Yeah… the Plan’s not covering that.

Not sure what actually counts as an emergency?

Here’s a wild idea: Read the SPD now - before you need it. (Think of it as Googling “parachute” before you’ve jumped.)

Or ask your parents - ideally before you’re panicking, confused, or standing in line at the ER.

Not for nothing—you’ve got options.

We can’t tell you exactly when Mo will grace our offices again. Frankly, we’re not even sure he’ll be around in July at all. And yet, in a curious way, that uncertainty is rather the point, isn’t it?

The window to meet him was open—wide open—for the better part of ten months.

Marriage, birth, divorce, coverage changes—it’s big stuff.

And odds are, it affects your standing with the Benefit Funds.

Will it? Maybe. Maybe not.

But here’s the catch: we won’t know unless you tell us and submit the appropriate documentation.

Tuesday, September 30 @ 4:30 PM
Wednesday, December 31 @ 12:00 PM

Yes, we checked. No, they haven’t changed.

Not sure what they mean?

That’s your cue to crack open the H&B SPD—or check the FAQs, newsletters, and notices you’ve already seen.

Even a little more now can turn into a lot later.

So why look below?
Because not everything simple is obvious—
and this might be the smartest 30 seconds you spend all week.

Looking for money to start a Roth?
Trying to pay off debt?
Here are a few places it might be hiding.

So yes, we’re saying it again. Not because we have to—frankly, we shouldn’t—but because when we don’t, some of you take that silence as a kind of hall pass. Spoiler: it’s not.

There is no hall pass. There’s just us, being irrationally generous with reminders you should already know.

(Or, how your Defined Benefit retirement plan became the envy of the financial world.)

Yes, it’s true.

I.B.E.W. Local 697’s Defined Contribution Plan didn’t just get nominated…It made the finals for Plan Sponsor of the Year.

In the eyes of Social Security, "disability" isn’t just feeling unwell. It means being medically unwell, for a very long time, to the point where no job in the national economy can reasonably expect you to show up. You’re just not sick. You’re legally, categorically unemployable.

We didn’t schedule the Pension & Defined Contribution Plan get-together because you need a PhD in pensions—but precisely because you shouldn’t.

We just figured it might be more useful—and considerably less soul-crushing—than leaving you to piece together your understanding of your IBEW 697 retirement plans from jobsite gossip, mysterious PDFs, or whatever your buddy swears he overheard from the guy who ‘cracked the pension code’ back in 2005 with his calculator watch and home fax machine.

Remarkably, some of you not only read our May newsletter — you liked it. In fact, the feedback lit up brighter than a multimeter on a live wire. (Yes, that’s a volt joke.) So, if you were among the enlightened few: thank you. Clearly, your taste — and your dopamine receptors — are in excellent shape

But for those of you who didn’t read it… why on Earth not? Honestly — we had it all:

A mind-bending account of decision-making so absurd it redefines the phrase “going without a net” to “no net, no plan, and no idea where the ground is.