President Obama’s pick for Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, has disclosed a $434,668 severance from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Geithner, who worked overtime last year negotiating lifelines for storied Wall Street firms as the credit crisis deepened, will also get $50,000 to $100,000 in unused vacation time and comp days.
According to an official at the New York Fed, Geithner’s severance is from a supplementary retirement plan that would have begun paying out when Geithner turned 55. Geithner is 47, and the board decided to give him the cash equivalent, the official said.
Starting Public Sector Jobs With Parting Gifts In Hand [WaPo]
I hope he remembers to pay his taxes on this one.
No Golden Parachutes!!!!!!
…uh, uh, that is for everyone except me…
Retirement at 55? lazy bastard. If you are a street corner prostitute that may be a good age to step back, but for a white collar guy i dont see the point..
Who thought the gov’t paid so well for so little.
Federal pensions are astounding. I guess when you get to write the rules the rest of the country lives by, you make sure to take care of yourself first.
Federal employment – immune to layoffs, can’t be fired due to incompetence and guaranteed the most favorable pension/ health benefit package in existence in America today. Oh, and the least productive work force other than state and local government.
Just think about how much we are actually paying the S.E.C. Enforcement attorneys who pick and choose which cases would actually require effort and which cases they decide to pursue.
Corrupt. Exec pay cap my arse
Does anyone wonder why the federal government is insolvent?
great jew-claw pic!
For those of us who toil in the AMT-levels of a few hundred K a year and don’t get mid-6-figure handouts, this is truly infuriating. Esp. with Obama saying everyone needs to pay their “fair share”.
Do pension payouts like this even fall under “ordinary income” or will he get to pocket more of this than I do my comp?
The “Do as I say….” crap is really, really infuriating.
“Yes, Mr. Paulson” gets you half a million?
Serious question: Can someone explain the love for this guy? What did he do at the NY Fed that makes him a superstar?
9 Don’t get too excited. The payout is probably in excess of the ERISA maximum (essentially pension payments on the first ~$160,000 of salary), which means its not tax qualified – i.e. cant be rolled over into an IRA – and is therefore subject to income tax at Geithner’s marginal rate.
Somehow I get the feeling that some geniuses here think that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is a government agency.
what is all this talk about rewarding failure..
11 He looks good and speaks well. That, combined with the Ivy degree, is 95% of what you need in life.
Yep, Fed cartel can pay whatever it wants and is not under government control. Of course these guys did a fantastic job last few years, didn’t they?
“and is therefore subject to income tax at Geithner’s marginal rate.”
This being “0″ on the tax he chooses not to pay.
Now I want to see two dragons…
There was an article recently in the NY Times about how conductors on the LIRR work a lot of overtime as they approach retirement and then walk away with multiples of this amount – since their retirement payout is based on final pay. Geithner’s deal is about average for a white collar job.
17 Maybe so, but I’m pretty sure EP that this payout is going to be included on his W-2, so its going to be difficult to choose not to pay taxes on it.
(BTW: props for nice work in general)
Seems excessive to me..hypocrite
@20
As a beneficiary of similar parting gifts, I can say that it’s extremely unlikely that he can evade taxes on such payments. Yes they get reported, for example in W2s or 1099s.
Something the article doesn’t make clear is whether some of the lump sums can be rolled over to an IRA, in which case they are tax deferred. But, hey, don’t expect much clarity from the Washington Post.
I used to work at an investment bank, what is “severance”?
- J.Thain
Is the Fed Reserve Bank a government agency?
dyl-rat
22 Key words are “supplementary retirement plan”. That’s ERISA-speak for a non-qualified plan, which is one from which balances can’t be rolled into a qualified plan, like an IRA or your next employer’s 401K.
And this is egregious compared to the half a billion dollars Hank Paulson walked away from Goldman Sachs with when he became Treasury Secretary in what way, children?
Half a bar for how many years of service?
Grow the fuck up. You’re all fired.
400K to replace a pension that would have paid 50% of 160K for life (isn’t that how a govt pension works? no idea, I don’t even know anyone who works in govt) ? Not that great of deal for Geithner, IMO.
@24
I have a website that should answer most of your questions…
finance.yahoo.com
This kind of posts always draw out the douchebags commentors;
a) Whining about a finance guy getting paid 400k a year? Really?
b) Paying for failure? What did he fail at? Not single handedly making Lehman and Bear completely solvent again?
c) Ragging on “government” job retirement and pensions? This jobs generally consist of mediocre pay for the duration. He could easily make more money elsewhere.
@28 You’re not sure yourself are you?
@29: this is not a finance job… This is public service and govt work. If you want big bucks then go get a wall street job and take the risk there of when it goes badly, you get fired …
Jumping from one portion of govt to another should net you $600k.
Would a jr person at the Fed who jumped to another job at treasury get an equivalent package?
Of course NOT!
That’s the problem here. Big fat cats get sweet deals (even when they are public servants) while the rest of us get shafted.
Isn’t this what Obama promised would end? I guess for everyone but him and his staff. Typical.
@31 – No, this is not remotely what Obama promised. I’m sorry you base presidential expectations on these trivial nuances.
Yes, this IS a finance job.
Do you not understand how the whole compensation thing works? Do you really only want the overseers of our financial system run by only people who will except meager pay?
When you’re making 35k at some Jr. job in Jersey City, 400k probably sounds like a lot. When you’re 47 and you have his qualifications, its the bear minimum.
@26, that was private money, dork.
@31
Sounds like you have no idea of what you are talking about.
“…and the board decided to give him the cash equivalent”
The board? Is this the same board that includes Jamie Dimon (got taxpayers’ cash from Paulson/Geithner designed TARP), Jeffrey R. Immelt (got taxpayers’ cash from Paulson/Geithner designed TARP), and, until recently, Dick Fuld?
@35
Because the Federal Reserve Bank of NY is a bank funded by banks. That’s the main reason I didn’t like Geithner’s appointment.
And, Geithner successfully pushed back on Obama aides who wanted to impose further restrictions on banks receiving TALP money. ‘Nuf said!