Pension Rights Center: Publications | Reports

Reports on Defined Benefit vs.
Defined Contribution Pension Plans

A Better Bang for the Buck: The Economic Efficiencies of DB Plans (National Institute on Retirement Security, August 2008). This report finds that a defined benefit (DB) pension plan can deliver the same level of retirement income to a group of employees at 46% lower cost than an individual defined contribution (DC) account. The report finds that certain built-in features of DB plans enable the systems to be the most fiscally efficient way to provide retirement income.

Patience is a Virtue: Asset Allocation Patterns of DB & DC Plans, (National Institute on Retirement Security, July 2008). This Issue Brief examines how both defined benefit and defined contribution plans invest their assets and how these investments have changed over time.

Retirement Readiness: What Difference Does A Pension Make? (National Institute on Retirement Security, May 2008). This brief reviews the evidence on the role defined benefit pensions play in ensuring that older Americans have the resources they need to be self-sufficient in retirement.

Investment Returns: Defined Benefit vs. 401(k) Plans (Boston College Center for Retirement Research, September 2006). This report compares and analyzes investment returns from defined benefit pension plans to those of 401(k) plans and IRAs from 1998 to 2004.

The Value of Defined Benefit Plans (American Academy of Actuaries, July 2006). This brief discusses the differences between defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans, what they mean to long-term retirement goals, and ways to achieve parity between the two types of plans.

Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Plans: A History, Market Overview and Comparative Analysis (IFEBP, February 2006). A basic primer on the differences between defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans.

Click the links below to read reports on the following topics: