Why have 401Ks replaced pensions?

532 viewsEconomicsOther

These days, very few people get guaranteed pensions and they are almost always 401ks instead.
If you are running a business, isn’t it cheaper to provide pensions? You can invest the money in the same sort of funds that a 401k is invested in, but money not paid out (say, both retiree and spouse die) can be pocketed where 401k goes to whoever is a beneficiary like kids, extended family, charities, pets, etc).

In: Economics

14 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because the rich get richer, and the tax code is designed for the very wealthy.
Corporations and their shareholders are better off without pension debt on their books, whereas employees would be better off with pensions instead of having to allocate part of their earnings towards 401Ks. But guess which won out?

You are viewing 1 out of 14 answers, click here to view all answers.