I’m a big fan of “Saturday Night Live,” particularly its Weekend Update segment with Seth Meyers. Every now and then, Meyers is joined at the anchor desk by former Weekend Update co-anchor and “SNL” star, Amy Poehler. Together, they host a snark-fest of a segment called “Really?! With Seth & Amy.” If you’ve never seen it,
I channeled “Seth & Amy” when I read
Really?! Really, ICI?! A 10 million participant drop in DB plans — and the decrease in generation-to-generation wealth transfer that’s plausibly aligned with it — is “exaggerated?”
And DC plans don’t reduce retirement readiness? Really?!
Okay, sure. I’ll grant you that today’s workers aren’t going to be eating cat food in retirement solely because many of them are enrolled in DC plans. I’ll further stipulate that the nation’s
But you know what else is a big factor? DC plans.
I mean, really. DC plans are the primary retirement savings vehicle offered to today’s employees, and research shows
But at the exact same time,
Retirement confidence is so low in fact, that for many Americans, their new retirement planning strategy is to
And really, ICI. There have been
This isn’t to say I don’t understand the complicated history behind the defined benefit and defined contribution systems, in terms of workforce demographics/dynamics and employer fiscal challenges. I do. And I know this blog post is a reductionist approach to a complex set of employment circumstances. But you know what else is reductionist? ICI’s findings. Yes, really.
As always, share your thoughts in the comments.
Butler is editor-in-chief of EBA's sister publication, Employee Benefit News. This post originally ran on their Employee Benefit Views blog.