Since 1981, private sector defined retirement benefits have shrunk from 60% to 10% of workers

[michigandem58]

American pensions were some of the hardest hit in the world by the Great Recession, falling in value by over a quarter in 2008, with only modest recovery since then. But private pensions already had become a less steady leg of retirement security prior to the recent recession. Since the early 1980s, businesses have gradually shifted responsibility for pensions onto workers, with predictable results. In 1981, approximately 60 percent of private sector workers were covered by a pension with a guaranteed payout. Today only about 10 percent of private sector workers have guaranteed payout pensions. Meanwhile, 401(k)-type retirement contribution plans have gone from covering only about 17 percent of the private workforce to about 65 percent today...

http://www.alternet.org/economy/dont-cut-social-security-double-it

[liberal N proud]

1. My employer is cutting off pensions at the end of 2013

If I am even still employed by this employer in 2013, I am awaiting my fate in the next month to find out if I even have a job going forward.

For those who have a job in 2013, it will be the last year the company offers a pension plan, they are however going to offer that 401K plan.

I work for a company that in the last 10 years has gone from an exceptional company that offered fantastic benefits, with above the normal matching contributions, better than average vacation packages and policies that made the employee not only feel important but was important. From exceptional to normal, doing what everyone else does and not concerned about retaining quality people.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

3. And how big has your company CEO's compensation been?

Mine each year gets several times what my lump some retirement is.

[liberal N proud]

6. He took a 47% increase this year

While announcing 10% cut in workforce for this next year.

The greedy get theirs while the rest can go hungary.

[SugarShack]

2. Along with stagnant wages for the exact time period as well.

[Zoeisright]

4. Thanks, Reagan

You fucker.

[michigandem58]

5. My first thought, too

Unions became bad guys and workers liabilities in his time.

[yardwork]

12. And thanks to everybody who voted for Reagan.

[NNN0LHI]

16. [phone]

[slackmaster]

7. K and fucking R

My dad retired from the Navy in 1956. He got a job, and stayed with the same company until he retired from that in 1987.

He had retirement benefits from both the Navy and that one job.

I got a rock.

[abelenkpe]

11. We should be working to recreate the world our parents enjoyed

I'm not sure I even have a whole rock. What will our kids have?

[reteachinwi]

8. 401K

Pensions are replaced with 401Ks in many cases. 401Ks ask individual contributors to assume all the risks of investment. The investment houses collect fees whether they make money for their clients or not. Pensions are much more like insurance policies where the risk is spread out among pensioners and contributors. Conservatives want to make SS a 401K plan. They get the fees, we get cat food.

http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/Retirement-Security

[buzzroller]

9. Good Point

In addition to the issue of greater fees and the burden of normal investment risks, an individual without a pension faces timing risk. This is the chance that he or she picked a bad time to retire and the market falls right before or after retirement without sufficient time to make up losses. Even with proper allocation of investments, this risk is impossible to overcome without a cushion of more funds than you needed.
It is also, in my opinion, one of the greatest advantages of a pension. A non-profit annuity, if available, could help, but I haven't seen them available.

[RC]

18. Ask your bank about 401K retirement accounts.

I took mine from the stock market and put it into a CD type 401K. It is immune from the stock market. but doesn't pay all that well. But it is safe because it is insured by the FDIC. If you are nearing retirement age, within 7 or 8 years, it is something to look into. Also being a type of CD, you need to let it set for 7 years or so. Because of when I found out about it, I have to wait till I am 72. For me that is fine. Between a small pension and Social Security, I get more than the average monthly pay, than if I were still working at today's wages.

[abelenkpe]

10. sounds like a great time to raise the eligibility age for medicare and

cut social security benefits for future retirees, right?

[Heywood J]

13. On top of that, how many people

now last long enough at temporary/contract jobs (if benefits are even offered to them) to vest anything?

[Deny and Shred]

14. Mergers and Acquisitions

That time frame roughly fits Reagan's intentional tidal shift toward mega Multi-National Corporations. They changed the concept from workers being rewarded at the end of service for their contributions to a successful going concern toward wage-only compensation.

Thirty years of globalization has eroded "mom-and-pop" businesses and the values they exhibited.

[judesedit]

15. Yeah. And when the stock market crashes so does your 401-k nest egg

[OneMoreDemocrat]

17. But so did any pension funds...

They tend to get invested in very similar places, unless you have a good financial adviser and pay attention.

[RC]

19. See post #18

It might be an option.