In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. He earned it for himself so he and his family must be the one to enjoy its benefit.Bernie Madoff ripped off a lot of people. It comes as small consolation that Madoff is going to jail for the rest of his life, because he ruined the lives of so many. An entire Connecticut town has filed suit against him, his family, his estate and all of his holdings, and also Fairfield Greenwich Group. The allegations is that after people in the town invested money from their pensions into the fund, and therefore to Madoff, he stole the money. To retirees, pension is their lifeline – they cannot rely on payday loans alone. If things go well and fortune smiles on them, they may be able to recover half their funds. Let us hope they can get enough to not have to rely on payday loans instead of their pensions.