Ford Motor Company (F), The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (GT), General Motors Company (GM), Prudential Financial Inc (PRU): Are Pensions Dead?

Pensions getting pink slips
But some companies are putting the ax to their pension plans. In an effort to ease its burden, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) recently offered pension buyouts to roughly 100,000 qualifying former workers and retirees who held white-collar positions with the Detroit automaker. And last year, General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) offloaded a large chunk of its liabilities to insurer Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE:PRU) , trimming its pension liabilities by more than $25 billion. By no means did this move completely shuck all of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)’s obligations off the books, but it significantly eliminated a big drag on the automaker’s bottom line.

What employees want
A 2010 survey showed that 84% of Americans think it’s time for new and improved workplace retirement plans. That’s a lot of disgruntled employees. But unfortunately, an overwhelmingly large number of employees have a difficult time planning for their own retirements. According to a recent study conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, “Fifty-seven percent of U.S. workers reported that they have less than $25,000 in total household savings and investments, excluding their homes.” As a result, we’re woefully underprepared for retirement.

In the end, people want piece of mind that they’ll have more dollars than heartbeats. Traditional pension plans of yesteryear gave the security of knowing you’d receive guaranteed income for life. That’s any worker’s dream come true. But these days, having a traditional pension plan doesn’t carry the same sense of security it once did. Instead, the responsibility falls squarely on each of us to plan and save for our own retirements.

The article Are Pensions Dead? originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Nicole Seghetti.

Fool contributor Nicole Seghetti owns shares of UPS. Follow her on Twitter, @NicoleSeghetti. The Motley Fool recommends Ford, General Motors, and UPS and owns shares of Ford.

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