Re:National Geographic Society sets biggest layoff in its hi...
by Spooky23 on Wednesday November 04, 2015 @09:43AM
(#10506855)
Most individual investors in 401k plans get ripped off. They get funneled into high cost funds, get levied high fees and end up with poor investment options. Then when they finally retire, they get ripped off again by annuity providers.
Pensions are almost always better for the worker. The issues on the employer side are almost always a result of underfunding, or “diversion" of employee funds for some short term crisis.
Re:National Geographic Society sets biggest layoff in its hi...
by ghaff on Wednesday November 04, 2015 @01:37PM
(#10508544)
>Pensions are almost always better for the worker. The issues on the employer side are almost always a result of underfunding, or “diversion" of employee funds for some short term crisis.
So they're a better deal except when they're not in that you can lose it all or have your benefits drastically reduced through bankruptcy etc.
More broadly, defined-benefit pension plans were designed for a world where you expected to work your career at the same organization. Pensions tend to make it very expensive to move around companies. (Hence, people in the US military sticking around for their 20 year mark for example.) It's very much a related problem to health care being tied to employment.
There's no magic behind the management of pension funds; they're utilizing the same markets. So how can they "guarantee a safe and secure retirement"?
They can't and that's the problem with them. During boom times they promise the world and in lean times they go bust, or worse, put the onus to pay for it on the next generation (while those people face cuts to their future benefits). No thanks.