A study of pension plans for small business

Abstract

The general population of the United States is getting older. And more important, the life span of the nation's worker is definitely lengthening, thus increasing the number of those retired. Employment opportunities for the oldster are slim, and as the youth of today does little to provide for the aged, the problem arises of providing security for those in retirement. The obvious answer is the private pension plan. In order to prevent increased governmental intervention, business must undertake the task of providing this security. The challenge is being met, as may be noted from the rising number of pension plans being adopted. However, the cost of providing such security has made it extremely difficult for small business to participate. Since the definition of small business is apparently only an opinion, in this study, it is arbitrarily defined as one which employs 100 workers or less. Small business, according to this definition, comprises99^ of the overall business of the United States. Because of this, the problems of small firms are vitally important to our business structure. This study of material published on pension plans in general and those suitable for small business in particular, has been conducted in an attempt to present to small business an explanation of the pension planning problem. It is hoped that this explanation might prove to be an aid to small business in designing their pension plans.