401(k) Open and Hidden Fees

Management fees, commissions, and profits severely compromise what can be accumulated in 401(k) and other defined contribution retirement plan accounts. Defined contribution participants typically lose from 20 to 30 percent and more of their accumulations to investment management fees charged by the financial services industry.  The administrative overhead costs for defined benefit plans are muchContinue reading “401(k) Open and Hidden Fees”

How 401(k)s Discriminate Against Women

401(k)s are set up so that participants will accumulate funds during their working lives and then purchase annuities with those funds to finance their retirement.  They could also actively manage their portfolios during retirement, but most experts agree that annuitizing produces more stable income security. The annuity business is based on calculating life spans.  SinceContinue reading “How 401(k)s Discriminate Against Women”

State Bankruptcy: A Right Wing Fantasy to Enable Confiscation of Employee Pensions

States currently cannot declare bankruptcy.  If the right has its way, that would change, according to an article, (“A Path is Sought for States to Escape Their Debt Burdens,”)  by Mary Williams Walsh in the January 20, 2011 New York Times. Walsh cites such right-wing politicians as Newt Gingrich and conservative media as The WeeklyContinue reading “State Bankruptcy: A Right Wing Fantasy to Enable Confiscation of Employee Pensions”

401(k)s versus Social Security: Comparing the Rates of Return

A common claim of advocates of Social Security privatization is that private accounts deliver much higher rates of return for participants. The Cato Institute, for example, in its Cato Handbook for Policymakers tells us that: �Social Security taxes are already so high, relative to benefits, that Social Security has quite simply become a bad dealContinue reading “401(k)s versus Social Security: Comparing the Rates of Return”

Unfunded Liabilities of Public Pensions, A Red Herring

Rarely have so many people believed as an article of faith something so fervently that wasn�t true: unfunded liabilities of public pensions are speeding us toward fiscal Armageddon. Unless something drastic is done very soon, we taxpayers will have to bailout overly generous, fiscally irresponsible public employee pension systems. A class war is looming, accordingContinue reading “Unfunded Liabilities of Public Pensions, A Red Herring”