Toward a More Complete History: Johnson & Johnson's 401(k) Nursery

Retirement Annuity and Employment-Based Pension Income

December 2003, Vol. 24, No. 12
Paperback, 16 pp.
PDF, 204 kb
Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2003

Download Notes PDF pdf

Executive Summary

Toward a More Complete History: Johnson & Johnson's 401(k) Nursery—Herbert A. Whitehouse offers a personal recollection of the creation of the first 401(k) plans. A fiduciary consultant and principal of the Whitehouse Law Firm, Woodbridge, NJ, Whitehouse played a key leadership role in designing and implementing Johnson & Johnson's 401(k) plan from 1979 to 1982. He maintains that development of the plan was the result of years of research, tax planning, careful study, and investigation by many people.

Retirement Annuity and Employment-Based Pension Income—Recent data from the March 2003 Current Population Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau confirm earlier findings that gender, marital status, age, education, and other demographic variables have a significant impact on the likelihood of a worker receiving a retirement annuity and/or employment-based pension payment in retirement. There may also be a strong correlation between these variables and the amount of pension income received from employment-based retirement plans.