"Why did retirement security disappear? Why did the financial risk shift to you? We lost the Defined Benefit Pension."
On November 6, 1978, Congress enacted Internal Revenue Code section 401(k). That day marked the beginning of the end of Defined Benefit Pension plans. In the decades that followed, hundreds of companies froze or shut down their pensions. In their place came "defined contribution" plans like 401(k), These plans shifted the investment risk away from the employer and onto the shoulders of the employee.
Defined contribution plans may be good for saving, but they are terrible for income. 401(k), TSP, 403(b) and other similar plans made it virtually impossible for most employees to answer the most important question a retiree should be able to answer:
"What's Your Income?"
* Source: WHY PENSIONS MATTER The history of defined benefit pension plans in the United States of America, March 2017
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