[KarlInOhio]

The writing has been on the wall about underfunded pension plans way before the millennials started hitting adulthood. Cities and states just over-promised on retirement payments without putting enough money away for the future, making overly optimistic predictions on stock returns to cover themselves.

Right now, considering the way both companies and governments come and go (or at least shrink in tax paying population), I wouldn't consider any defined benefit pension plan to be safe. Only a fully funded defined contribution plan with the assets completely separate from the employer's is good. Sure, it would be nice to be guaranteed 50% of your pay for the rest of your life, but that guarantee is worthless. If I can't cash out and take the account value with me it is in danger of someone else taking it from me.

[a fool in paradise]

A pension of 50% of your pay? Governments have been promising 90% of your pay for life. And so for every employee paid for doing a job right now, they are paying 2 or 3 more.