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<blockquote data-quote="Dracula" data-source="post: 3729124" data-attributes="member: 42691">Pensions, absolutely, are deferred compensation. They wouldn&#039;t be part our contract if they weren&#039;t. They are another form of compensation for services rendered. Just paid at a future time period. That&#039;s why it&#039;s a load of BS when companies unload pensions to boast profits. If one company had an agreement with another to pay a determined amount of money at a future date, and squelched on the deal, you can bet the first company would be locked up in court for breach of contract.The American worker? We&#039;re SOL if a company decides they won&#039;t pay us their obligations. No court in the land will take our case. We have no army of attorneys to help us out, unlike the companies.And many of these comments are right, pensions rely on the stock market to meet their obligations. But most pensions are required to limit their risks, and only invest in AAA rated securities. That might be alright, were it not for the big banks and credit agencies, that by 2007 had rigged the system where worthless, mortgage-backed securities were rated AAA, and worthy for all pensions.We saw how that worked out for everybody. The banks and the credit agencies skated passed the mess and pensions, and everyone who relied on them got left holding their bag.401k&#039;s? Great idea, if they weren&#039;t slanted against us. Especially when we work for a company that doesn&#039;t match our contributions. And we take all of the risks, not the companies. 401k&#039;s assume we are all financially astute. Maybe some are, but the vast majority of us don&#039;t moonlight at Edward D. Jones. And the fees on many 401k&#039;s take a hidden chunk of our potential earnings.More money for the big banks. The same banks that tanked our economy in 2007, and the same banks that are supposed to guard the gates. When they lose money, they get bailed out, but when our money is lost, it&#039;s tough luck for us.Obviously, there is no perfect system. And it is definitely possible to have success with a 401k. But lets not pretend they are some retirement gift to workers. They are designed to shift financial risk from the employer to the employees.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dracula, post: 3729124, member: 42691"] Pensions, absolutely, are deferred compensation. They wouldn't be part our contract if they weren't. They are another form of compensation for services rendered. Just paid at a future time period. That's why it's a load of BS when companies unload pensions to boast profits. If one company had an agreement with another to pay a determined amount of money at a future date, and squelched on the deal, you can bet the first company would be locked up in court for breach of contract. The American worker? We're SOL if a company decides they won't pay us their obligations. No court in the land will take our case. We have no army of attorneys to help us out, unlike the companies. And many of these comments are right, pensions rely on the stock market to meet their obligations. But most pensions are required to limit their risks, and only invest in AAA rated securities. That might be alright, were it not for the big banks and credit agencies, that by 2007 had rigged the system where worthless, mortgage-backed securities were rated AAA, and worthy for all pensions. We saw how that worked out for everybody. The banks and the credit agencies skated passed the mess and pensions, and everyone who relied on them got left holding their bag. 401k's? Great idea, if they weren't slanted against us. Especially when we work for a company that doesn't match our contributions. And we take all of the risks, not the companies. 401k's assume we are all financially astute. Maybe some are, but the vast majority of us don't moonlight at Edward D. Jones. And the fees on many 401k's take a hidden chunk of our potential earnings. More money for the big banks. The same banks that tanked our economy in 2007, and the same banks that are supposed to guard the gates. When they lose money, they get bailed out, but when our money is lost, it's tough luck for us. Obviously, there is no perfect system. And it is definitely possible to have success with a 401k. But lets not pretend they are some retirement gift to workers. They are designed to shift financial risk from the employer to the employees. [/QUOTE]

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