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Retirement weary?

Even as pension funds continue to recoup losses and, in some cases, slowly crawl into positive territory, aspiring retirees everywhere are still feeling some ambivalence about the plausibility of the prospect of retirement. In fact, some pension funds, looking to reclaim their losses as well as a sense of security, filed suit against those who peddled mortgage-backed securities (which have earned the appropriate moniker “toxic assets”) about which there has been so much recent discussion. In light of this pervasive uncertainty regarding retirement, the question of, “Which jobs come with the best retirement benefits,” has become extremely relevant. Emily Brandon of U.S. News & World Report answered this question, and proclaimed that jobs in the following fields come with the best retirement benefits:

  • Utility companies;
  • Aircraft manufacturing;
  • Colleges and universities;
  • Insurance carriers;
  • Transportation and warehousing;
  • Construction;
  • Information;
  • And, surprisingly enough (and perhaps ironically), credit intermediation.

What are the worst? According to Brandon, “[t]he smallest retirement benefits are paid to those with service jobs.” At the bottom of the rankings were retail employees who “received just 34 cents per hour [towards retirement] in 2009” and “food service” employees whose “employers contributed an average of only 9 cents an hour toward 401(k) and pension benefits.” While I cannot recommend that you sue the Royal Bank of Scotland (which is now majority –owned by UK citizens) for its financial ineptitude, what I can recommend is that when looking for a position you take your future into consideration, and think long and hard about your retirement!

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