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My father was a steelworker. Didn't think the promise of the steelworkers' pension held out much promise for him given his sometimes uncannily insightful sense of how things were going. When he refused to retire as the company downsized locally, they offered him, in 1980, a $180k lump-sum disbursement. Using one of the many "inflation calculators" online, in today's devalued currency that's close to $690k.

He lost a sizeable chunk of his retirement to taxes. Even spreading it over 3 years still left a big hole in the amount--which wouldn't have been the case had he got it paid out over his lifetime, which went for another 23 years. (Note that a decade later the company declared bankruptcy, was freed from pension liabilities, and the federal government picked up those liabilities at much reduced payouts).

Sometimes, albeit infrequently, the axe wielded against class enemies strike members of your class.

Note that he may have retired for the lump sum at age 59, but he'd squirreled away enough to contribute as usual to household expenses until he could retire will full social security benefits.