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In a (glowing) article about IBM's replacing pension with a new, improved 401K, I found these scary statements about the future

Posted by ty97 Jul 16 '09, 07:27

MacDonald hopes someday to meld retirement and health benefits into compensation, leading to a performance-based 401k through which top performers could be rewarded with better benefits. Given IBM's size and clout, any trail it blazes in this area could alter the retirement landscape dramatically.

...............

MacDonald won't go into details about what such a plan might look like and stresses that the concept remains futuristic. It could mean that IBM would take all of its benefits, whether retirement or health, and turn them into defined-contribution plans, so they look more like compensation. Once those benefits could be compared, married and single employees could be treated the same, as could workers with different financial issues. Employees would get more of what they needed -- if you didn't need dependent health care, perhaps you could get extra retirement benefits -- and top-performing employees could be rewarded with additional benefits.

Responses:

To be honest, the whole concept of an employer providing health benefits to its employees very strange. - Roger More Jul 16, 07:31 38
- You're Canadian, right? Most employers here provide extended health benefits. - Subversive Jul 16, 07:46 13
  - he's a damn dirty australian is what he is! stealing our health benefits! -- nm - mafic Jul 16, 07:47 11
    - Yep. In Australia there's a Medicare system, but if you earn over a certain amount ($40,000 or so) you have to purchase private health insurance. - Roger More Jul 16, 07:50 10
      - You are only "required" (ie, taxed extra if you don't get it) to get private hospital cover. Non-hospital cover is entirely optional. nm - ralph wiggum Jul 16, 07:54
      - the private health insurance is cheap as chips too. even for the good stuff. -- nm - mafic Jul 16, 07:52 8
        
        Are you pissed as a parrot? nm - ralph wiggum Jul 16, 07:56 3
        
        he's allergic to alliteration. -- nm - Reagen Jul 16, 07:57 2
        
        why do people never talk about consonance? -- nm - zork Jul 16, 08:19 1
        
        They are inconsonant. -- nm - (500) Days of Dano Jul 16, 08:20
        
        "cheap as chips" - it's really rubbing off on you -- nm - Roger More Jul 16, 07:55 2
        
        heh. I know. - mafic Jul 16, 08:02
        
        and yeah - because the private health insurers have basically been given an oligopoly, government regulation becomes more stringent -- nm - Roger More Jul 16, 07:56
        
        I'll take dill pickle. -- nm - Reagen Jul 16, 07:54
  - Yep, this is true. -- nm - Beryllium (iPhone) Jul 16, 07:47
- It's all we know here. If you're employer doesn't offer benefits (they are not free, btw, but subsidized), then you don't get any. -- nm - ty97 Jul 16, 07:37 14
  - I think that's why healthcare is so difficult to reform (anywhere). It's seen as too important to experiment with, and people like the familiar. -- nm - Roger More Jul 16, 07:51 1
    - or, here at least, our entire health care system seems to be to get someone else to pay for it. - znufrii Jul 16, 07:53
  - [deleted] 11
    - my family plan is damn near a grand a month through work. -- nm - groiny Jul 16, 07:41 5
      - This is why I scoff when people bitch about Canadian income taxes. - Reagen Jul 16, 07:44 4
        
        Exactly. -- nm - Don Homer Jul 16, 07:48
        
        granted, I have a very good insurance plan now..... - groiny Jul 16, 07:46 2
        
        Is the hoopital where Cindy Lou was born? -- nm - Diva Jul 16, 07:53 1
        
        hoopty. nm -- nm - groiny Jul 16, 07:54
    - You have to be in a certain poverty level for MA to insure you. And you earn too much money you lose it. -- nm - lileve Jul 16, 07:40 4
      - and a living wage is probably considered too much money. -- nm - lileve Jul 16, 07:47
      - [deleted] 2
        
        In MA if you can afford it but don't have it they put a fine against your income taxes. -- nm - lileve Jul 16, 07:46 1
        
        if the state thinks you can afford it rather. -- nm - lileve Jul 16, 07:52
- Henry Ford started it. -- nm - lileve Jul 16, 07:31 8
  - The whole concept was started by the Germans during the start of the Industrial Revolution... - Mel Profit Jul 16, 07:38 6
    - People have been screaming about socialized education. There have been efforts to varying degrees to get rid of the Department of Education. -- nm - (500) Days of Dano Jul 16, 07:42 5
      - While I agree this is true... - Mel Profit Jul 16, 07:43 4
        
        Aren't vouchers the first step towards free market education? -- nm - (500) Days of Dano Jul 16, 07:47 2
        
        perhaps...you have a point. -- nm - Mel Profit Jul 16, 08:00
        
        [deleted]
        
        Education is considered a human right. Health care is not sadly. -- nm - lileve Jul 16, 07:46
  - well... there you go! -- nm - Roger More Jul 16, 07:32
link to article overall, for those interested. It's titled "IBM reinvents the 401k -- (link) - ty97 Jul 16, 07:29
yo, my 401k went *bananas* quarter. up 16%, now up 10% on the year. - TFox Jul 16, 07:28 2
- this shit is bananas. nm -- nm - groiny Jul 16, 07:33
- (insert "last") -- nm - TFox Jul 16, 07:29

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In a (glowing) article about IBM's replacing pension with a new, improved 401K, I found these scary statements about the future

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