Where did the week go?
Posted on February 6th, 2009 – 4:13 PMBy Kara McGuire
Yes, I haven’t blogged since Monday when I wrote about entertainment deals during the recession.
Frankly, I can’t believe that you opinionated, resourceful people don’t have more ideas for fun in recessionary times. Or are you keeping them to yourself? That’s not very Kit Kittredge of you.
I wish my excuse for not blogging was some tropical vacation, but all I can say is that I was nose to the grindstone working on stories about financial service company execs in Aspen and Arizona, an oft-used credit score that will be unavailable to consumers come Feb. 14, working on next week’s Dollar Duo about setting a budget for Valentine’s Day (Tune in Tuesday to find out whether most people think it’s unromantic or sensible in this economy), and Twittering every dull penny I’ve spent this week.
Now I’m turning my attention to companies that are suspending their 401(k) matches in light of this economy. Big companies are making the choice to cut expenses by cutting their matches at a time when workers are feeling bushwhacked by the stock market. If any of you work for a company that’s suspended its match, let me know.
3 Responses to "Where did the week go?"
With regard to suspension of 401(k) matches in a down economy, this is an example of a real problem with dollar cost averaging — since there are fewer dollars going in when the stock market is down, employees really feel the brunt of the cuts.
Great point Ryan - employers are now determining how many costs they can shift to employees: you name it and it will be cut. Someone’s bonus is based on how much of their co-workers’costs increases…
I don’t see anyone talking about retirement now -
This trend is troubling. I am all for making sure you cover yourself for retirement. Yet the social contract for so long has been for companies to help their employees in retirement. Gone are healthcare for life, defined benefit pensions, and soon to be extinct at too many places - the 401k. Are we going to have to start paying back some of our wages to the companies after we retire?
This is another example of the companies looking at the short term, long term results be darned. My only hope is that these companies will make themselves irrelevant when the economy rebounds, and flounder during good times because of the choices they made during the bad times.
I can guarantee that if my company removed the 401k, even temporarily, I would be gone at the first opportunity. It sends a message that profit is first and foremost, and the employees are only an ends to a means, which is no way of treating anyone.
