• Asafum@feddit.nl
    9·
    21 hours ago

    I was listening to a conversation from the London school of economics and this British right winger literally tried to use “the US citizen actually owns more capital within the business sector than us in the UK” as a positive…

    Mother fucker that’s our goddamn retirement gamble. You lucky fuckers have pensions.

  • Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world
    191·
    1 day ago

    We deserve pensions and have really fucked up letting corporations rob us of them, along with all the other things they’ve slowly stolen from the working class.

    That being said, a 401k absolutely can be more than enough to retire on, as long as you start investing young

    • monkeyman69@lemmynsfw.com
      4·
      1 day ago

      How are you Americans defining a pension? As I read it, a 401k is a Defined Contribution plan invested in stocks/shares, with contributions from the employee and employer.

      Which matches a normal UK definition of a DC pension plan, do you only class Defined Benefit schemes as a “pension”?

      • prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works
        182·
        1 day ago

        The 401k offloads the duty of the company to ensure the pension is solvent to another company.

        The other company is a for profit company that intends to make money off of you, but they also take fees so even if they lose your money they get the fees. It’s a relatively no loose for them while you could lose everything.

        All in a vehicle not tied to the original business where the original business can say oh nooooooo so sorry

        It has the benefit of portability but tbh unless you are already “well off” and making enough to live comfortably you are not likely to be able to contribute to your 401k at a level that will afford you a retirement.

        • Passerby6497@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          22 hours ago

          And on top of that, every 401k I’ve ever had has a vesting scheme. So if you’re not with the company 6+ years, they take a portion of your 401k that they contributed, whether or not you quit or they fire you.

          So even the employee match isn’t a guarantee (assuming they match at all).

      • peregrin5@lemm.eeEnglish
        8·
        24 hours ago

        It’s not guaranteed the employer will contribute. Half of them (including mine) do not. It’s simply a tax deferred portfolio in that case.

        • monkeyman69@lemmynsfw.com
          4·
          20 hours ago

          Thanks for the insightful replies, I’m really sorry for you guys living in the “land of the free”, at-will employment, union busting, shitty retirement options etc etc.

          I hope either things improve (doubt) or you can leave. ❤️