I am going to start saving up for a very large PM mill

[Firstgear]

Don't count on the pension. Save in an IRA or other investment. I flew with guys that had their pension dissolved when USAir went away. It can happen.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

While a pension might be reduced, it never goes away. The federal government has a stop gap policy.

“The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is a United States federally chartered corporation created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to encourage the continuation and maintenance of voluntary private defined benefit pension plans, provide timely and uninterrupted payment of pension benefits, and keep pension insurance premiums at the lowest level necessary to carry out its operations.[2] Subject to other statutory limitations, PBGC's single-employer insurance program pays pension benefits up to the maximum guaranteed benefit set by law to participants who retire at 65 ($67,295 a year as of 2018). The benefits payable to insured retirees who start their benefits at ages other than 65 or elect survivor coverage are adjusted to be equivalent in value.[3] The maximum monthly guarantee for the multiemployer program is far lower and more complicated ($12,870 a year as of 2017 for a participant with 30 years of credited service).[4]

In fiscal year 2018 PBGC added 58 more failed single-employer plans, bringing its inventory to 4,919 plans, and paid $5.8 billion in benefits to 861,000 retirees in those plans. That year, PBGC also paid $151 million in financial assistance to 81 multiemployer pension plans on behalf of 62,300 retirees. The agency has a total of $164 billion in obligations and $112 billion in assets for an overall deficit of $51 billion, an improvement of $25 billion since the prior year. The multiemployer program has a deficit of $53.9 billion and the single employer program a surplus of $2.4 billion.[5]”

 

[erikmannie]

My wife is now onboard with this purchase and she will start putting money aside for a PM-1660TL. It will take us 18 months to save up. I have the PM-1030V to use while I’m waiting. I use it every day.

Update: I talked to my wife about this again today, and I can’t believe how supportive she is being about this. She is a full 100% onboard.

I emailed PM, and they say that they give a 2% discount for using a cashier’s check rather than a credit card. I also asked them if it was okay to put this machine on the concrete floor of a two car garage and they said that this is no problem.