Pension benefits are important for providing retirement security to teachers, but their value goes beyond that. Teacher pay often is lower when compared to others with similar educational credentials, and solid benefits can help close that compensation gap. Additionally, pensions act as magnets for keeping career teachers in the classroom. Pension benefits are accumulated over the course of a worker’s career, with benefits paid out at the end of a career and delivered as reliable monthly income that won’t run out. In contrast, 401(k)-style retirement plans lack that retention effect because there’s not an incentive to stay and earn that dependable monthly check in retirement.
New Research Finds Social Security Has a Strong Economic Impact
New research from the National Institute on Retirement Security finds that Social Security benefits play a powerful role in supporting the U.S. economy.
Is America’s Retirement System Failing Future Retirees?
In a Forbes column, NIRS Executive Director Dan Doonan writes that as America ages and income inequality deepens, concerns about retirement security are mounting. Some voices, however, indicate that retirement concerns are exaggerated, relying on data indicating that older Baby Boomers have largely fared well in retirement. But new research published in The Journal of Retirement […]
