# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1944_S338
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

338 , Financial Matters

Vv

An attractive feature of the Pension Plan has been the Old.
Age Benefit, whereby a worker who has served 25 years in our.
Synod and whose remittances to the Pension Fund, together with
those. of his congregation, have been paid in full as of October 1,
1937, is entitled to an income of $40.00 per month upon notifying
the Board of Support and Pensions that he has retired from active
service and that his former salary relationship has ceased. This
payment is made automatically after the proper notification has
been received; the customary questionnaire of the Board of Sup-
port and Pensions is not submitted; and after the death of the
worker his widow continues to receive $20.00 per month for the
remainder of her life. Supplementary aid, as needed, can be re- |

ceived, after filling out the customary ‘questionnaire.

‘ The problem confronting your Committee was to determine
whether the Old Age Benefit should be retained at its present
level or lifted to a higher figure. Admittedly there are two sides.
to this question. It is undesirable to shift the basic rates too =
frequently, but it is also undesirable if the Old Age Benefit offers
less than the amount received under the basic support rates, plus ~
supplementary payments. To increase the budget of the Board of
Support by approximately $30,000 is a step that should be taken
only after serious consideration; on the other hand, it must’ be
remembered that $30,000 would not be saved merely by keeping
the Old Age Benefit at the present, basic rate of $40.00 per month.
A large part of the $30,000 would be paid out, nevertheless, upon
evidence supplied by the pensioners that their need exceeded the
present $40.00 per month. After weighing these and other: con-
siderations carefully, we recommend that it be

Resolved, That Synod increase the Old Age Benefit from $40 to
$50 per month, respectively, from $20 to $25 per month to the
widow.

VI

A much-discussed feature of the Pension Plan has been the
socialized. allocation, whereby a small fraction of the payments
made by congregations and Boards of the higher salaried men was
credited to the account of the workers in the lower salary brackets,
The thought underlying the allocation is excellent. But the result
of the allocation has not come up to expectations, chiefly because
the salary spread in our Synod is not wide enough. Too large
a percentage of salaries are bunched in the middle brackets. As ~
@ result, we spend $1,000 annually in secretarial help in order to
grant an average allocation of $3.25 per year to the account of 1941
workers, who will benefit, on an average, by about $13.00 per year