• The KillerFrogs

FW Star-Telegram Owner Declares Bankruptcy

CryptoMiner

Active Member
And this is why people need to look at cashing out pensions if and when they are offered. Not saying or even implying that they "should" because there's some strong tax issues in play but it is something that should be considered and given some thought. I know quite a few folks who have had pensions washed away by the failure of some of the companies they worked for in their early careers.

Not available option in many pension plans including the above.
 

Eight

Member
Wondering how a medium size company can have 535M in pension obligations to begin with. And that's not total, but underfunded? 397 current employees. Don't know how many retired employees there are, but man, that seems crazy.

from mcclatchy's 2019 3rd quarter report:

http://investors.mcclatchy.com/static-files/400d64d3-dd72-4863-bd92-936d063fabe4

"Pension Matters and Potential Restructuring: 4 As previously disclosed, the company submitted an application for a waiver of the minimum required contributions to its defined benefit pension plan (the plan) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for plan years 2019, 2020 and 2021. As of March 31, 2019, the latest measurement date of the plan, it held assets of $1.32 billion, of which approximately $580 million came from voluntary contributions made by McClatchy over and above the minimum required contributions. Still the plan was underfunded by approximately $535 million as of March 31, 2019, with approximately $124 million of contributions due over the course of 2020. The amount due greatly exceeds the company’s anticipated cash balances and cash flow given the size of its operations relative to the obligations due, and creates a significant liquidity challenge in 2020. The IRS has declined to grant the company’s three-year waiver request. Management continues to explore other means of pension relief including working productively with many members of Congress in search of legislative relief that would mitigate the burden of the minimum required contributions. The company and its advisors are exploring all available options to address these liquidity pressures. Forman said, “We are working hard to find solutions for the company and its more than 24,000 pensioners. We have voluntarily contributed nearly 44% of the existing assets in the plan rather than limiting company contributions to the minimum amounts required to be contributed by law. But our current workforce of nearly 2,800 employees represents about one in ten pensioners. Those who joined the company in the last 10 years do not participate in a plan they are working to support, one that was frozen to new participants in 2009."

most likely the plan has been underfunded for years if not a couple of decades, i would imagine the market issues in the late 2000's wreaked havoc on a bad situation, and they are dealing with the responsibility of making good on a commitment to a number of former employees for a retirement plan that is/was 75 years old.
 
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Pharm Frog

Full Member
Not available option in many pension plans including the above.

I don't think I understand. About every three or four years or so a couple of my former companies inquire if I want to take my pension out in lump sum or let it ride. They send boatloads of paper and offer a window of time for deciding. To date I have not bit on their offers but in large part because I "think" I know the health of the companies and figure it would be more of benefit for them in what they have to carry on their books than it would benefit me given the tax implications. But if I was dubious about the short or long term health of the company, I might think otherwise.
 

BABYFACE

Full Member
The biggest issue with both the DMN and the ST is that so much of the content is just canned wire articles. I can find that stuff for free online. I do not really need to know the local dallas columnists story on something in washington DC (unless it is directly affecting North Texas). I can get that stuff anywhere.

I do not know if there is any hope with DMN or ST (or most local papers). However, both the DMN and ST need to focus on actual local issues. I can not get good local reporting and investigative journalism for free online. Hire great metro, business, and local political writers/columnists. Hire great local sports people. Get rid of all of the fluff.
Interesting. 15 years ago, I was lamenting people on this board that said they don’t pay for their news. I said a newspaper isn’t free. It costs money to produce content, paper or digital. I also told those same people that local reporting would start to disappear if you don’t support your local paper. The ST was pretty good back then.

I also criticized newspapers for offering their content for free online. It devalues your product. Hard to get new subscribers to pay for a paper in hard copy or digital if you are giving away 70 percent of content online for free. I suggested that all newspapers charge for online content back then, just half the price for digital versus a hard copy. I also told “I get my news for free people “, that once newspapers start dry up because of people like them, online content will move towards fee based.

We now get scant local news and quality is poor. Yes, things change, but the need for local news did not. Thus, we have too many people that will not pay for local news. So, you get what you pay for. Free gets you jack squat.
 

Eight

Member
I don't think I understand. About every three or four years or so a couple of my former companies inquire if I want to take my pension out in lump sum or let it ride. They send boatloads of paper and offer a window of time for deciding. To date I have not bit on their offers but in large part because I "think" I know the health of the companies and figure it would be more of benefit for them in what they have to carry on their books than it would benefit me given the tax implications. But if I was dubious about the short or long term health of the company, I might think otherwise.

curious on the 'tax implications' comment as you should be able to simply roll the lump sum over into an ira.

the other driver to consider as to whether or not you should take a lump sum is not only the health of the company but the 30-year treasury rate.

basic inverse relationship of the lower the rate the larger the lump sum and if those rates were to ever rise they would have a negative effect on your potential lump sum amount
 

Eight

Member
I don't think I understand. About every three or four years or so a couple of my former companies inquire if I want to take my pension out in lump sum or let it ride. They send boatloads of paper and offer a window of time for deciding. To date I have not bit on their offers but in large part because I "think" I know the health of the companies and figure it would be more of benefit for them in what they have to carry on their books than it would benefit me given the tax implications. But if I was dubious about the short or long term health of the company, I might think otherwise.

some plans were written in such a way as to prevent lump sum distributions.

very, very old school plan design and i am not sure if that would be compliant with erissa at this time.

the reason you write that type of design is you are betting that your retirees will die before they reach the actuarial tipping point as well as the lost potential future earnings of those assets that would have been withdrawn if lump sum distributions were allowed by the plan.

curious how the plan treated fully vested employees who terminated employment prior to normal retirement age.
 

Pharm Frog

Full Member
curious on the 'tax implications' comment as you should be able to simply roll the lump sum over into an ira.

the other driver to consider as to whether or not you should take a lump sum is not only the health of the company but the 30-year treasury rate.

basic inverse relationship of the lower the rate the larger the lump sum and if those rates were to ever rise they would have a negative effect on your potential lump sum amount

If there had been an option to roll over to an IRA I would have almost certainly have done that. Good point on the 30-year treasury rate. So far the fellas that look at my finances have not been compelled to make a move. That said, the last offer came in 2015 or 2016 IIRC so nothing recent.

EDIT: I think at one time there was an option to start taking a smaller distribution earlier or something like that. I don't recall but now I guess I should go back and pull that paperwork. And as for the lump sum thing...I can't do that at will. I could have done it only in a window of time when it was offered.
 

YA

Active Member
Pair up with the DMN, and have a Fort Worth edition/section? Must cover the Horned Frogs.
If you want a struggling Dallas paper to cover Fort Worth and TCU with another edition, that will never happen. Was already tried back in the day and both papers failed in their attempts to do this.

The reality is the DMN were to buy the Star-T, it would just to buy the subscription base and a few local reporters. Coverage of Fort Worth and TCU would be pathetic to non-existent.
 

hometown frog

Active Member
Interesting. 15 years ago, I was lamenting people on this board that said they don’t pay for their news. I said a newspaper isn’t free. It costs money to produce content, paper or digital. I also told those same people that local reporting would start to disappear if you don’t support your local paper. The ST was pretty good back then.

I also criticized newspapers for offering their content for free online. It devalues your product. Hard to get new subscribers to pay for a paper in hard copy or digital if you are giving away 70 percent of content online for free. I suggested that all newspapers charge for online content back then, just half the price for digital versus a hard copy. I also told “I get my news for free people “, that once newspapers start dry up because of people like them, online content will move towards fee based.

We now get scant local news and quality is poor. Yes, things change, but the need for local news did not. Thus, we have too many people that will not pay for local news. So, you get what you pay for. Free gets you jack squat.

Very old school view of the media business model. If people can become billionaires putting up free YouTube videos of them trying on makeup, folks can generate revenue w products that provide valuable public service. Just have to get away from the antiquated subscriber/pay wall model for that main content and figure out click revenue and enhanced service subscription models to pay for their services.
W social media I don’t need a newspaper to tell me what’s going on anymore. That’s gotta be free and better than a hashtag search on twitter. Resources and connections for inside information and investigative journalism are the new bread and butter print media has to harness somehow.
 

Opintel

Moderators
The New York Times. Everything you'll require on a normal day for National and International news. Yes, it's kinda expensive, but what else gives you that online and with an awesome printed Sunday edition? I still might buy a DFW "local" if the actual sports were covered.
 

Eight

Member
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MAcFroggy

Active Member
Interesting. 15 years ago, I was lamenting people on this board that said they don’t pay for their news. I said a newspaper isn’t free. It costs money to produce content, paper or digital. I also told those same people that local reporting would start to disappear if you don’t support your local paper. The ST was pretty good back then.

I also criticized newspapers for offering their content for free online. It devalues your product. Hard to get new subscribers to pay for a paper in hard copy or digital if you are giving away 70 percent of content online for free. I suggested that all newspapers charge for online content back then, just half the price for digital versus a hard copy. I also told “I get my news for free people “, that once newspapers start dry up because of people like them, online content will move towards fee based.

We now get scant local news and quality is poor. Yes, things change, but the need for local news did not. Thus, we have too many people that will not pay for local news. So, you get what you pay for. Free gets you jack squat.

To be fair, I am totally willing to pay for good local content. I previously had the DMN. I paid for pressbox DFW (any update, Gil?) and I currently subscribe to the athletic for good sports writing and TCU 247 for TCU recruiting news. I am willing to pay for online content if it is good content. I stopped with the DMN because so much of it became ads and generic wire articles. Only getting a couple good stories was not worth it.
 

BABYFACE

Full Member
To be fair, I am totally willing to pay for good local content. I previously had the DMN. I paid for pressbox DFW (any update, Gil?) and I currently subscribe to the athletic for good sports writing and TCU 247 for TCU recruiting news. I am willing to pay for online content if it is good content. I stopped with the DMN because so much of it became ads and generic wire articles. Only getting a couple good stories was not worth it.
I cancelled my ST subscription three years ago and it was bad. I am willing to pay for good content also. It just appears that we are in the minority. Too many youngers look to social media for news coverage. I just love that in depth coverage I get in Twitter(sarcasm).
 

BABYFACE

Full Member
Very old school view of the media business model. If people can become billionaires putting up free YouTube videos of them trying on makeup, folks can generate revenue w products that provide valuable public service. Just have to get away from the antiquated subscriber/pay wall model for that main content and figure out click revenue and enhanced service subscription models to pay for their services.
W social media I don’t need a newspaper to tell me what’s going on anymore. That’s gotta be free and better than a hashtag search on twitter. Resources and connections for inside information and investigative journalism are the new bread and butter print media has to harness somehow.

Social media is not in depth reporting and journalism. Some may think that it is, but it is not.

Social media has not come close to what newspapers were before their decline. You can make the argument against the current state of newspapers because papers have declined to rubbish.

Being 55, I have witnessed when everyone had a newspaper subscription and when it was the number one advertising vehicle for local businesses. I have watched their decline and the advent of social media. Social media has not come close to replacing replacing what newspapers used to be.

But it does not matter what I say, because if one does not have the frame of reference or seeing what a paper was 15-20 years ago, it is mythology to them. Journalism is dead. Narrative agenda has taken over and no one vetts info with three credible sources before publishing that info anymore. Likes and dislikes, upvotes and downvotes is where society is currently at. So, it is all moot point now.
 

Pharm Frog

Full Member
When I took Journalism 1301: News Writing as a freshman in college, it was an awesome experience taught by a columnist/editor of the San Angelo Standard-Times. Learned a ton. Was assigned City Council as my “beat”.

One rule I still remember to this day. If you misspelled someone’s name in your assignment, you failed. Not just the assignment...you failed the class. He said there’s no excuse for misspelling a person’s name.
 

Brog

Full Member
The New York Times. Everything you'll require on a normal day for National and International news. Yes, it's kinda expensive, but what else gives you that online and with an awesome printed Sunday edition? I still might buy a DFW "local" if the actual sports were covered.

Right. The absolute best choice if you want a one-sided, east coast view of every conceivable issue, and a well-stated disinterest in anything happening in the fly over country, and in backward states likes Texas. Absolutely the best.
 

Purp

Active Member
When I took Journalism 1301: News Writing as a freshman in college, it was an awesome experience taught by a columnist/editor of the San Angelo Standard-Times. Learned a ton. Was assigned City Council as my “beat”.

One rule I still remember to this day. If you misspelled someone’s name in your assignment, you failed. Not just the assignment...you failed the class. He said there’s no excuse for misspelling a person’s name.
That's rough Pham.
 
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