AT&T Interest Rates Are Skyrocketing, Reducing Lump-Sums

As of September 23rd, the 10 Year Treasury Rate has hit its highest point since 2009.  The 10 Year Treasury Rate has increased by over 100% since December 2021, jumping from 1.33% to 3.76%. This rise will cause a significant drop in AT&T lump sum values. Employees who do not retire in 2022 are likely to lose over 20% on their lump-sum, which will significantly hinder an employee’s ability to have a successful retirement. 

The corporate segment rates, which AT&T uses to calculate employee lump-sums, lags 30 days behind the 10 Year Treasury Rate. The best way to determine where the segment rates will be is to look at the 10 Year Treasury Rate. Segment rates have already increased 1.9% (in the second segment, which is the most impactful) since November of 2021. This would account for about a 19% decrease in lump-sums, but based on the current trajectory of the 10 Year Treasury Rate, the loss could be much worse than 19%. If rates continue to rise it is possible that lump sum values could drop 25% or more. 

Many AT&T employees will leave the company with a pension of $1 million. These people really need to evaluate if it is worth staying with AT&T past 2022, given the immense loss of lump sum value they are about to experience. Many people planning to stay until 2024 could effectively be working for free for those remaining years. It could be in the best interest of many employees to find a part-time job and retire in 2022 to maintain what they have earned in their lump-sum payment.