Last Updated on March 17, 2024 by Ben
Boeing Retirement
Boeing is one of the most well-known employers in the world. For years, it has been a major contributor to the economy and its ability to compete on an international scale. If you are retiring soon from Boeing, there are some things that should be known before taking action. This blog post will provide information about what retirement benefits are at Boeing as well as how long employees must wait to receive these benefits after their departure.
Boeing Retirement Benefits Process Overview
Retirement Process – What to know
Pension Plan
Participants in the PVP and BCERP (excluding IAM 751-represented participants) are generally eligible to take a lump sum or start an annuity of their pension benefits any time after they stop working. Employees who select income continuation when they get laid off must start paying back what they owe before they get their pension benefits.
Savings plan (VIP)
You can set up monthly payments through the “Request Electronic Loan Payments” link on the Retirement Benefits website. The payment will be taken out of your account at least 90 days after you take out a loan or when you ask for a distribution from your VIP account.
Social Security
Within 4 to 12 months of starting your Social Security benefit, use the Social Security Administration’s Online Benefit Eligibility Screening Tool to get information. Three months before you start getting your Social Security benefit, fill out an application.
Retirement Process – Initiate the Retirement Process
Remember that your Benefit Commencement Date
This is when you will start to get your benefits. You cannot stop working on the same day. Your last day at work should be one day before this date. You need to pay your medical bills on the first of the month. It usually arrives on the first day of a month after you stop working.
You can retire online or request a retirement packet. You need to carry out this at least 90 days before your Benefit Commencement Date, but you can’t do it later than the 20th of the month before your Benefit Commencement Date.
Request a Pension Packet if you are Pension Eligible
- Request your pension packet through the Boeing Retirement Service Center by calling Worklife.
- Request a pension packet by selecting “Commence My Pension.” One of two things will happen. Either you will be assigned to a retirement coordinator, or you can assign yourself one. – Generally, you will hear from us within ten business days of requesting your packet. If you are permitted retiree medical benefits, a retiree medical advisor will also contact you.
Retirement Process – Provide Documents
Your benefit commencement packet will contain
Document checklist – some of these items you need to review and some items you need to do. The packet includes forms for Payment options and amounts, commencement election form, beneficiary designation form, spousal consent shape, tax withholding notice and election forms (Federal and State), and direct deposit form.
Supporting Documentation, if applicable
- Proof of age/marriage/divorce
- Birth certificate or passport (driver’s license is not acceptable)If you are married or divorced during your time at Boeing, you will need to provide a copy of your marriage license, divorce decree, and/or death certificate.
Spousal Consent Form (if required)
- Must be notarized
Direct Deposit Form (and copy of the check from the account)
- Direct deposit is the preferred method of payment
When completing the benefit commencement packet, you can
- Work by yourself if you want. Or, if you have a personal financial advisor, work with them.
- You can work with a retirement coordinator. You need to call them ten business days after you request your packet.
- Talk to a representative at the Boeing Retirement Service Center. They will help you with work.
If mailing
If you want to start your benefits, complete the packet and send it back. If you need more documents from Retire Online, they will send them to you.
- Include photocopies of the requested documents
- Do not include originals.
- Keep a duplicate of all forms for yourself.
- Send back the self-addressed postcard with your forms. This will be returned to you (acknowledging receipt of) your documentation by the Boeing Retirement Service Center.
- You should allow enough time for mailing. Remember to send your packet or supplemental documentation before you start drawing benefits from your pension plan.
Review Medical – Health & Insurance
Retiree medical coverage eligibility
- Certain Boeing employees are eligible for retiree medical benefits if they meet certain requirements. They must be at least 55, have ten years of service, and be under age 65. If the employee is unionized, they must also be age 55 with at least ten years of service and under age 65 (dependent on plan rules, this may vary).
- The cost of Medicare is different for everyone. It depends on the person’s retirement plan if they have one, where they live, and what kind of coverage they want.
- If there is a charge for the plan, you will be billed directly for it.
- You can have the cost of your retiree medical coverage deducted from your monthly pension check. This is done by going to the Boeing Service Center for Health and Insurance Plans.
Medical Coverage options
- Retired people can get health care if they are eligible, and it does not include dental.
- COBRA coverage is a way to keep your health insurance. It continues the plan you already have.
- Combination of retiree medical and COBRA dental
- Other scopes through a spouse or new job
Retiree Medical Insurance is a program that you can use to pay for medical expenses. To learn more about this program, log on to the Worklife portal and then go to Health & Insurance Benefits online.
- Provides available plan options and cost by ZIP Code
- Allows comparison of up to three plan options at a time
COBRA or other medical coverage options
If you want to keep getting medical, dental, and EAP coverage, COBRA is a plan that you can buy. You can find it at the Health & Insurance Plans Online website:
- The website provides available plans and costs by ZIP Code
- After you get fired from a job, you have a few months to sign up for COBRA.
Other medical coverage:
- Boeing offers employees the chance to delay enrolling in their retiree medical coverage. You can do this if you are enrolled in an employer-sponsored plan, such as through your spouse or COBRA coverage.
- You need to enroll in Boeing retiree medical coverage if you are eligible. This is what will happen when your other employer-sponsored coverage ends. You must do it by the 60th day after losing your other coverage.
Review your spending accounts – contributions will stop with your last regular check
Health care spending account:
- You may be able to keep your health insurance if you use COBRA. You will have to pay for it after taxes, so do not worry about how much it costs. The benefit lasts until December 31 of the year you lose your job.
- If you don’t elect COBRA, then the remaining account balance can be used to pay for treatments that were taken before the last day of your participation.
Dependent care spending account:
- The prevailing balance on your account can be used to pay for qualified expenses that you have incurred up until December 31st of the year in which you left.
Health savings account (HSA) – if applicable.
If you abandon your day job, you will not be able to contribute or have a Boeing affiliation with the account.
- You get to keep any money in your account, no matter what. You can use it for things like school and getting a new home.
- Contact the plan administrator for information on portability and/or associated charges at Health Equity.
Review your Life, Accident, and Disability insurance
- Company-provided Life, Accident, and Disability insurance coverage will end on your last day of employment.
- Basic life insurance, supplemental life insurance, and/or supplemental disability and long-term care insurance policies must be converted into individual policies by the 31st of the month.
- The Boeing Service Center will dispatch you to notice your termination. It will include information about health insurance and what you need to do next.
Boeing’s Voluntary Layoff and Early Retirement Packages
Boeing announced that some employees are eligible to apply for a Voluntary Layoff. This is a way to retire early with Boeing. You can do it many months or years ahead of schedule.
Now, thousands of people in our region are trying to figure out what they should do next. They might feel like they don’t know what to do because there are more questions than answers.
At CWM, we help Boeing employees and retirees with their finances. We do this for people who want to live a different life and have a lot of money. Recently, we have been working with a lot of people who are considering going on the VLO and going back to school. We first help them think about how much they can afford to go on VLO. You will find more information in this blog post I wrote about this topic.
When it is the proper time to retire, you have to decide if you want your pension in payments or in a lump sum. If you choose the lump sum, it could go into an IRA.
There is no one solution to fit everyone. Even though we help our clients, each person is different. To understand the dynamics, let’s talk about two different people we recently helped. Please note that these plots are simplified to yield insight into these complexities. You will want to talk with a financial advisor before making a decision that is right for your own situation.
Boeing offers a program that will give you a lump sum payment for up to 26 weeks. You can get this if you are approved for it. This is called the VLO program. The amount of the payment is based on how long you have worked at Boeing and how much money you make there. As this is a layoff, not early retirement, people will still be eligible for unemployment benefits. And they might be able to find jobs in the future.
If you get laid off from work, you can start your retirement early. You can start the day after your layoff date. Individual retirement packages can be different. It is based on when you started and what kind of job you do. But they are most likely between monthly payments or taking it all at once.
Boeing 401K Plan
The Boeing 401k plan is a way to save for your future. You can put money into the plan that you earn after taxes and then roll it over into a Roth IRA account. This is called a back-door Roth because you do not have to give up your pre-tax contributions.
The limit for pre-tax contributions is $18,500. You can put additional money into the after-tax account and then roll it over to a Roth IRA. Be careful not to let your total contributions go over $56,000. Total contributions include your own contributions, Boeing’s match, and VIP+’s contribution.
Conclusion
Boeing has a history of providing employees with great benefits. If you’re an employee at the company, it may be worth your while to take advantage of some or all of these perks before retirement day comes about. The last thing that many people want to do is work for someone else when they retire from their job, so by taking advantage now, you can avoid this possibility and find out what options are available to you instead.