The shift to 401(k) plans converted households into stock market participants.

Evidence

At the same time, corporations increasingly shifted employees from defined benefit pensions, which guaranteed an income in retirement, to defined contribution 401(k) plans that were owned by the employee (Hacker 2004). These plans were overwhelmingly invested in the stock market, and by 2000 more than half of American households owned shares, compared to just one in five two decades earlier—another aspect of financialization (Davis 2008). — Gerald F. Davis & Suntae Kim, Financialization of the Economy, 54

Categorization

• XREF: Pairs with the reader’s broader finance knowledge about the democratization of equity ownership and household financialization. — connects to: Households are pushed into financial markets that promise lifestyle advancement. — Neil Fligstein & Adam Goldstein, The Emergence of a Finance Culture in…, 34; The erosion of pensions and benefits pushed households toward commercial financial products. — Neil Fligstein & Adam Goldstein, The Emergence of a Finance Culture in…, 55; Households signal financialization through risk-taking, relaxed debt attitudes, and speculative strategies — Neil Fligstein & Adam Goldstein, The Emergence of a Finance Culture in…, 48 (+2 more)
• SHARE: The one-in-five to more-than-half household share ownership shift over two decades is a crisp stat for someone working on household finance policy.

Related

• The erosion of pensions and benefits pushed households toward commercial financial products. (similarity 0.84)
• Financialization expanded by selling financial products directly to households (similarity 0.81)
• Households are pushed into financial markets that promise lifestyle advancement. (similarity 0.81)
• Financialization forced households to adopt a proactive finance culture beyond just consuming more debt. (similarity 0.79)
• Financial markets reshaped households, corporations, and states over the past 30 years. (similarity 0.79)
• Research on household financialization remains fragmented across separate markets (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• 401(k)s shift retirement risk and funding burden from employer to employee #expands (0.90)
• Financialization expanded by selling financial products directly to households #exemplifies (0.85) — Neil Fligstein & Adam Goldstein, The Emergence of a Finance Culture in…, 10
• Households signal financialization through risk-taking, relaxed debt attitudes, and speculative strategies #corroborates (0.75) — Neil Fligstein & Adam Goldstein, The Emergence of a Finance Culture in…, 48