9.15.2010

Americans short on retirement funds

Retirement on Hold: American Workers $6 Trillion Short

Excerpt:

A new study obtained by CNBC says Americans are $6.6 trillion short of what they need to retire.

The study, conducted by Boston College's Center for Retirement Research, says savings have been squeezed by declines in stock and housing values.

The study was commissioned by Retirement USA, a coalition of organized labor and pension rights advocates that hopes to use the study to push for a more stable retirement system. The group plans to unveil the study at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday.


Comment: I visited the Retirement USA website. In my mind they raise valid issues but do not have good solutions. EG their first proposal:

Excerpt:

Guaranteed Retirement Account Plan: The GRA proposal mandates a contribution of five percent of earnings (up to the Social Security wage base) for all workers – evenly divided between employer and employee. The employee’s share of the contribution would be offset by a $600 refundable tax credit, which would completely cover the contribution obligation of an employee with income up to $24,000. The contributions of husbands and wives would be combined and divided equally between their individual accounts.

The plan would provide for a guaranteed real three percent annual rate of return adjusted for inflation. If actual investment returns are consistently higher than three percent inflation-adjusted over a number of years, the trustees of the plan could distribute a surplus to GRA participants. A balancing fund would be maintained to ride out periods of low investment returns.


Why: No government can make such guarantee - would just become another underfunded program. The government needs to make it easier to save by not penalizing investors and savers.

2 comments:

  1. If we're 6.6 trillion dollars short for retirement, plus 5-10 trillion short on Social Security, I think we need to seriously reconsider the idea of retiring at 65. This represents a monstrous tax on the working, to put it mildly....

    ReplyDelete
  2. My retired brother in law (who is 73) sees a huge generational shift of wealth from the young to the elderly.

    Maybe we should do what France did ... raise the retirement age.

    ReplyDelete

Any anonymous comments with links will be rejected. Please do not comment off-topic