[Cymen]

No, a 401k is not a pension. A pension guarantees a certain amount at specified dates while a 401k is a way of purchasing securities for you to manage your own retirement and is subject to the returns of your investment choices. In other words, a pension is a guarantee of future income in which the pension offerer is on the hook to ensure they have the funds to deliver the pension while the 401k pushes all that responsibility on to you.

My wording is probably off on some of that so an article like this one is probably helpful to flesh out the details:

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2018/06/13/whats-the-differe...

[chrisseaton]

> A pension guarantees a certain amount at specified dates

That's specifically a defined benefit pension - just one type of pension. There are many other types of pension. My pension is basically just a big saving account my employer and I both pay into - it's a defined contribution pension.

[samatman]

According to le Wik, IRAs and 401k plans are indeed defined-contribution pensions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defined_contribution_plan#Unit...