Why 401(k) plans aren’t equitable
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 6 June 2024
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A new report out of investment advisor Vanguard finds that more than 40% of employer matches go to the richest 20% of workers — and it’s not just because they have the highest salaries. We’ll discuss the problems with the 401(k) model and hear a potential fix. Plus, St. Louis is grappling with a “real estate doom loop.” How did it get there and how might it get out?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | My name is Lee Hawkins. I've been a journalist for over 25 years. On my new |
| 0:08.8 | podcast, What Happened in Alabama, I get answers to some of the hardest questions about how things |
| 0:15.4 | came to be for many black Americans and the truth that must come before any reconciliation can |
| 0:21.6 | happen. I investigate my family history, my upbringing in |
| 0:26.2 | Minnesota and my father's painful nightmares about growing up in Alabama. What happened |
| 0:32.1 | in Alabama is a new series confronting the cycles of trauma for myself, |
| 0:37.0 | my family, and for many black Americans. |
| 0:40.0 | Listen now. Doors take us to summers away or winter adventures and afternoon getaways. |
| 1:00.0 | Your dedicated Fidelity advisor can help you open those doors by working with you on a comprehensive plan to help you reach your wealth's full potential because doors were meant to be opened. |
| 1:12.0 | Visit fidelity.com slash wealth, investment minimums. doors were meant to be opened. Visit Fidelity Brokerich Services LLC member NYS E SIPC. |
| 1:19.0 | Who wins when employers kick into your retirement savings? |
| 1:25.0 | Not everyone. |
| 1:26.0 | I'm David Brancatche. |
| 1:28.0 | Nearly 60% of American workers do have access to 401k plans |
| 1:32.0 | from their employers to help them save for retirement, but not |
| 1:35.4 | everyone with access to a retirement plan can afford to actually put money in. |
| 1:40.4 | And if someone isn't putting money in, that means they're also missing out on the match that some employers |
| 1:44.8 | provide all of this adds up to unequal outcomes for workers in these plans |
| 1:49.2 | according to Vanguard a report from that investment firm says more than 40% of employer matches go to the richest |
| 1:56.1 | 20% of workers and it's not just because they have the highest salaries. |
| 2:00.7 | Marketplace's Kaye Wells explains. |
| 2:03.0 | A typical 401k plan might look like this. |
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