These are difficult discussions between parents and adult children, but they are necessary and should not be avoided. These discussions often end with the preparation of one or more of the following:
Durable Power of Attorney
This is essential in order to deal with problems that can arise if a person becomes unable to conduct his or her own affairs. A Durable Power of Attorney will survive a person becoming incompetent. Your attorney-in-fact (the person you name in your Power of Attorney) will be able to continue to exercise the powers you designate when you no longer can. Since the attorney-in-fact has great powers, you must make sure you choose a person you completely trust. The Power of Attorney can be filed with the Teachers’ Retirement System and other institutions of importance to you.
The Power of Attorney expires upon the death of the person setting it up. This important document should be prepared with the advice and counsel of an attorney. All retired members are covered by the NYSUT Legal Service Plan. In-service members can join the plan through NYSUT Member Benefits Department at 1-800-626-8101. Of course, all members can use their own personal legal advisor.
Will
Since a Power of Attorney expires at death, one should make sure that he or she has completed a Will and/or other estate documents as advised by an attorney. Without a Will and/or other appropriate documents, the state will impose its own formula on distribution of property and assets and this may result in serious problems for your loved ones.
Health Care Proxy
Many health-related problems may leave you unable to make appropriate care decisions. In advance of any such situation you should name a person who has the power to make health-related decisions in your place. You can accomplish this by completing a Health Care Proxy.
If your health deteriorates so that you enter a state where you are completely unaware of anything around you and want to save your loved ones from having to make life or death decisions, you should also prepare a Living Will. In this document, you give directions to either take extraordinary measures to keep you alive or to allow you to die without taking those extraordinary measures. It is grossly unfair to place this burden on your loved ones.
Asset inventory
Do not force your survivors to try to reconstruct your estate with little or no information. You should prepare a list for your loved ones of all assets you own. This includes TRS benefits, bank accounts, mutual funds, stock certificates and insurance policies, to name some. You may have others.
You should also list debts you owe and debts owed to you.
You should prepare a list of people to contact such as your attorney, financial planner, accountant, etc.
You should make sure that all documents you prepare are prepared under the laws of the state that you are a legal resident of.
The information discussed above should not be considered legal advice. You can get legal advice from the NYSUT Legal Service Plan and/or the Elder Law component of the plan or, of course, your own personal legal advisor.
We hope this article moves you to discuss the matters raised with your family and advisor. Actions you take at this time will help to “Secure Your Future.”
| The unit value is computed during the latter part of each month. Recent values are: | ||
| VARIABLE A | VARIABLE B | |
| December | 41,509 | 19,495 |
| January | 42,493 | 19,496 |
| February | 39,175 | 19,492 |
Why the Employee Free Choice Act matters to us
The outgoing president of the labor-related senior group Alliance for Retired Americans left with an important statement: “We cannot have a solid, stable retirement unless we have a solid, stable middle class. And unions are key to that middle class. Union workers are three times more likely to have a defined-benefit pension plan than nonunion workers. And union workers are five times more likely to have health insurance than nonunion workers.”
This is why we have to support the growth of unionization among privately employed workers by supporting the enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act now before Congress. As you can imagine, big business is vigorously fighting enactment. We must prevail, for only when more Americans are covered by defined-benefit, traditional pensions will “pension envy” go away — and so will the attacks on our pension plan.
“Secure your future” is compiled and written by Mel Aaronson, Sandra March and Mona Romain, teacher-members of the NYC Teachers’ Retirement Board. For further information on items discussed, call your UFT borough office or the TRS.
- BRONX: 1-718-379-6200
- BROOKLYN: 1-718-852-4900
- MANHATTAN: 1-212-598-6800
- QUEENS: 1-718-275-4400
- STATEN ISLAND: 1-718-605-1400
