Using a defined-contribution plan, such as 401(k), is one way to achieve smooth benefit accrual.
Currently, 55% of plan sponsors enroll workers automatically in their employer-provided defined-contribution plan, up from 24% in 2006.
For pilots, it sponsors a defined-benefit pension plan, a defined-contribution plan and gives access to a 401(k) that doesn't include any company match.
State and local governments that are currently outside of Social Security are giving serious consideration to shifting to a defined-contribution plan, as Utah has recently done.
FORBES: How Three Texas Counties Created Personal Social Security Accounts and Prospered
Union leaders said that they liked the look of the raise, but that what they really needed was a defined-benefit pension plan, not the defined-contribution plan that management had offered them.
The 401(k) plan accelerated in 1986, when Congress passed legislation permitting the replacement of the defined-benefit plan offered to government workers with a less attractive defined-benefit plan and an attractive defined-contribution plan.
The real issue is Democrats know that if a defined-contribution Medicare plan that depends on private sector health insurers becomes really popular, it would open the door to a privatized Medicare system which is why they cut Medicare Advantage allotments in ObamaCare.
If your earnings are more modest, you may be able to use an off-the-shelf "defined contribution" plan from a mutual fund company, broker, bank or insurance company.
Most proposals for creating a defined-contribution alternative to a state pension plan or Social Security use an IRA or 401(k) model.
FORBES: How Three Texas Counties Created Personal Social Security Accounts and Prospered
Some seminars are designed to educate employees on plan switches--usually to a defined contribution from a defined benefit setup.
For starters, the majority of defined-contribution plans haven't added the Roth 401(k) in-plan conversion option since it was created by a federal law nearly two years ago.
Not only does it require Florida's police and firefighters' pension funds to divest from companies with active business ties to Iran and Sudan, it also mandates that the state provide a "terror-free" investment option for state employees participating in Florida's defined contribution retirement plan.
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