Sharing the Wealth?

For all you AT&T old-timers, retiring C.E.O. Ed Whitacre has a parting gift. If you laid cable or answered customer calls or mopped the floors at AT&T, and you retired at least 11 years ago, you might find as much as $74.40 more in your next monthly pension check. Whitacre announced an ad hoc pension increase of up to 6.2 percent for pre-1996 retirees who get a monthly benefit of $1,200 or less. The largest increases will go to the folks with the smallest checks.

Sure, an extra $74.40 would be nice--it's 10 cents an hour, even. But it's a bit harder to swallow when you figure out what Whitacre's pension package gives him. If he lives to be 90, Whitacre will make $723.44 per hour for the rest of his life. And that's not even counting his $24,000 annual auto benefit, his 10 hours of corporate jet access per month, free health and life insurance for his family, and $1 million in annual consulting fees. Oh, and AT&T will takes care of the taxes for most of it too.

But don't let that stop you from making the most out of your 10 cents an hour.

by Megan Barnett

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images