Delayed Retirement?
A business columnist for the Washington Post highlights an issue of growing concern--that workers are not acquiring enough in retirement savings accounts to retire at age 65. At the same time, according to an associate director at the Center for Retirement Research, difficulty maintaining a job often occurs after 40 because employers are worried that older workers won't stick around for much longer.
The truth is, said Sass, retirement has become a much messier process than it used to be. Sure, it's always been a stressful transition, but at least it was more cut and dried in the past. With traditional retirement plans, there were incentives to not linger in the job beyond a certain age. If you could draw 100 percent of your benefit at age 65 and received no additional pension credits for additional years worked, why wait? Traditional plans were designed to replace a certain amount of income, and Social Security replaced a greater share of income in the past than it will going forward. It was the employer who bore the risks of bad years in the market, not the employee.Well, that's all changed.
Thankfully, according to the Detroit Free Press, Democrats in Congress have taken up the issue of retirement security with policies "to increase 401(k) participation, protect workers' pension plans and stop efforts to privatize Social Security."
Considering, as the Washington Post column points out, that the "median balance in 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts for workers in their 50s is just $60,000, which won't pay the bills for many years," there is much work to be done so that all seniors can retire with they dignity and respect they've earned.
