Is There a Retirement Crisis? An Exploration of the Current Debate

Is There a Retirement Crisis? An Exploration of the Current Debate PDF Author: George A. (Sandy) Mackenzie
Publisher: CFA Institute Research Foundation
ISBN: 1952927013
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 68

Get Book

Book Description
Many quantitative empirical studies of retirement preparedness find that a substantial number of US households face a potential financial crisis at some point in the future. This monograph provides a critical survey of the most important and best-known of these studies, and it also examines the prospects for other countries. Studies of retirement preparedness vary in complexity and sophistication, and as a result, researchers offer a wide range of forecasts, with some warning of a severe crisis and others being more skeptical about the likely scale of the problem. This monograph appraises the quality of surveyed studies by determining how well each deals with key conceptual issues and how adequately each addresses principal risks. Going beyond the circumstances in the United States, the monograph also provides international perspective by comparing the “macro” and institutional aspects of pension and health systems in a group of eight industrialized countries, including the United States.

Is There a Retirement Crisis? An Exploration of the Current Debate

Is There a Retirement Crisis? An Exploration of the Current Debate PDF Author: George A. (Sandy) Mackenzie
Publisher: CFA Institute Research Foundation
ISBN: 1952927013
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 68

Get Book

Book Description
Many quantitative empirical studies of retirement preparedness find that a substantial number of US households face a potential financial crisis at some point in the future. This monograph provides a critical survey of the most important and best-known of these studies, and it also examines the prospects for other countries. Studies of retirement preparedness vary in complexity and sophistication, and as a result, researchers offer a wide range of forecasts, with some warning of a severe crisis and others being more skeptical about the likely scale of the problem. This monograph appraises the quality of surveyed studies by determining how well each deals with key conceptual issues and how adequately each addresses principal risks. Going beyond the circumstances in the United States, the monograph also provides international perspective by comparing the “macro” and institutional aspects of pension and health systems in a group of eight industrialized countries, including the United States.

Is There a Retirement Crisis? an Exploration of the Current Debate

Is There a Retirement Crisis? an Exploration of the Current Debate PDF Author: George A. (Sandy) Mackenzie
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781952927003
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book

Book Description


Falling Short

Falling Short PDF Author: Charles D. Ellis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190218916
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book

Book Description
The United States faces a serious retirement challenge. Many of today's workers will lack the resources to retire at traditional ages and maintain their standard of living in retirement. Solving the problem is a major challenge in today's environment in which risk and responsibility have shifted from government and employers to individuals. For this reason, Charles D. Ellis, Alicia H. Munnell, and Andrew D. Eschtruth have written this concise guide for anyone concerned about their own - and the nation's - retirement security. Falling Short is grounded in sound research yet written in a highly accessible style. The authors provide a vivid picture of the retirement crisis in America. They offer the necessary context for understanding the nature and size of the retirement income shortfall, which is caused by both increasing income needs-due to longer lifespans and rising health costs-and decreasing support from Social Security and employer-sponsored pension plans. The solutions are to work longer and save more by building on the existing retirement system. To work longer, individuals should plan to stay in the labor force until age 70 if possible. To save more, policymakers should shore up Social Security's long-term finances; make all 401(k) plans fully automatic, with workers allowed to opt out; and ensure that everyone has access to a retirement savings plan. Individuals should also recognize that their house is a source of saving, which they can tap in retirement through downsizing or a reverse mortgage.

Social Insecurity

Social Insecurity PDF Author: James W. Russell
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807012564
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book

Book Description
How 401(k)s have gutted retirement security, from charging exorbitant hidden fees to failing to replace the income of traditional pensions Named one of PW's Top 10 for Business & Economics A retirement crisis is looming. In 2008, as the 401(k) fallout rippled across the country, horrified holders watched 25 percent of their funds evaporate overnight. Average 401(k) balances for those approaching retirement are too small to generate more than $4,000 in annual retirement income, and experts predict that nearly half of middle-class workers will be poor or near poor in retirement. But long before the recession, signs were mounting that few people would ever be able to accumulate enough wealth on their own to ensure financial security later in life. This hasn’t always been the case. Each generation of workers since the nineteenth century has had more retirement security than the previous generation. That is, until 1981, when shaky 401(k) plans began replacing traditional pensions. For the last thirty years, we’ve been advised that the best way to build one’s nest egg is to heavily invest in 401(k)-type programs, even though such plans were originally designed to be a supplement to rather than the basis for retirement. This financial experiment, promoted by neoliberals and aggressively peddled by Wall Street, has now come full circle, with tens of millions of Americans discovering that they would have been better off under traditional pension plans long since replaced. As James W. Russell explains, this do-it-yourself retirement system—in which individuals with modest incomes are expected to invest large sums of capital in order to reap the same rewards as high-end money managers—isn’t working. Social Insecurity tells the story of a massive and international retirement robbery—a substantial transfer of wealth from everyday workers to Wall Street financiers via tremendously costly hidden fees. Russell traces what amounts to a perfect swindle, from its ideological origins at Milton Friedman’s infamous Chicago School to its implementation in Chile under Pinochet’s dictatorship and its adoption in America through Reaganomics. Enraging yet hopeful, Russell offers concrete ideas on how individuals and society can arrest this downward spiral.

Wealth After Work

Wealth After Work PDF Author: William G. Gale
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815739354
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 406

Get Book

Book Description
Pensions and retirement saving plans have helped millions of households build financial security. But tens of millions of people have been left behind, without access to these wealth accumulation vehicles. For many others, the plans they have do not ensure financial security in retirement. The problems that underlie these failures can be addressed. This book proposes concrete, practical ways to make dependable retirement income accessible for all Americans—not just those with means. Individual accounts have eclipsed traditional pensions as the primary vehicle for retirement saving in the United States—a shift that underlies many sources of retirement insecurity. The 401(k) plan and similar accounts have increased financial security for many people but have done nothing for millions more. Many of those who do have such plans are burdened with the need to make numerous saving, investment, and withdrawal decisions that stress their financial acumen. Financial advice that is unbiased, unconflicted, and affordable is often difficult to find. Managing wealth in retirement—especially the need to convert retirement savings into steady income—poses significant challenges that current financial instruments and practices do not adequately address. Economic downturns like the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic increase financial insecurity and make addressing these issues more urgent. Written by noted experts in the field, Wealth After Work offers practical solutions that address these concerns. The proposals show how policymakers can help all Americans gain access to retirement savings accounts, obtain better information about their savings choices, and better manage their wealth in retirement. By proposing solutions that build on, rather than replace the existing system, the book provides a nuanced, practical guide to reform that would benefit all Americans.

From Here to Security: How Workplace Savings Can Keep America's Promise

From Here to Security: How Workplace Savings Can Keep America's Promise PDF Author: Robert L. Reynolds
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 1260116085
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book

Book Description
The practical, nonpartisan guide to making our retirement savings systems work for America’s people, our economy, and the nation at large At a time of fierce political divisiveness, From Here to Security is a refreshingly balanced, non-ideological guide to solving what may be our nation’s most pressing policy challenge: achieving retirement security for all. A pioneer of the 401(k) system, Robert L. Reynolds eschews radical calls for throwing out the 401(k) entirely and creating a new government-run savings system. Our best course, he shows, is to build on what we have: a flexible, dynamic private-public system of Social Security and more robust workplace savings. From Here to Security provides a clear, powerful new approach to solving America’s retirement challenge – based on facts, data, and Reynolds’ decades of experience. While fear-mongers claim that the U.S. retirement system is on the verge of collapse; Reynolds shows why our system is actually the envy of the world. But From Here to Security is no status quo book. Reynolds lays out an action agenda to dramatically improve our retirement systems – public and private – lift our savings rate, improve people’s retirement prospects, spur faster growth – and reboot America’s national morale.

Rescuing Retirement

Rescuing Retirement PDF Author: Teresa Ghilarducci
Publisher: Columbia Business School Publi
ISBN: 9780231185646
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Get Book

Book Description
In Rescuing Retirement, Teresa Ghilarducci and Tony James offer a comprehensive yet simple plan to help workers save for retirement, increase retirement savings by earning higher returns, and guarantee lifelong income for everyone. It offers a practical guide to the future of secure retirement.

Growing Older in America

Growing Older in America PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Age distribution (Demography)
Languages : en
Pages : 108

Get Book

Book Description


Will America Grow Up Before it Grows Old?

Will America Grow Up Before it Grows Old? PDF Author: Peter G. Peterson
Publisher: Random House (NY)
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book

Book Description
The facts are plain: Social Security is headed for massive, unsustainable deficits in the next century. Politicians talk of a Social security "trust fund" but there are no hard assets in it--only government bonds. The reality is that Social Security is really a "pay as you go" system, with benefits to current retirees paid not out any saved trust funds but out of taxes on the payroll of today; s workforce. But what will happen when these employees retire; when, in less than fifteen years, the 76 million members of the baby boom generation -- the largest in our history -- stop paying in and start taking money out? And what can we as individuals and as citizens do now to prevent these catastrophic deficits. The crises towards which we are careening (by 2025, 1 American in 5 will be 65 or older and it will take an already overloaded 1.6 working Americans to support each retired person) will not only be felt personally by the many millions stranded with no savings and without benefits, but will shiver the country's economy as a whole as well as the world financial system. With courage, clarity and incontrovertible evidence, Peterson spells out this huge -- if politically unmentionable -- problem more clearly than ever before and tells us what we must do now for our personal survival and that of our children. According to recent polls, more young Americans believe in UFOs than think they will ever receive a Social Security check. Yet most Baby Boomers, as they approach retirement age, believe they will continue to live their present lifestyle in retirement -- without a fraction of the personal savings or pensions necessary to pay for the future they expect. This agingpopulation -- double today's load -- will depend on as few as 1.6 working Americans to support each retired person. Who will support this nation of Floridas? In this short, powerful book, Peter G. Peterson, one of American's top investment bankers and a leading critic of our entitlement policy, spells out in the clearest possible language, with unmistakable numbers and easy-to-read charts, the disaster that lies ahead if we continue to ignore our low saving rate, our ballooning federal deficits, and our enormous unfunded and unsustainable commitments to retirees. Peterson reveals what politicians are afraid to admit: trillions of dollars of promised benefits for which no funds have been provided. Shattering the myths surrounding this subject with hard facts and eye-opening views of the future, Peterson gives the most comprehensive and candid plan for a gradual, humane, fair, and realistic answer to the greatest challenge of the next century: transforming our political, economic, cultural, and social assumptions to adapt to the realities of the graying of America.

Reconsidering Retirement

Reconsidering Retirement PDF Author: Courtney C. Coile
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 081570500X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Get Book

Book Description
The economic downturn that began in 2008, the most severe in decades, has hit older Americans hard. Many have seen huge losses to their 401(k)s. In numerous cases the value of homes—the largest investment most older Americans have ever made—has diminished considerably. In addition, large numbers of American workers, including those 50 and older, have lost their jobs and may have difficulty replacing them. Suddenly the future seems a whole lot less certain, throwing years of planning into doubt. In Reconsidering Retirement, economists Courtney Coile and Phillip Levine go beyond the headlines to explain how the economic crisis will affect the future plans and well-being of older Americans. Amid well-publicized reports that older workers needed to stay on the job because of the crisis, the number of U.S. workers claiming Social Security retirement benefits actually rose substantially from 2008 to 2009. The authors maintain that job loss has been the culprit, leading to premature retirement, and while this trend may have been less noticed, it is perhaps the more significant outcome of the crisis. Coile and Levine examine the three major characteristics of the recession thought to influence retirement behavior: decline in the stock market, reduced housing values, and a weak labor market. The authors find that lower home prices did not actually affect retirement behavior but that the decline in the stock market did lead some workers to delay retirement, while a weakened labor market actually forced more older workers with fewer skills into retirement. As a result, these early retirees, who rely on Social Security, face a lifetime of lower benefits. The legacy of recessions is that those most in need usually are last to reap the benefits of an economic recovery. While the lion's share of media coverage after the economic downturn of 2008–09 has gone to the plight of older workers who remain employed, Courtney Coile and Phillip Levine exami