Many Pension Checks Are Shorted Lump-Sum Payments Sometimes Wrong, Says Federal Pension Agency merican workers have billions of dollars invested in pension funds. For most of them, their pension is the key to a comfortable and happy retirement.
Many workers take their pensions in a lump sum, rolling the payment into a retirement account.
Yet, almost no one is likely to question the amount of the lump sum or periodic pension payment he or she receives. Garbage in, garbage out. The PBGC is the federal watchdog agency over pension plans that protects the retirement incomes of millions of Americans. It periodically audits a sample of fully funded pension plans that employers terminate to determine if earned benefits have been distributed to plan participants. The most recent audit covered the period for plans that were ended in 1994 and 1995.