Pension News

Look Before You Leap: The Unintended Consequences of Pension Freezes, a new issue brief from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS), makes the case for why pension freezes aren’t always a good idea for state and local governments. (more…)

Last week General Motors announced plans to temporarily suspend the practice of making matching contributions to their employees’ 401(k) accounts.  This cut, coupled with the impact of the reeling stock market, only adds to the sense of retirement insecurity felt by workers who have seen the nation’s pension and 401(k) account balances plummet by as much as $2 trillion in the past year and a half.

Now, as the Washington Post points out, workers are increasingly finding that they will have to fend for themselves when it comes to their retirement security. (more…)

During the last few weeks, the Wall Street roller coaster has wreaked havoc on the economy and the retirement assets of the millions of American workers with 401(k) plans.

For workers who, like me, are relatively young and decades away from retiring, the current economic crisis doesn’t make me terribly anxious about my 401(k).  While the economic downturn concerns me, I’m not too worried because I have ample time to prepare for retirement.  But I do admit that even I am too afraid to look at the balance in my 401(k) account!

But what about people who are closer to retirement age?  (more…)