Employees need to be proactive in health care, retirement

Retirement and health care risks and responsibilities shift into the hands of employees. Read the excerpt below. Fort Worth Business Press BY LESLIE WIMMER November 02, 2009 As a growing number of companies trim employee benefits to save money, employers with attractive retirement and health care packages are expected to become more competitive. Employers have gradually shifted more health care and retirement responsibilities to employees since the 1990s, area finance and business experts say, and the continuing shift is beginning to change the way employees plan their finances and careers. Corporate benefit programs began taking hold several years ago with labor union wage negotiations, said Stuart Youngblood, a professor of management at Texas Christian University. About 25 years ago, retirement benefits began to shift from a defined benefit package – such as yearly or monthly payments from employers to retirees – to employers providing defined contributions to employee retirement accounts. Read the entire article: http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=11285