Traditional pension plans are pretty rare. But here’s who still has them and how they work

CNN ^ | Sep 7, 2023 | Jeanne Sahadi

[Wuli]

There is a third kind of pension plan ignored by the article. That third kind is a traditional defined contribution plan, not a 401k, and much older than the 401k.

The traditional older defined contribution plan is a managed pension plan from contributions to retirement, but the pension benefit is directly related to only two things (primarily) - the value of the accumlations (contributions and earnings) in the account, and the expected lifetime of the person. Simple math from those two things alone determine the benefit (essemtiallY). But unlike the 401k, it is an account managed by the pension fund, not the employer (per se) and not an account that can be withdrawn entirely and moved somewhere else by the individual.