There’s a lot of talking past each other going on, but in my mind I have yet to see someone give me actual numbers where a person is BOTH materially suffering today due to the elimination of the pension AND where any amount of targeted min balance plus up would make a practical difference. People post what their claim/pgbc/note, but that’s not the whole story, since they’ve had 17 years to fund their 401k. Note I know that realistically that’s more like 12-15, since the first few years were at bankruptcy rates and the DC percentage wasn’t at its current rate. So the missing piece of the puzzle is someone’s 401k balance today, and I haven’t seen a single person lay out both their post-bankruptcy data as well as how much is currently in their 401k (and their projected balance depending on hours many years they have left to work), because that gives the full picture of what they are facing entering retirement.

And even if someone can show that they’ve been maxing out retirement for 10+ years + pgbc+note, etc and are still going to be in a pinch in retirement, I don’t see how any reasonable amount of plus money on the way out is going to change that scenario. I mean I’ve heard maybe giving a $300k lump sum, but at a standard 5% withdrawal rate that only gives you an additional $15000 per year in retirement, or $1250 per month. So it’s not an earth shattering amount.

As others have said many times the ones crying poor the loudest have a boat and two houses and fancy cars, so it’s just hard to conjure up sympathy and a need to sacrifice for them. Now if someone can lay out their full financial picture and show how a plus up would materially improve their retirement I’d be willing to listen and consider that.