Looks like Boeing has joined the many companies who are de-emphasizing traditional pensions in favor of 401k plans. A company news release says that nonunion workers hired after Jan. 1, 2009, will join a new defined-contribution savings plan. Boeing will seed…

Much of the retirement debate has focused on shoring up Social Security, saving the traditional pension plan and getting more workers to open Individual Retirement Accounts.  Those all are important discussions, but both a new book and a McKinsey study point…

David A. Noyes & Co., a Chicago investment firm, is conducting a fascinating online poll to select the greatest financial innovation of the past century.

Trouble is, most of the choices are pretty pedestrian. I ruled out 401ks and IRAs as…

As the owner of both a Roth IRA and a conventional (that is, tax-deductible) 401k account, I’m an avid reader of articles on the relative merits of saving on taxes now vs. having an account that is tax-free forever. Three Boston…

“Leakage” threatens people’s ability to retire on their 401k savings, but, according to a new GAO study, some of the leaks apparently  are being plugged. The term refers to people’s tendency to cash out their retirement savings when they switch jobs.…

A new study, by two University of Illinois professors and a Federal Reserve Board economist, attempts to look at how 401k participants respond to changes in the menu of funds they’re offered. They find that, the more choices offered in a certain…

Whatever else last year’s pension law may have done, it didn’t save the defined-benefit pension plan. According to a new survey by Watson Wyatt,  only 58 of the Fortune 100 companies had such a pension plan last year, down from 63…

A union-backed think tank says Illinois shouldn’t think about dumping its traditional pension plans in favor of  a 401k-style account. The group, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, issued a study last week saying that  a 401k-style defined-contribution plan would…

According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), St. Louis attorney Jerome Schlichter has added Fidelity Investments and Deere & Co. to the list of companies he is suing over fee disclosures in 401k plans. Fidelity manages Deere’s 401k, and according…

With most private-sector  workers relying on the 401k as their primary retirement plan, those plans’ fees are becoming a controversial issue. When I wrote a column about 401k fees, I mentioned lawsuits on the subject by St. Louis attorney Jerome…