The part where it’s defined-contribution instead of defined-benefit.
To be perfectly honest, I personally am better served with a 401(k): I’m in an above-average earning career (engineering), have lived well below my means, and am financially literate.
But most people are not like me. Frankly, the average worker in the US is either not competent or not disciplined enough to both actually contribute enough and invest it properly, and so as a nation we’re careening towards a disaster of geriatric poverty the likes of which hasn’t been seen since before Social Security was invented.
So yeah, the American working class was definitely scammed when pensions were replaced with 401(k)s. But hell, even if you don’t understand the actual differences and implications, you could also tell it’s fishy even just by the fact that the execs were so eager to switch over!
The part where it’s defined-contribution instead of defined-benefit.
To be perfectly honest, I personally am better served with a 401(k): I’m in an above-average earning career (engineering), have lived well below my means, and am financially literate.
But most people are not like me. Frankly, the average worker in the US is either not competent or not disciplined enough to both actually contribute enough and invest it properly, and so as a nation we’re careening towards a disaster of geriatric poverty the likes of which hasn’t been seen since before Social Security was invented.
So yeah, the American working class was definitely scammed when pensions were replaced with 401(k)s. But hell, even if you don’t understand the actual differences and implications, you could also tell it’s fishy even just by the fact that the execs were so eager to switch over!