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  • The Number of Americans without Retirement Savings

    We all know America is facing a retirement crisis. We’ve talked about it on this blog and Americans express their worries in opinion polls. Experts tell us that Americans are not saving enough for retirement. Now it’s time to take…

  • Selling Out the Future by Cutting Pensions
    California Rule

    Pensions are a promise. In fact, pensions are a form of deferred compensation. Public sector employees- such as teachers, firefighters, and nurses- accept lower salaries during their working years in exchange for monthly contributions from their employer toward their pension.…

  • Not Having a Pension Could Kill You!

    Two recent reports- on unrelated subjects- have highlighted the importance of pensions for low-income working families. The Employee Benefits Research Institute released a report last month that focused on the ability of defined contribution plans and defined benefit plans to…

  • A Tale of Two Retirements

    Unfortunately, we know that defined benefit pensions have been declining rapidly in the private sector. And we know that some irresponsible politicians and anti-pension ideologues are trying to gut pensions in the public sector. What we didn’t know until recently…

  • How Pension Cuts Harm the Middle Class

    It’s now the end of National Save for Retirement Week. Hopefully this week you’ve thought some more about how pensions provide the safest and most secure retirement for working families. Unfortunately, when public pensions are cut by irresponsible politicians, those…

  • The False Promise of a 401(k)

    We’re in the middle of National Save for Retirement Week. As we indicated in Monday’s blog post, this week is often used by Wall Street banks and other financial interests to promote participation in defined contribution 401(k) plans. One of…

  • The Hidden Cost of Reducing Pension Benefits: Increased Income Inequality

    In a previous post, we discussed the consequences for states that abandoned their pension plans. But gutting defined benefit pensions has consequences beyond unstable funding and decreased retirement security. A recent report by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement…