On Sat, 14 May 2005 03:42:16 GMT, "Dave Stadt"
wrote:

I work for the State of California, have a defined-benefit pension,
and for sure they take money from my salary to help fund the pension.

That must be a reassuring position to be in, giving your retirement money to
the State of California. Hope you are building a nest egg separate from
what you are giving to California.

And then they use it for political purposes!

Most people contribute to their pensions. Social Security is also
defined-benefit, though it's Congress that gets to define it The
difference is that with defined-benefit, it's all based on a promise,
whether or not the promise can be fulfilled.

A defined-contribution plan has no promise, and usually the worker
owns it a lot sooner. The really important part is that he can take it
from job to job, or into self-employement, which is not true of most
private-sector defined-benefit plans. Since it's based on real assets
that belong to the worker, the payout depends on the performance of
those assets.

In short, it's what some politiciians like to call "a risky scheme,"
but not half so risky as depending on the promises of companies who
may be out of business by the time you retire, and of congressmen who
will be retired (on your taxpayer dollar) much more comfortably than
you will be.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

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