<<Small company with a design that might take a few months may not have
the contacts to go overseas, they'd pay for a local guy to do such a
project.>
I'm seeing more and more increasingly specialized and narrow focus
commercial software packages becoming available, and a small company is
more likley to use them due to the lower cost. I worked on one system
that was just for companies that were wholesalers of floor coverings.

When I first started in programming in 1966, we had a standard joke
that went "How many payroll systems are there in the world?" and the
answer was "How many computers are there in the world?". My first 3 big
jobs were working on custom payroll systems. Nowadays, hardly anyone
has custom payroll systems. Even fairly large companies can use Quick
Books or such to do payroll. The company I work for now has 30,000
employees and they use the Lawson HR package. No custom payroll system.

The trouble with software development is that someone working in India
can write a program and literlly "phone in" their work to a US
employer. The only thing that actually changes hands is some electrons.

John Cowart

bo peep wrote:
- quote -

John, don't be so sure of your prognostication. I am in the high tech
industry as well, and, while jobs are being exported, there will always
be opportunities for local work, esp consulting or part time. Small
company with a design that might take a few months may not have the
contacts to go overseas, they'd pay for a local guy to do such a project.
JOE

<<I am a software developer>
Me too

<<and am hoping that I can work off and on until I am 70 years old.>
This seems unlikely over a 26 year time frame - many programming jobs
are already being outsourced to India, and being pushed down to lower
skill level persons as the tools become easier to use. I'm also seeing
more potential employers going to vertical market commercial solutions
instead of custom programming.

John Cowart

Thanks for the responses.

I am a software developer and am hoping that I can work off and on
until I am 70 years old. I enjoy computer programming and am pretty
good at it. I can picture
working from a laptop wireless connection from the beach or mountains
someplace.

I am 44 and have thought of working twards a masters degree in computer
science.

My condo is 475 square feet, which is why my drums and other stuff is
stored at my mothers house, I am single currently, and my cond is
relatively cheap.

I have some money saved in an IRA, a good deal, but it doesn't seem
like alot to me in some ways.

Part of my retirment plan is to do alot of camping in a small or
modest RV. I love the outdoors and camping is cheap in some places. I
like to surf and could spend months
in baja or central america.

BreadWithSpam[at]fractious.net wrote:

- quote -

The average person over 50 getting ready to retire has minimal savings
outside their pension and expected SS income.
On one hand, I can understand when someone sees the projected value of
their pension and thinks that since it would replace their income in
full, then why save more?
With hindsight, we can see that there are no guarantees, and I suggest
that people don't count on SS, but save for their retirement 100% from
their own funds. If a SS check comes or if there's a pension, that will
just be an extra benefit.
Joe

joetaxpayer <joetaxpayer[at]nospam.com> writes:

- quote -

And even if they did go the bankruptcy route and the pensions
were turned over to the PBGC, unless the pension in question is
on the large side (ie. over $40,000/yr) then the benefits will
probably be mostly intact. (there are several variables, but
mainly it affects highly-compensated folks - which is why
the airline pilots are so upset. I, of course, wonder why
pilots who were making very comfortable 6-figure pay were
not saving outside of their pensions, too, but what do I know).

--
Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed.
No HTML in E-Mail! -- http://www.expita.com/nomime.html
Are you posting responses that are easy for others to follow?
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting

- quote -

What is likely to happen is that IBM will no longer offer pension to new
employees, and existing workers will be pressured to convert their plans
to a defined contribution plan (a portable plan that can convert to an
IRA) from the defined benefit plan.
Any retired worker or their spouse would not be affected. IBM would have
to file for bankruptcy before your mom is impacted, and the chance of
that is very slim. They are a viable company, not an airline.

JOE

From: surfunbear[at]yahoo.com
- quote -

Have you gone looking for media reports on the possibility
of this happening?
They're a good start to get a pulse on things. For example,
see:
---
The changes [to IBM pension plans] do not affect IBM's
125,000 current U.S. retirees, former employees with vested
benefits or employees who retire prior to January 1, 2008.
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pr...ease/19090.wss ,
dated January, 2006
---
CNN's Lou Dobbs reminded viewers o[n] his January 6 show
that "IBM is one of the largest, most profitable
corporations in the world . But this company still says it
needs to cut costs by ripping up a key financial contract
with its middle class work force. This is just the latest
firm to go back on its pension promises." However, the
company has said current retirees already enjoying their
benefits won't be affected.
http://www.freemarketproject.org/com...om20060118.asp
---
GM hasn't actually dropped all pensions. I'm not sure it's
dropped any for current retirees. See for example
http://www.globalaging.org/pension/u...orateshift.htm

Search IBM's press releases web site at
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/index.wss for {retirees},
and/or google for {IBM pension goverment GM}, for more
discussion.

- quote -

Isn't it a good time to start selling this or moving it?
Your mother won't live forever, and you might maybe feel
better taking full responsibility for your own space, so to
speak. Just a thought.

If you have other financial planning concerns about your
mother's situation, definitely consider lurking here a while
and asking more questions. No doubt something will come up
that will be helpful.

The following was cross-posted. Since the moderators had time, the
post is copied below with corrected headers.

Begin copy
Subject: IBM pension?
From: surfunbear[at]yahoo.com


My mother is a 76 year old widow with an IBM pension. What she said
today worried me that she could lose her pension as she said that
companies like GM have been dropping their pensions as it's seen as
bad business practice to have pension plans now and she thinks it
could happen with IBM.

If that happens she may have to sell her house.This effects me because
my canoe, surfboards, scuba gear, drum sets and tons of books and
other belongings are stored over there and I live in a tiny condo with
little space for storage. I'd probably have to sell a bunch of stuff
or find some place to keep some of it.

I am also concerned for my mother and for other reasons as well. She
would lose her health insurance I think also. I would like to get a
handle on this, but how can I gauge the probability of this happening
or when it could occur if it was likely ?

End copy----------------------






-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC