Employment Survey: What’s Old May Be New Again
Seems people have a penchant for going “Back to the Future.”
“Old” ideas get a fresh coat of paint and are recycled for the next generation who embrace them as their own.
Just think of all the successful TV shows that focus on a particular historical period in time but are produced a decade or more after the actual era:
- The Roy Rogers Show
- The Untouchables
- Happy Days
- That 70’s Show
- Mad Men
Whether drawn by nostalgia or simply a re-evaluation of something that once was taken for granted, our gravitation toward these and similar shows teaches us much about our values.
Not unlike the the young worker in post-Great Recession America when it comes to retirement security as it turns out.
According to Charles Wallace, writing for Daily Finance in his article “Why Young Workers Want a Good Old-Fashioned Pension,” a recent Towers Watson survey revealed that young workers value certainty more than was previously believed.
” . . . the percentage of young workers who cited their pension
plan as a reason for staying with their current employer
jumped from 28% two years ago to 43% now.”
Charles Wallace,
Daily Finance
Pensions, once a staple in corporate America that lured so many young people to a particular employer were shunned in recent years as employees sought self-directed riches in the pension-replacement retirement vehicle, the 401(k), which came to dominate the employer retirement landscape.
But the statistics on defined contribution plans like 401(k)s reveal that they have been an overall poor substitute for pensions. The average 401(k) balance is only about $60,000 according to the Center for Economic Policy and Research.
In addition, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), the share of employees in a traditional defined benefit pension plan has fallen from 62% in 1979 to just 7% in 2009.
The Towers Watson survey suggests this trend may have bottomed out and may soon be on the rise again.
The world seems to have become far less certain these past few years. It’s little wonder then that people are again longing for some good old-fashioned security.
Speaking of which, we can help!
In addition to our core business of providing structured settlement products and services to a broad spectrum of clients across the country, our firm regularly assists clients looking for other types of highly secure, guaranteed cash flows. We can help you with:
- 401(k) and IRA conversions to annuities:
- “Pensionizing” your nest egg;
- Structuring Attorney Fees;
- Structuring Sales of Appreciated Assets;
- Structuring Realtor and Business Broker Commissions;
- Annuitizing Savings;
- Structuring Celebrity Endorsements
For additional information on all we offer relative to retirement security beyond structured settlements, please check out some of our archived blogs and newsletters on these topics.
Wishing you continued success, thank you for the opportunity to be of service. Please call anytime we can help.
Posted: April 28, 2011 | by dan | Category: Articles, Blog, Newsletter, Retirement, Structured Settlements