Employers knowingly shifting employees to inadequate retirement plans
via truthdig:
The United States largest employers are increasingly pushing their workers into inadequate retirement plansand they acknowledge doing so.
Christopher Flavelle reports at
Bloomberg:
A survey last month from Towers Watson, the employee benefit consultant, shows just how rapidly the defined-benefit planthe traditional pension that guarantees workers an annual income after they retirehas moved from the norm at Fortune 500 companies to all but extinct. In 1998, just more than half offered new hires a defined-benefit plan; by 2013, that had fallen to just 7 percent.
That trend continues: According to Towers Watson, at least three of the 34 Fortune 500 companies that offered defined-benefit plans to new hires last year wont do so this year.
Taking their place are defined-contribution plans, the 401(k)s and other such plans in which employers put money into an investment account in the workers name. In theory, employees can still save enough for retirementif they put enough away, invest it wisely and engage in reasonable planning. But thats not what usually happensand according to another Towers Watson survey of large employers, they know it.
In 2012, Towers Watson asked 371 companies how well their employees understand and make good use of their retirement plans. In most cases, the companies answered that workers fail to use the plans to their benefit. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/shift_to_bad_retirement_plans_threaten_retirees_with_privation_20141005