Dear Harry: I worked for a lot of years for one of our big banks. I retired a few years ago and started to collect on my pension. That bank was acquired by another bank a few years ago, and my pension continued. Now, I have an offer from the new bank to take a job with them. It's a pretty responsible job, and I'm thinking seriously of going back to work with them. Would this affect the pension I'm receiving? Is it possible that they will now defer my pension until I retire from the acquiring bank? I am getting conflicting answers on this from my friends. What is the deal here? Since it is a successor employer, is my pension in for a change?

What Harry says: A lot will depend upon the nature of the acquisition. The safest thing to do is to consult with the plan administrator and the company's human resources people. It appears from your letter that you cannot take the job if you lose the pension. If this is so, be sure to get any "guarantees" in writing that you will not lose the pension. Unfortunately, in many of these mergers and acquisitions, the employer will be deemed to be the same as before. In that case, your pension might very well be in trouble if you take the new job, so don't get your hopes up too high.