Defined benefit pension plans became pretty much a thing of the past in the late 80's. Many of them were overfunded. Companies distcontinued the pensions, bought annuities for the participating employees, and took the excess cash. They found it cheaper to provide defined contribution plans; i.e., 401(k)'s. Our company did that.

Those people who have had pension plans for the past 20 years are the minority. It is not new for a company to discontinue the pension plan.

I never thought of it as necessarily a bad thing. My husband and I came out probably ahead of the game with our 401(k)'s.

In fact, I think the government should do this to their employees to save money for the taxpayers.
Originally Posted by munchkin

Overfunded? My fat ass they were overfunded. That's what the bloated CEO's who wanted to make millions instead of hundreds of thousands want you to think.

I'm glad for you that you've done better with a 401K than with a traditional pension, but that's not the case for millions of Americans. In fact, many respected economists feel that Americans have been SCAMMED with the fees on 401Ks and that converting to private plans was just another way to funnel money to bankers. Most people with 401Ks do not have enough money to retire with...and never will.