The Philadelphia Inquirer Personal Finance Column.

Byline: Jeff Brown

Feb. 10--The most dramatic Enron news last week showed former executives invoking the Fifth Amendment or telling Congress that, gee, they hadn't known anything was wrong. But the issue that's probably most important in the long run for millions of Americans was addressed at a less glamorous House hearing on 401(k) plans.

The Bush administration, which has been slow to acknowledge the importance of Enron-related issues, has proposed rule changes to address the systemic flaws that contributed to Enron employees' estimated $1.2 billion in losses. At best, the president's proposals are a baby step in the right direction.

His main proposal involves company stock held in 401(k)s. Enron, like many other corporations, made its matching contribution in company stock and required that employees hold the shares until they turned 50. The president would allow employees to sell their company stock after being enrolled in a plan for three years.

For many employees, this could solve the problem. In a typical plan, the employer's annual match can be as large as 3 percent of the employee's annual gross salary. With a three-year rule, a company's restriction on sales would tie up only three years' contributions totaling at most 9…