Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The 401 k plan is the best thing to come along for retirement savings for private employees. Some even take to automatically enrolling employees. But the big problem is that nearly half of workers do not have access. Some States are trying to set up plans to cover most workers, but Congress is threatening to stop them. So, to encourage workers to save for retirement, how can we get their employers to offer the 401k or similar plans? Don't give me the line that everyone I theoretically able to set up their own.
I'm sure there will be responses like, "small businesses just don't feel like setting them up." or "retirement plans, like work itself, are privileges not rights." But those are distractions from the question.
Last edited by pvande55; 05-11-2017 at 07:30 PM..
Reason: Punctuation, add paragraph
Employers get to do whatever they want in their company (within the law). Your option is to choose to work for an employer that offers a retirement plan.
The 401 k plan is the best thing to come along for retirement savings for private employees. Some even take to automatically enrolling employees. But the big problem is that nearly half of workers do not have access. Some States are trying to set up plans to cover most workers, but Congress is threatening to stop them. So, to encourage workers to save for retirement, how can we get their employers to offer the 401k or similar plans? Don't give me the line that everyone I theoretically able to set up their own.
I'm sure there will be responses like, "small businesses just don't feel like setting them up." or "retirement plans, like work itself, are privileges not rights." But those are distractions from the question.
Personally, I believe low-wage employers should be prohibited from enrolling their employees in retirement plans. I would feel offended if my employer enrolled me in a plan to which I cannot afford to contribute.
I'm sure there will be responses like, "small businesses just don't feel like setting them up..."
If the process of setting up a 401k plan was less complicated for the employer, I suspect we'd see more small employers willing to offer one. Make them more like an IRA, but with the ability for the employer to deposit their match directly into it.
If the process of setting up a 401k plan was less complicated for the employer, I suspect we'd see more small employers willing to offer one. Make them more like an IRA, but with the ability for the employer to deposit their match directly into it.
Do employers not have the ability to do this now? If not, how are employer matching funds added to an employee 401(k)?
Do employers not have the ability to do this now? If not, how are employer matching funds added to an employee 401(k)?
Sure they can match into an employee's 401k. The point that I was making is that (as far as I understand it) a 401k plan is fairly cumbersome for an employer to set up. Contrast that to an IRA, which a person can open in five minutes or so online using one of any number of a huge array of banks/brokerages.
Make the process of setting up a 401k plan easier for employers, and more employers are likely to offer one (with or without a match).
Just set up an IRA or Roth-IRA. You can do this through essentially any retail bank, discount broker or full-service broker.
In my ideal world, the IRA and Roth IRA (with extremely generous annual contribution limits) would be the sole retirement savings vehicle apart from pensions and SS, and employers would deposit their annual contribution directly into their employee's IRA accounts just as they do direct deposit with paychecks into employee checking accounts. Why do we need a confusing alphabet soup of retirement savings vehicles?
Last edited by Aredhel; 05-12-2017 at 10:48 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
