WorldCom, Enron, who will be next? Pension plans are no longer safe. To work all those years, only to be rewarded with no future. I’m no financial expert, but I do have a strong sense of right verse wrong, good verse bad.

Instead of companies setting employee minds at ease, that their retirement packages were not in jeopardy, after the WorldCom and Enron scandals, it was too quite. That should have been a sign of things to come. The results are just now showing up.

Employees of large companies are finding their pension plans terminated and are being redirected to the 401K plan. For those employess the 401K was originally an additional supplement, to the pension plan, for anyone wishing to accumulate additional retirement funds. The 401K plan, by itself, as stated by one financial expert, on a particular New Jersey news channel, will not be enough for retirement. The right thing that should have occurred was to grandfather the existing pension plan for the existing employees. Any new employees should have been introduced into the standalone 401K plan. Of course, the stock holders are happy and none of the executives appear to have been impacted. Then they try to make you feel good about being screwed. How naive do they think people are?

How can companies get away with something like this? Was this one reason the Bush Administration was pushing for the changes in the Social Security program? Too provide an opportunity for additional savings, with individual investments choices. If so, I appreciate the effort, if not they need to step in and stop this. What I don’t appreciate and question, why were the Democrats so negative on Americans trying to get a better retirement outcome for themselves. Let see, less money for retirement, means a bigger need of support from the government. That means bigger government is needed to help the little poor people who can’t help themselves. To make it work, they will need more taxes. Everything Democrats like.

Let’s take the politics out of the picture. Let’s focus on what you, the individual needs to do. If you have outstanding debt, pay them off as fast as possible. In American society today, having debt is considered normal and in many cases encouraged. This type of thinking needs to be eliminated. Unless it’s an emergency, if you can’t afford something, don’t buy it, save for it instead. You will need the additional money from the debt payments,to put them into some form of investment for the future. Also seek out a reliable financial consultant and some seminars.

Everyone needs to be more proactive in planning for their own future. The days of working for your pension are long over.

This Xombyte was revised December 17, 2006.