DEFINED CONTRIBUTION RETIREMENT PLANS IN THE MILITARY
Military members often assume that their financial needs will be covered in retirement. However, the shift toward defined contribution retirement plans has put more burden on veterans, said Doug Nordman, a former member of the U.S. Navy’s submarine force and military financial expert.
“The [Department of Defense] is reducing their retirement expenses by at least 10 percent, but now the burden of saving for retirement lies even more heavily on the service members,” said Nordman. “Just as we’ve learned with civilian 401ks, I doubt that the average young adult has the interest or the discipline, let alone the understanding, to make sure that they contribute enough to their TSP account for the full match.”
