Here are some startling statistics: The Wall Street Journal has found that pensions for top executives rose an average of 19% last year as companies' share prices tumbled on average 37%, according to an analysis of SEC filings.
Consider, too, that the average corporate pension fund lost 24% or so of its total value last year, compelling some companies to freeze their pension funds and to stop matching employee contributions, and the news is that much more gut-wrenching.
At the root of the burgeoning pension packages, according to the article, is surging executive pay, which is used, in part, to determine pension values.
Also contributing to the increase are big bonuses, especially in the final years of an executive's tenure -- "One of Exxon Mobil Corp.'s (NYSE:XOM) two supplemental pension plans for executives uses the three highest bonuses in the five years prior to retirement to calculate the executive's pension" -- and reaching milestone birthdays: "Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO) CEO Michael E. Szymanczyk's pension rose when he turned 60 last year, triggering a subsidy built into the pension formula, boosting its total value to $23.5 million." - Sara Behunek
Read the full WSJ article here
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