Once upon a time, in a kinder, gentler work world, companies staged Friday afternoon retirement parties where the boss presented veteran employees with a shiny watch and a handshake as the new retiree fantasized about catching “the big one” or shooting a hole-in-one with all that great leisure time ahead.

Flash forward to 2009, when workers between 56 and 65 have a very different goal — working long enough to recover recent losses sustained in their 401(k)s. Older workers have been particularly hard hit by the financial crisis, primarily because they don’t have the necessary time to earn back the money they lost. more

Now that the stimulus package has been signed, Congress will be turning its attention to a broad range of healthcare issues, one of which could be unwelcome news for both employers and employees: capping the tax exclusion for employment-based health coverage from workers’ taxable income. more

While employees are licking their wounds over big hits in their 401(k) balances, employers are trying to weather their own perfect storm — collapsing operating profits combined with soaring deficits in their defined contribution plans, largely because the bulk of their pension assets have been invested in equities, which have taken a dive. more

I don’t worry about the health of my former employer’s pension plan. I figure that despite recent losses, the money will always be there because the company is a giant and the plan has always been fully funded. And I think the people at that company who have fiduciary responsibility sleep well at night, too.

But not every public or private pension plan is in such good shape, for reasons of plummeting investment returns, poor governance practices, or a combination of the two. more

My last column on the COBRA provision of the House stimulus package struck a nerve with Business Finance readers. But to anybody who hasn’t slept through the last few years, it should come as no surprise. Older workers (who are still shy of Medicare age), who’ve always depended on the employer-based healthcare system and who’ve lost or fear they’ll lose their jobs, are running scared. They face a triple whammy: They’re unlikely to get another job that provides health insurance, can’t qualify for or afford private insurance — and often can’t afford COBRA’s current high costs.

But in the Senate version of the stimulus package, which was cleared for final voting today, the COBRA provision is somewhat different than the House bill. Still, some form of COBRA subsidization is likely to be in the final legislation because, according to Capital Checkup, it’s less controversial than other provisions of the stimulus package. more