Retirement Heist

How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers

By: Ellen E. Schultz

Narrated by: Nicole Vilencia

It’s no secret that hundreds of companies have been slashing pensions and health coverage earned by millions of retirees. Employers blame an aging workforce, stock market losses, and spiraling costs - a perfect storm of external forces that has forced them to take drastic measures.

But this so-called retirement crisis is no accident. Award-winning investigative reporter Ellen E. Schultz reveals how large companies and the retirement industry - benefits consultants, insurance companies, and banks - have all played a huge, hidden role in the death spiral of American pensions and benefits. A little over a decade ago, most companies had more than enough set aside to pay the benefits earned by two generations of workers, no matter how long they lived. But by exploiting loopholes, ambiguous regulations, and new accounting rules, companies essentially turned their pension plans into piggy banks, tax shelters, and profit centers.

Drawing on original analysis of company data, government filings, confidential memos, and more, Schultz uncovers decades of deception during which employers have exaggerated their retiree burdens while lobbying for government handouts, secretly cutting pensions, tricking employees, and misleading shareholders. She reveals how companies siphon billions of dollars from their pension plans to finance downsizings and sell the assets in merger deals; overstate the burden of rank-and-file retiree obligations to justify benefits cuts while using the savings to inflate executive pay and pensions; hide their growing executive pension liabilities, which at some companies now exceed the liabilities for the regular pension plans; purchase billions of dollars of life insurance on workers and use the policies as informal executive pension funds; preemptively sue retirees after cutting retiree health benefits and use other legal strategies to erode their legal protections.

This is a scathing exposé of one of the most critical and least understood crises of our time.

Ellen E. Schultz is an investigative reporter who has covered the so-called retirement crisis for more than a decade. Her reporting has led to congressional hearings, new legislation, and investigations by the Treasury and the Government Accountability Office. A former staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal, she has won dozens of journalism awards for economics, financial, and investigative reporting, including three Polk Awards, two Loeb awards, and a National Press Club award. In 2003, she was part of a team of Wall Street Journal reporters awarded the Pulitzer Prize for articles on corporate scandals. She lives in New York City.

©2011 Ellen E. Schultz (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“For anyone seriously interested in the retirement industry - and that’s what it amounts to, an industry - this book should be required reading.” ( New York Times)

Everyone should read this

This book tells a shocking story in a way that is understandable by a layperson. Very important information! Highly recommend.

A Subject Under the Radar, Revealed Here

This is a well written, well researched book, about how many large corporations have rip-offed their workers retirement funds. The author Ellen Schultz is a former Wall St. Journal reporter, where some of this story is published. This lends credibility to her book, since WSJ has generally been a pro big business paper with an editorial staff that leans to the right.

The laws defining retirement funds can be complicated, no matter how good the writing. So the book took an extra effort on my part to pay close attention, and I had to listen to a few parts twice. But it was well worth the effort. However, this book will require more effort on the listener, than a less dense subject like a breezy novel. So if you're looking for an easy read, or a distraction this probably isn't it.

If you're a policy wonk like me you are probably aware that many well intentioned laws meant to protect workers and such are watered down by the federal and state bureaucracies that are supposed to administer them. - such is the case with retirement funds. This is the how and why of this book. I commend the author for making a difficult issue accessible and layering on a human touch. If you're concerned about this issue, this is the book to read.

Understanding the next financial crisis

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. We have a coming retirement crisis as private pensions have been systematically drained of value and/or eliminated through mergers, or limited through conversion to defined contribution plans. How this latest iteration of vulture capitalism was aided and abetted by well-meaning, but poorly designed American pension laws is the subject of this excellent and very accessible book. It made me want to throw the book against the wall in anger several times: unfortunately, I listed to the audio version, so my iPhone bore the brunt of the righteous anger this book produced.

Who was your favorite character and why?

the American pensioner

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Son-of-bitches stole my pension!

Absolute hidden gem!

What made the experience of listening to Retirement Heist the most enjoyable?

Always pleasantly surprised when insightful non-fictions sneak into Audible.

This book takes one segment of predatory Capitalism, the exploitation of employee pensions for CEO profiteering, and tears the issue wide open, exposing all sorts of criminal and psychopathic behavior benefiting a few and harming the masses.

Not only is it a chilling expose, this book is highly-relevant. Who isn't affected by retirement and pensions?

Any additional comments?

Other related audio gems: "Predator Nation" (author directed "Inside Job"), "Treasure Islands" (offshore tax havens), "The Divide" & "Griftopia" (Matt Taibbi)...

An easy, more personable starting point may be: "A Fighting Chance" by Elizabeth Warren.

The absolute worst narration ever!

Too bad a great story was diminished by poor pronunciation, monotone delivery, and an obvious lack of familiarity with certain technical terms. I sure hope you guys got a great deal on the narrator's fee -- but how much does it cost to hire a descent actor to read your book? I listen to tons of audiobooks and this was, without question, the worst performance I have ever heard!

That's it, I'm going into law

Honestly, Schultz did what she set out to do. I learned without a doubt that employers will always choose profit over employee comfort, even when its blatantly illegal. She provided numerous examples spanning decades, and consistently enumerates the gains and losses in each case. I'm mad about it. Almost makes me want to change careers and be a judge.

Professionally, this represents a very important aspect of financial planning that I will need to consider for my clients in the future, because what they believe to be guaranteed, apparently is not. For the average American, their employer-pension is a major source of retirement income which they plan to live on for 20-40 years. Unfortunately, this has to be taken with a grain of salt. People don't always get or keep what they are entitled to.

Everyone should read this

This book destroyed a major misconception I had that pensions didn’t work because too conservative investment choices. But it was actually because companies looted the promised money and left their former employees without the promised pensions. The people making these decisions are the monsters of our society. They deserve to be in prison but that won’t ever happen. I couldn’t finish the book because it was so infuriating. I got about 75% thru it.

Pension Cuts!

Lots of research into the changing game-plan of corporations regarding retirement. Story telling is superb.

Where's the beef?

What did you love best about Retirement Heist?

This book is a must. Should be a required reading for anyone who wants to work. The fact that companies are allowed to touch the funds in a retirement fund is wrong!

What other book might you compare Retirement Heist to and why?

still looking.

Which character – as performed by Nicole Vilencia – was your favorite?

The naive folks in Congress.

If you could give Retirement Heist a new subtitle, what would it be?

Money burns a hole…Don’t trust anyone.

Any additional comments?

great work a must listen...Purchased the hard copy..

A must read

Corporations are profiting off the retirement and death of their workers and it's flown under the radar for decades. I'm late to this book, but working in the field of retirement plans, I was surprised with how little I knew about the pension plan aspect of this.