future payment amounts Increasing resources to fund pensions by increasing contribution rates and raising taxes. Recently this has included proposals for and actual confiscation of private pension plans and merging them into government run plans. In the United States, since 1979 there has been a significant shift away from defined benefit plans with a corresponding increase in defined contribution plans, like the 401(k). In 1979, 62% of private sector employees with pension plans of some type were covered by defined benefit plans, with about 17% covered by defined contribution plans. By 2009, these had reversed to approximately 7% and 68%, respectively. , governments were beginning to follow the private sector in this regard. Proposed solutions to the pensions crisis include actions that address the dependency ratio: later retirement, part-time work by the aged, encouraging higher birth rates, or immigration of working-aged persons, actions that take the dependency ratio as given and address the finances – higher taxes and/or a reductions in benefits, the encouragement or reform of private saving to grow the savings rate using methodologies such as mandatory and auto enrollment. Auto-Enrollment Benefits Research proves that employees save more if they are mandatorily or automatically enrolled in savings plans. Laws compelling mandatory contributions are often politically difficult to implement. Auto-Enrolment schemes are easier to implement because employees are enrolled but have the option to drop out, as opposed to being required to take action to opt into the plan or being legally compelled to participate. Most countries that launched mandatory or auto-enrolment schemes did so with the intention of employees saving into defined contribution ("DC") plans. Weaknesses Whilst mandatory & auto-enrolment schemes have been incredibly successful overall, a major problem was created by the fact that they were launched as DC plans with no real consideration given to what happens when plan members reach retirement and need to begin decumulating their savings. As an example, Singapore & Malaysia both launched mandatory enrolment schemes Central Provident Fund or CPF in 1955 and the Employees Provident Fund (Malaysia) or EPF in 1951. After the first generation of employees retired, they typically withdrew their pension balances and spent it. The Singapore Government responded by launching CPF Life which mandatorily annuitised a large portion of the CPF savings with the theory being that 'the government tells you and me, “The reason why I must take $161,000 away from you is because if I