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They're not comparing Dutch pensions to your defined-contribution plan, but to American defined-benefit pensions, which you don't have. Why not? Because it's es
by ahh 12y ago
They're not comparing Dutch pensions to your defined-contribution plan, but to American defined-benefit pensions, which you don't have. Why not? Because it's essentially illegal for anyone to offer one to you without funding it like the Dutch do...except for government pensions.
Personally, I would prefer, as you do, my own defined-contribution 401K, which I invest heavily into low-cost index funds. But I'd much rather have a Dutch-accounted, actually paid for pension instead of a Calpers-like pension where I have an absolute claim...to money that will never actually get put into the system. The Dutch way is a hell of a lot less bad.
- smutticus 12y agoI read the article again and I think you're right. I think there's some linguistic confusion here. The Dutch word pensioen regularly gets translated into 'retirement account', or somesuch. Whereas, and as you state, there are specific varieties of these in both the NL and USA. As an American who speaks Dutch and worked in the NL for a long time, I regularly played this language game when talking about retirement. Unfortunately TFA wasn't really clear to me WRT to these distinctions. It could have been more explicit.