Savings & Pensions

#540 - The Defined Benefit Pension Crisis

America 's defined benefit pension plans are in crisis. Traditional defined benefit (DB) pensions are usually paid to retired employees based on years of work and final salary. Although still common at large companies, they have fallen out of favor at small and mid-sized firms. Virtually no new DB plans have been created in the last 10 years. Once the Cadillac of retirement plans, they are now the Edsels of employee benefits, as employers shift to defined contribution (DC) plans, such as 401(k)s.