As part of a larger significant article titled "Rebuild Your Nest
Egg" in the Feb 2009 "Consumer Reports" magazine, there is a tiny
section on page 18 with advice on pensions. It's so small, I'm just
going to type it here, instead of pointing off somewhere, and making
you look for it. There is a lot of financial info and advice in that
article, with CR's typically wide range of good ideas that might be
of interest, or can serve as a starting point for further
investigation. Here's the section from the latest CR magazine:

'Keep tabs on your pension. If you have a traditional pension, check
how well it is funded by examining its federal 5500 form. You can
find it at www.freeerisa.com. A fact sheet explaining how to read
the numbers is available from the Pension Rights Center, at
www.pensionrights.org. If a plan's assets cover 80 percent or more
of its liabilities, that's considered good. If you're expecting a
relatively large pension benefit and the company seems headed for
bankruptcy, check the "maximum monthly guarantees" that the
goverment's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (www.pbgc.gov) will pay if
it takes over the plan.'

I guess I'd like to ask if these web sites are useful. Are there
others you might recommend? How recent is the 5500 form data from
IBM if it is online? If the plan is funded at 80% of liabilities, is
that really "good"? How is IBM rumored to be doing?

One other bit of advice from CR is "work longer". Sure, it's easy to
find a job in the USA when you are over 55. Just look how easy it is
to stay working at IBM as long as you want!