Are private pensions the answer to retirement savings?
When Dr. Dena Davidson graduated from the UC Berkeley School of Optometry in 1995, she thought her income expectations were pretty reasonable.
“I knew being an optometrist was not going to make me rich,” she says, “but I felt I would be fairly comfortable.”
“Comfortable” meant a good salary that would afford her a decent lifestyle and savings for retirement. As a highly trained health care professional, Davidson anticipated future employers would provide the means for her to do this through a company-sponsored 401(k) or Individual Retirement Account. But it has not worked out that way. For more than half of the past 17 years, much of it spent working for small practices or as an independent contractor, Davidson has been among the millions of Americans without access to an employer-sponsored savings plan. (click to continue reading)
