By ericvancewalton on Skatehive
Yesterday was surreal. After about five weeks of paperwork and jumping through a succession of ever-changing hoops I finally successfully submitted all the paperwork to begin collecting my first of hopefully many monthly pension payments on July 1st. I’ll have to say the company managing my former company’s pension did not make the process an easy one. Whether the hurdles were just due to good old fashioned bureaucracy or if the process was intentionally difficult is anyone’s best guess. They had no idea of the determination of the person sitting on the other side of the computer screen. I remember decades ago, still in the full vigor and misconceptions of my youth, sitting at a desk piled high with files. After a particularly challenging day of dealing with our sales team and clients I sat back, took a sip of strong Caribou coffee, and did the math in my head to determine exactly when I could start collecting my pension. The magic date was July 1, 2026, a month after I turned 55—if I