Between 1875 and 1990, tens of millions of workers felt the comfort of being a pension. There, dollars from work continue to get involved even after they stop punching the time clock forever.
Pension systems were extremely necessary in the United States. As pointed out Georgetown University75% of male workers over the age of 65 were still working by the late 19th century (this was 40 years ago before Social Security was implemented). By 1970, 26.3 million Americans (approximately 45% of all private sector workers) were eligible for the pension system, and ten years later, more than 35 million workers had enjoyed the benefits.
The pensions eventually fell out of favor, and the 401(k) plan soon replaced them as retirement savings vehicles used by tens of millions of people. But here’s something I didn’t know. One of the main reasons for this was the actions taken by a luxury car company that had been dating your grandparents and had been in its prime when they weren’t heard from the last century.
[AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’ve always loved history. I’ve always loved the idea of taking a peek into the past and studying it from the current-day perspective. The idea of time travel also fascinates me. And now that I’ve found a passion for writing about finance, I’m combining all of it together in an occasional column for WCI called “The Financial Wayback Machine.”
I want to journey back in time and look at those supposedly great ideas that now seem ridiculous, all the good and terrible predictions (crystal balls have never not been cloudy), the doctors who did great (and shady) things, and all the seemingly minor news nuggets that ended up making huge waves. It’ll be fun, it’ll be silly, and maybe it’ll be a good lesson for what not to do with your money today.
After all, as WCI Founder Dr. Jim Dahle once said, “If you’ve never read history, you’re destined to repeat it.”
Step into the Financial Wayback Machine with me, and let’s travel back in time.]
Goodbye Pension; Hello 401(k)s
The pension is pretty amazing. Recently I met a man in the 70s who enjoyed the achievements of pensions and I was surprised by him. He seemed totally relaxed and didn’t have to worry about how to pay for his life after retirement. He had that regular pension check in his account, and everything was going well in his world. However, companies that provide pensions to their employees can also mess up workers while still complying with their legal obligations.
As pointed out Nick MagioriStudebaker-Packard Corporation closed its Indiana factory in 1963, and then, at that moment, Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) Protect private industrial workers and their retirement and health plans.
Packard Motor Car Company had the biggest impact during World War II, but its popularity declined in the next few years, and in 1954 it merged with Studebaker to solve the postwar problems of both companies. Nine years later, Studebaker-Packard closed the factory.
Studebaker-Packard has determined that he cannot pay all of his pension obligations except that he will release thousands of people from work with factory closures. The company has changed its rules for hourly workers’ retirement plans (there were over 10,000 people, one-third of which have already retired and received full pension benefits).
I wrote it Journal of Accountancy:
“The 4,000 employees between the ages of 40 and 59 received about 15 cents for each benefit they were due. The average age for this group of workers was 52, with an average of 23 years of service.
About a decade later, the NBC documentary, “Pensions: years after Broken Promise aired nationwide) began to realize that pensions were probably a flawed system (particularly unlike the 401(k), employers were in charge of funding, investing and actually responsible for paying for pension funds).
As New York Times The Studebaker-Packard, reported in 1964, wasn’t just not paying all obligations (approximately 1,000 workers lost their jobs if an American bakery company closed 103 bakeries and only older, retired employees were paid). The paper also writes that Studebaker-Packard actually responded to the obligations written in a contract with the trade union.
NYT writes: “The union contract stipulates that the available money will be sent to retirees and retirees first. The fact that this requires almost all of the money means leaving thousands of profits in their 40s and 50s is not a disaster, not a crime.”
As Maguri wrote, “Before Elisa, employees had little protection in regards to retirement benefits. They cannot promise profits, but they cannot receive anything. They may lose profits by having a short stint away from work (for example, due to medical issues).
Thanks to countless retirement accounts, workers have it now. But no matter what they do to workers who have given decades of sweat fairness and loyalty, never forget that businesses are not afraid to benefit most from the rules of the game. And with the nostalgic people about the pension era (most of them didn’t fall into the workforce when it was popular), and the annual payments they provide may turn past black and white into a hazy grey when you do a little research.
Pensions still sound amazing, but only if you actually receive what you owe.
Moe Howard’s Financial Sense
I love old-fashioned slapstick comedy films and shorts. I’ve never seen Buster Keaton and Harry Lloyd in the silent film era (but Their acrobatic stunts (Incredible) but I love the Marx brothers and the three stogues. The lives of these amazing comedic actors and how they took their lives off stage and screen, and what they did with money has always fascinated me.
When it comes to the three stogues, Mo Howard was clearly a trio of businessman.
According to Investor’s business every dayhe began acting on a Mississippi steamship in 1914 at the age of 17. So I made $100 a week ($3,200 from today’s money) on two shows a day.
By 1922, Howard joined in for a vaudeville act with his real-life brothers Samuel (become Shemp) and Larry Fine (well, Larry) and over a decade later, Mo, Larry and Mo’s real-life brother Jerome (become Carly) signed with Columbia photos and signed with Coloming Comedy Shorts.
At the beginning of his film career, as his older Larry explained, it took Schutoge five days to make eight films a year and shorten them. It was only 40 days of work a year, so the studio allowed them to go to the road and make personal appearances. Even when they weren’t working on the film, Columbia paid half of their pay to get out into the world.
“It was pretty much for them and it was a big deal for us,” Fine said. Interviewearly 1970s. “It was one of the sweetest deals in Hollywood. So we stayed for 24 years.”
They made films for decades and remained on screen today through syndication, but while most stogues were not very wealthy, Moe reportedly was to keep their finances down.
from IMDB.com:
“Moe was the group’s business oriented. He knew Curly liked to spend money on parties and women, so Larry liked to spend time at the racetrack. So, he pulled out an agreement that Larry and Curly took over a certain percentage of their pay off) and he assured them that their spending habits would not bring them to break when their careers were over.”
However, that did not stop Fine’s heirs from suing Howard’s heirs in the 1990s. Over $5 million Because they didn’t pay any profits from merchandising and marketing transactions. Eventually, Howard was ordered to pay millions of people to Fine’s relatives and the widow of Joe Dellita, the final stoge who entered the trio in the late 1950s.
However, the three storges had some decent paycheck from solid pay. According to IMDB, Moe, Curly, and Larry, a 19-minute short in 1934 (about $24,000 in today’s money) split $1,000, and in the 1962 film, three Stooges, Orbit, Moe, Larry and Joe Darita, split $50,000 ($530,000 in today’s money) and 50% profit.
However, according to the fine, the trio never received the rest.
“If that were the case, I would have bought this hospital and some other stuff too.”
TV doctor telling you to go to a real doctor
Okay, the commercial below may not be thrilling, but the doctor who tells him what cigarettes he thinks is the best, but check out the ads along with the actor who played the doctor on TV.
It’s a scary special occasion when McDreamy, Turk and Hawkeye can give you medical advice in the same fake hospital.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pyoyqcau5k
Previous Wayback Machine Column:
How a morally suspicious dentist changed the sound of the Beatles
One of the dirty comedians has solved Miyagi’s money problems so far
A sturdy happy anniversary to the doctor who tried to save the president’s life
The document created the coolest shoes in the world
Most Athletic Doctor ever
This week’s money song
There aren’t many new wave tastics from the 1980s than Depeche mode. This is a band that sells over 100 million records, but according to me it wasn’t as cool as Duran Duran, The Cure, or Echo & The Bunnymen. However, there is no doubt that Depeche mode was fantastically successful. To create this point more directly, keyboardist Andy Fletcher Almost £47 million (Approximately $61.2 million) His wife and children died in 2022.
One of the band’s biggest early hits was Everything is importantIt was released in 1983. Here, the subject is about corporate greed. This is pretty obvious when the band sings
“The grabbing hands can grab as much/everything as they can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t-gk-9eiq4
The song appears to have been inspired by a trip to Asia in the early 1980s.
Guitarist/singer/songwriter Martin Gore said, “Every hotel is full of businessmen and basically people tend to treat it like nothing is. DM/Live. “The only thing they’re interested in is their business. It’s that I really hate big companies and people just don’t seem to matter. Just money doesn’t work.
“The problem is that people in power don’t care about people with low wages. They only care about their own strength.”
For more information, click here:
All the money songs of the week released so far
This week’s Instagram
If you watched the first two seasons of the Squid game and followed Life on Player 456, you can understand this.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: For comments, complaints, suggestions, or plaudits, email Josh Katzowitz at [email protected]. ]
