New York Plans the Next Pension Crisis

New York City is contemplating setting up a pension plan for private workers. Details are sketchy -- what it's actually doing is proposing to appoint an advisory board to study the matter -- but there are basically two ways the city could go. Either it can set up a defined-benefit plan, like a traditional pension, in which you get so much money a month in retirement, or it can set up a defined-contribution plan, in which you contribute money to a tax-advantaged account and can access those savings, and any investment returns, when you retire.