BELLTEL RETIREE The Official Newsletter for Union and Management Retirees and Employees of Bell Atlantic, GTE, Idearc/SuperMedia/DexMedia, NYNEX, MCI, Verizon and its Subsidiaries. Paid for by contributions from Verizon and Idearc/SuperMedia/DexMedia retirees. Fall 2018 Volume 87 Retiree “Geezers” Team Donating Direct from an IRA Up to Get Results Will Win You a Tax Benefit By Jack Cohen ver the years, we have gone By Robert Gaglione through the IRA “doesn’t increase your up against our former hanks to a little-known wrinkle in adjusted gross income, which determines employer in the arenas of the new federal tax law, if you’re the size of Medicare premiums and the O public relations, the federal courts, and T70 ½ years or older and have an tax treatment of Social Security benefits.” at shareholder meetings. We’ve also IRA, you can donate some or all of your Not only will your donation be tax-free, worked together in some areas, such as required minimum distribution (RMD) but you also won’t move into a higher tax resolving health benefit issues. to a charity like the Association of BellTel bracket and end up with fewer benefits. It has always been our hope that Retirees TAX-FREE! And you don’t even Essentially, it is all upside. have to itemize! In addition to the rules governing min- Verizon would one day recognize that That is because, upon reaching 70 ½ imum age (70 ½) and maximum dona- its retirees are an untapped asset with years old, IRA owners are obligated to tion amount ($100,000), the QCD must whom working in tandem has the withdraw a minimum amount of also go to a public charity and it potential to achieve amazing things to money every year, called the must be a check payable to the the benefit of both. Especially if you RMD. One would normally be charity—not a check payable to hold Verizon shares, you have an inter- taxed on this withdrawal, unless it you and endorsed by the charity. est in the continued success of the is a qualified charitable distribu- Typically, IRA custodians send company, even if you object to some of tion (QCD). Therein lies the the IRA owner QCD checks the things they do. “wrinkle.” payable to the charity of his or Since the annual Shareholder Meet- You don’t need to make a her choosing, and then the IRA ing in Seattle, we have had some evi- huge donation to benefit from owner can mail them to the dence of what can be gained through a this tax break. For a retiree in the charity. joint effort. 25 percent tax bracket, an IRA charitable If you qualify, please consider making If you ride the Harlem line of New contribution of $5,000 could reduce your a charitable donation directly through York’s Metro North Railroad to the income tax bill by $1,250. Even a $1,000 your IRA to the Association of BellTel last stop, you will arrive at the Town of donation would save you $250 in taxes. Retirees. We cannot continue to do the Southeast, a.k.a. Brewster, New York. With very few individuals expected to essential work we do protecting the On the third Friday of each month, a itemize (some estimates say around 5% of earned health and retirement benefits of group of retirees gathers to share a filers), the income tax deduction for con- our members without your support. lunch and enjoy each other’s company tributions to charities will be lost for Here is a perfect way to help us help with lots of laughs and memories. This many. However, if you make a QCD, you and your fellow retirees while enjoy- group is called the Geezers and they you get a full exclusion. ing a tax benefit. even have T-Shirts with their name As Newsday financial writer Lynn Please check with your tax preparer, and logo. Brenner writes in her ‘Ask the Expert’ col- accountant or financial advisor if you have umn, the RMD amount donated directly any questions or concerns. Association board member “Big John” Hyland calls Brewster his home and I live in Yorktown Heights, just a Thousands of Retirees’ Assets half-hour away. We have made many friends in this group and make it a Vanish Without Warning point to attend these monthly lunch- or 25 years, thousands of retirees insurance simply stopped paying them. eons where we are now accepted as reg- living in Massachusetts were not In late June of this year, Massachu- ulars. There is generally a lot of interest paid their retirement annuity setts Secretary of the Commonwealth among the Geezers in our Association F of BellTel Retirees activities, so Big benefits because the insurance compa- William Galvin filed a formal com- ny responsible for it assumed they were plaint, finally drawing needed attention John and I try to keep the group dead. You read that right, MetLife to this egregious activity. updated. (Continued to page 4) (Continued to page 3 2018 Belltel_Fall.qxp_12pages 8/9/18 9:47 AM Page 2 2 BellTel Retiree Fall 2018 BellTel Success Not by Accident professionals who would make our moment’s notice to get active and efforts most impactful! involved to protect our members. One thing is for certain: The Associa- Please be active and involved in tion of BellTel Retirees has been a suc- YOUR Association of BellTel Retirees. cess and has never, ever been passive on Will you consider being a volunteer or do your behalf. you have even more to give? Will you Looking back through the historical commit to recruiting other retirees or lens at all the grief that has befallen soon to be retirees to join us? Have you retirees from other major blue-chip made a donation this year or would you companies, we have all been fortunate to consider adding a little bit more to your By C. WIlliam Jones have such a vibrant Association of Bell- generosity towards the Association? Past President, Co-Founder Tel Retirees to fight for Verizon retirees. While I am retired from the board, early 23 years ago I and several We recognize now that the organization and as your former President, I look back of my fellow NYNEX retirees was established and in place at the right with great pride and accomplishment on were starting to feel somewhat time and the right place. all we have and continue to achieve. If N my fellow retirees were not spurred into alarmed about the state of our retirement action way back in 1996, I fear all Veri- income and earned benefits. The signs Trained by the Bell System were apparent that the significant retire- zon retirees would be in much worse ment promises made to us in our work- to be active and not passive, shape than we are today. Thank you to ing years may not be the same firm com- the Association of BellTel Retirees and to mitment now that we had departed we formed an Association all the members that support its success. While our board members spend huge employment at the company. under the non-profit laws When we presented then NYNEX amounts of time and contribute cash CEO Ivan Siedenberg with a petition, to begin advocating for the donations to the Association for the ben- signed by 3,000 of our fellow retirees, efit of all retirees, I appeal to you to do requesting a cost of living adjustment for protection of our collective your best to support “YOUR Associa- tion.” our pensions, which had historically been retirement security. customary, but had not occurred, and the company turned a deaf ear, it sparked action. For the numerous other corporate OUR MISSION: Thank goodness we received that early retiree groups we tried to assist in getting wake-up call in 1996. Trained by the organized and established over this time The Association of BellTel Bell System to be active and not passive, - from the Big 3 auto manufacturers, Retirees Inc. is dedicated to promot- computer and insurance industries and we formed an Association under the non- ing the protection and enhancement much more – the biggest obstacle was profit laws to begin advocating for the of the pensions and benefits for all protection of our collective retirement putting an effective team in place willing security. to donate their time and to put in suffi- retirees and beneficiaries of the com- Our mission statement, which you cient efforts to have a real impact. panies and subsidiaries that make up That has not been the case with Bell- can read in every single issue of the Bell- the Verizon and Idearc/SuperMe- Tel newsletter, states, “The Association Tel. It must be something about our dia/Dex Media Corporations. will convince the company to properly phone company discipline and training. care for its thousands of dedicated former Our Association has drawn on the tal- The Association will convince the union and management employees.” ent, knowledge, energy and dedication company to properly care for its of volunteers. When we use the word “convince” thousands of dedicated former union that has taken on different meanings over All of our accomplishments could not and management employees. the years. We have “convinced” the com- have been achieved without the generos- pany of our positions via cordial dialogue ity of our board members at BellTel over The Association will conduct with top company leaders; with more the years. It’s a fact that on average your activities designed to educate elected Association of BellTel Retiree leadership adversarial methods in the courts; federal, state and local representatives through our highly successful annual has contributed between 10,000 and and promote the passage of legisla- proxy campaigns; sometimes by pickets 12,000 hours of volunteer service, each and protests; by successfully telling our and every year.