Reply #38: Playing the lottery for your retirement needs

[54anickel]

I really hate the smug tone toward the end of this article. They are messing with people's lives here, and this guys answer is "sucks to be you - look for a different job". Guess I'm in a nasty mood this morning.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/3700750.html

Should you have a lottery ticket in your 401(k)?

The question came to mind as I completed an examination of the 3,438 publicly traded companies with 10-year records in the Morningstar database. If you worked for a winning company — one that had stunning stock market returns over the last 10 years — you could be wealthy already. If you worked for a losing company — one that had poor stock market returns over the same period — your employer's contribution has either gone nowhere or disappeared.

Your retirement hangs on the difference.

snip>

Now, as The Great Reneging builds momentum, younger workers face frozen pensions or no pension at all. Corporate managements are shrinking the entire structure of employee benefits. Young workers also face uncertain Social Security benefits. Worse, they face the possibility that their employment taxes will increase even as their future Social Security benefits decrease.

Result? A lot of retirement security — too much — is riding on your corporate lottery ticket.

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