Classic car aficionados recall their sleek, innovative designs, but the brands are also a reminder of another bygone era: the traditional defined benefit pension. Their pension plans were terminated, leaving thousands of workers without their expected benefits. That, along with other pension plan failures, prompted efforts to make retirement savings safer, culminating in federal legislation that has shaped much of the current retirement benefit landscape. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, which was signed into law in 1974 by President Gerald R. Ford, marks its 50th anniversary this year. It also created the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a federally sponsored insurance fund that backstops failing pension plans.

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Persons: Gerald R Organizations: Studebaker, Packard, Guaranty Corporation