Retirement Heist

I wrote in my last post that the pension system has provided more security for employees than 401(k) and stock option plans. I argued that the transformation of the retirement industry (from the former to the latter) represents a shifting burden off of employer's shoulders and onto employees'.

Yet, pension plans are not entirely "safe" either. Journalist Rachel Heist has recently written a book, Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers, in which she describes how employers have discovered ways to pilfer money that has contractually been set aside for employees' retirement.

I guess, no matter what actual "system" is in place, employers will always find a way to redistribute wealth in their own favor.