This may not be a functioning program in the next 30-50 years, or will have extended the minimum ages for payout that they won't be viable.
2,3,4.
All examples of the replacements for traditional Pension programs, which are what we should have. Putting the onus to not only save hard, but to invest wisely in the time horizons necessary for something like retirement in the market is, in my opinion, not workable and combined with the complete lack of education around money management in public schools makes it, again imho, just down right cruel.
I'd like to see the return of heavily regulated pension programs and unions for many, if not most professions.
The traditional pension systems (defined benefit programs) have turned out to be very vulnerable to insolvency. Hence the transition to defined contribution programs, like 401ks and IRAs.
SS is a defined benefit program. Its insolvency is a problem with all such systems, including the ones you advocate for.
Traditional pension plans should work better than individual retirement investments because they pool participants. Individuals have to invest enough to get the payout for their longest reasonable life expectancy. A pension fund can rely on statistics and not be funded enough for every participant to live the longest time.
Emphasis on the word should. Humans are bad at managing huge amounts of money.
private pensions are typically not adjusted for inflation. you're trading a slice of an uncertain economy for a guaranteed amount of an uncertain currency. pensions could be inflation-adjusted, but then you have to trust that the official inflation figures actually track your personal expenses. it's a tradeoff either way; no one can guarantee that there will be enough surplus to support the non-working population several decades in the future. but at least 401k upside is uncapped.
> Traditional pension plans should work better than individual retirement investments because they pool participants
I don't see any particular reason why they would. Lots of individuals do much better with their investments than bureaucrats do. Also, there are many "fire and forget" index funds available for those with little investment skill.
Defined contribution plans have been an abject failure.
Quite simply, the guise of individual exceptionalism and the illusion of financial control was used to justify the shift away from pensions, which shareholders took profit from what would’ve been pension contributions, and compounded by stagnant wages, a substantial amount of workers were left with nothing.
Which never were given to many people (so SS was the biggest source of income, even then), were insolvent, and make little sense for the mobility of a modern job market. I'd much rather get paid more, put that money into multiple places and plans I control, so if my company folds, I am not left with nothing.
And the historical evidence is that pensions were not what people now assume they were.
Probably the fact that some of the worse financial disasters undergone by city/county governments have been because of pension obligations.
(Sarcasm to be clear, though I think something between a full pension and entirely on the worker is what we need). Defined benefit is too easy to abuse and defined contribution has weaknesses, too.
1. social security
2. 401ks
3. IRAs of various types
4. simply buy & hold stocks
These are already in place.