Freedom to choose unwisely: Congress' misguided decision to leave 401(k) plan participants to their own devices.
Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, March, 2002 by Stabile, Susan J.
INTRODUCTION
As recently as twenty years ago, the primary means of providing retirement income to employees was the traditional defined benefit pension plan, in which qualified professionals subject to fiduciary standards of prudence and diversification make investment decisions. (1) However, employers increasingly provide retirement benefits for their employees through participant-directed 401(k) plans. (2) In such plans, individual plan participants with no specialized investment knowledge make all major decisions subject to no standards whatsoever. (3) These decisions include whether and how much to contribute to the plan, and how to invest plan contributions.
The primary federal statute regulating pension plans, the Employee Retirement Income...
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