pension investment being forced early

Greetings! One of our retirement pieces that we had no intention of touching until age 65, is a deferred vested pension at a former employer. That employer has expressed their interest in forcing out the benefit early. Question- At age 65 value is about $250,000, forced out early now with age reductions would be about $160,000. Where would be an investment to realize growth between value now [$165K], and 9 years from now [the intended $250,000 amount]?
Thank you!

Terry Says:  Well, first you need to know a bit more about your options in the old plan.  Are they “forcing” you to make a decision, or just pushing you to do that?

Second, do you have the option of “rolling” that payout into an IRA (where you could either invest the money to grow, or purchase a tax-deferred annuity)?

That’s important to know.  Because there is literally no way you could get that money to grow by 40 percent over the next 9 years — without taking significant risk.  And if can’t do it in a tax-deferred way, you are a sure loser in this process. That is why I strongly suspect there might be other options — but please right back and give me more details, which you can get from the former employer.