Finding flexibility in pensions

pensions

More than two thirds of defined benefit schemes are closed to new members, but defined contribution schemes can be beneficial in that they are better for flexible benefits and pan-European schemes

Only a few years ago it would have almost been unheard of for a firm to close a defined benefit (DB) or final salary scheme. Now it seems a week does not go by without news of yet another scheme being closed, if not completely, then at the very least to new members. This is regrettable as, in the past, good defined benefit plans created a stable platform from which to provide retirement benefits in older age, and were very helpful in creating a model that was arguably once the envy of the world. Of course life moves on and what worked in the past is not necessarily going to work in the fut...