Gannett freezes employee pensions

Might want to check with a financial advisor first. Gannett will match 100% of employees' contributions, up to 5% of pay. A 100% Return on Investment is pretty hard to beat in a Roth IRA, even if Gannett's stock does stink.

So I would contribute at least 5% to the 401(k) just to ensure the maximum match. And then you can change your investment selections each quarter to convert the GCI stock into some other Fidelity mutual fund.

 

if you can convert the stock from CGI - with low expense ratio - then cancel what I said.

 

I'm with Baltimore. It would be stupid to bypass the 401(k) and the company match to open a Roth IRA. That should just be done in addition to putting in at least enough to get the maximum company match.

 

When I left a Gannett paper, amid all the forms etc. and other b.s. you have to go through with HR, not once did anyone mention my pension benefits. It would still be sitting there if I didn't have a friend who used to work for Gannett ask me if I'd rolled my pension out of there. Oh yeah, the pension. And even when I did claim it, it was like pulling teeth.

 

How many of your companies give 2.5 percent for your 5 percent 401K contribution?

 

Giving Gannett stock, or any newspaper stock, is like offering company match in Confederate dollars.

 

Unfortunately, company stock is the traditional way of fulfilling the company match.

On the plus side, it's much easier to dump Gannett stock from the 401(k) than it was dumping Enron stock.

 

Guys,
this is a no-brainer. Take the 100 percent match and then move it from Gannett stock to other investments offered within the 401k. It's dumb not to take the money or to say it's not worth anything just because it's Gannett stock. Money is money. Just move it.

 

so, with the employee pension freeze and the recent economic report by Gannett, are they having a hiring freeze as well?

 

You're correct. The pension freeze move is becoming pretty standard across all industries. I read a statistic a while back that approx. 2/3 of companies over a certain size (1,000 employees perhaps) offered a pension plan 10 years ago. The number that do today is less than 4 in 10.

A big reason for this was a change in the accounting rules that required recognizing on the income statement each year the expense accrued that year--which are really just paper dollars and not money paid out. This change left companies looking at huge loss numbers on their financial statements, so they slash the pension program. This is an instance where these changes may make sense from an accounting reporting standpoint, but the policy making beancounters didn't factor in what actions their changes would drive. And the impact it would have on, say, people.

Gannett, however, is not following the trend in terms of matching in comapny stock. Most companies are moving away, far away, from matching in company stock, a lesson learned from the Enron debacle.

 

Tax law and accounting rules changes are hitting people all over.
If you get a company cell phone, you know have to count that as income.
The changes in mileage make it practically impossible to claim the difference between company reimbursement and the federal rate.

 

Gannett probably works with Confederate money. It's part of their mainstreaming policy.