Bottom Line Communications reported last week that McClatchy's pension plans have suffered major losses. A source told John Landsberg that MNI pension funds lost as much as 25% of their value in the latest reports.
Some retirees from the Kansas City Star are not celebrating today with the news that the annual (2008) summary reports for parent McClatchy Company's various pension plans are reporting major losses.
A source noted that both the McClatchy and the old Knight Ridder 401k plans lost right around 25 percent of their asset value thanks to "losses from investments," according to the report.
"Those cash losses added up to a staggering $250.2 million---a quarter of a billion dollars!" the source said.
"The Pruitt-captained Titanic that is McClatchy has already been thoroughly run aground journalistically, and now it appears retirees are about to be tossed overboard."
I don't have specific numbers on how the funds are doing but I'll post good information that readers send. To retirees -- email me or post info/questions about your McClatchy and/or KR retirement funds.
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If there is enough interest I'll do a followup post later this week.
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17 comments:
Very disturbing.
Context anyone? This is 2008 summary. Everyone in the market lost money in 2008. The market (and my McClatchy 401k) have since recovered most of those losses.
If you start with the proper premise; they are Marxists who hate America and profits it all becomes clear.
Since Pravda can’t make a profit with their paper, how could you expect them to make a profit in a capitalistic market?
9:47 Sureeee Wink-wink, your 100% whole (a bit of a different kind of hole, but hole I’m sure)
I have tried to get my pension away from Mcclatchy unsuccessfully. Other papers will let you cash out your pension after you leave and before 55. You just have to take the tax hit. I have absolutely no confidence that my Mcclatchy pension will be around and they refuse to give it up. They say that if it was under $10k they would but since I was there 10 years and it's over $10k, they're holding on to it. I think they're just trying to keep all of us from making a run on the pension like the depression era banks.
You know anon 10:23, it's idiots like you that kill me. We get it. You think the media are all Marxist or Communist or Socialist and that everyone is "in the tank" for Obama. Unfortunately this is the only place that has much information on the crumbling McClatchy empire and we have to sift through your crap.
10:30 Although in some respects, I do understand and sympathize with you, think about all the years others had to sift through the crap that is McClatchy to get a few crumbs of news.
Does it now make any sense?
Further, like the propaganda McClatchy passes as news, that you have to come here to get real news about your “company” is testament to how pathetic an organization it is.
All pension plans have to file reports with the gov't and if they are "critically underfunded" they have to take special steps, which could include having the company bump up contributions by 10%. I'm vested in a plan that reached that stage and sent messages to everyone due to receive benefits. Google "Pension Protection Act of 2006" for more info
To anonymous 9:47: Nobody in McClatchy has recouped their 401K losses. It will take years and years to just get back to where you were before the economy shot craps. Unless, you only had a few thousand in the funds. Get real.
I'm not sure what 2:23 is talking about, but I've recovered almost all of my 401K losses, and my total is in six figure.
Maybe 2:23 didn't spread the risk enough.
Anon 2:47 (we’ll call her Ms. Lavender) must have had her fortune ($35) in McClatchy's “stable fund” that gives a very low but fixed interest rate.
This way she didn’t loose a penny, but nor did she gain anything. Boy are you the smart one!
anon 10:24 / 10:30 here. Yeah, yeah propaganda whatever, geesh. The fact is that I'm close to losing my house. Can't get a job as I'm over qualified for most and if I'm not, they think I'm going to jump ship once something better comes along. Unemployment is a joke in California. I fought to get it and now they decided this week to halt it again until I can have a phone interview IN JANUARY! So no freaking Christmas. Meanwhile McClatchy is sitting on my pension as it pisses it away. And oh yeah, I didn't vote for Obama. So while you sit there in your undies spouting off how McClatchy is a bunch of Pravda reading marxists, these are real damn people with families who have been screwed over by Gary Pruitt and his lackys. You'll never see any of this in The Bee. Any story that involves the paper has to be reviewed by the Managing editor, executive editor and publisher before it gets sent to the copy desk. Same went for their largest advertisers like Gottschalks.
Anon 4:23 Sorry that things aren’t going your way
4:23.... Tough times. I am retired (not from anything that had anything to do with McClatchy or any other news agency) and am fairly comfortable but I can sure understand your frustration and fears about the future.
Over the course of my working life I had three main careers. It seemed that about every ten years things went through major changes and I had to recreate myself and start a different career.
As I look back on it I am really glad I did. I can not imagine keeping the same basic job for a lifetime.
I hope you can take advantage of this turmoil and find a new career and perhaps a new place to live and work.
Got any hobbies or interests that you always wished you had the time to pursue? Perhaps you can figure a way to make a career from one of those. One of my interests was scuba diving and I was able to convert a hobby into a business (by the way... once it becomes a business it is really no longer as much fun, but that is another story).
Good luck.
OK a quick lesson on finances and retirement. Most McClatchy employees have both a pension and a 401K.
The 401K is money you put into the plan pretax. McClatchy used to match that contribution but the match has been suspended. You make the decisions on how the 401K money is invested via Vanguard which manages the 401K plan. I don't know what 2:23 is talking about but my 401K is back to within $10,000 of where it started the year and I have 6 figures in it spread over various stock funds and a bond fund.
The pension fund is money that the company has contributed to the plan on the behalf of its employees. That contribution has been frozen but the money is still there. There are no employee contributions in the pensions fund. That money is also managed by a trust. My guess is that like most funds it has bounched back this year but not all the way. The company must demonstrate it can meet its pension obligations or make catch up contributions. Some time in January employees will get a statement from the company on the health of the pension fund.
Finally a company can do only three things to shut down its pension fund. The company can make a lump sum pay out to all employees, or it can sell the pension fund to an insurance company that will place it into an annunity for employees. Employees must approve the sale to an insurance compnay. If a company can not meet its pension obligation then the PBGC
will take over the fund and all pensions are guaranteed up to $54,000.
The last letter we got from MNI showed that the old Knight Ridder pensions where funded (barely) and that McClatchy was way under funded. If MNI goes under it will be PBGC that will have to step in.
Anybody who still has their retirement egg in McClatchy's 401K plan is a complete moron. Not only are the investement choices limited, but the return is low even in good times. Wake up people.
McClatchy's 401K plan is with Vanguard one of the best investment companies in the countries. Vanguard is lauded for its low fees and consistent return on investors.
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