pensions are guaranteed money/contracts, right? so whoever controlled the pensions, or guaranteed them, lost money if investments were bad. but with 401ks, wall street was riskier, because joe the plumber loses $ not necessarily the people that created the recession.
I understand, but pensions that fail can leave pensioners with zero. It's not like there is no risk at all. It's just not an immediately felt action/consequence. Like SabanFan says most of us that qualify for pensions aren't counting on it alone. We still felt the market crash. I've got an IRA, a Roth IRA, and deferred comp 457b in tax-deferred accounts. Plus other stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities and small business income. Even some gold, real estate, and collectibles. I'm not sunk if the pension should fail. The stock market has made money steadily over the last 80 years. The dips are worse for the retired and near-retired. But young folks will be around plenty long enough to confidently reap the long-term benefits of investing. Those suckers that lost everything investing it all with Stanford or Madoff were foolish to put all their eggs in one basket. Diversify the hell out of your 401K and make other investments anyway, because you just never know . . .
