Nevin Adams, Executive Editor for Plan Sponsor.com and Plan Sponsor magazine, has a “2005 To-Do List” for the industry here. Dittos for this item on the list:
Rethink/rebuild the three-legged stool. Once upon a time, this nation had a philosophy for helping ensure retirement security predicated on the notion of government programs (like Social Security) working in tandem with private savings and employer-sponsored programs as a three-legged stool of support. We?re at least talking about Social Security these days (well, some are), but accounting/financing rules and burdensome regulations continue to whittle away at the promise of defined benefit plans. Meanwhile, what used to be additional support?the defined contribution plan?is increasingly the only employer-sponsored option. Worse, in many cases, it appears to have supplanted the personal savings leg of the stool. Maybe we don?t need three legs on that stool; maybe we need four, but it is time we quit carving the legs individually and realized we actually will have to sit on this stool one day soon.