Workplace Savings Access–An “Easy Fix” to Long-Term Retirement Funding Crisis
Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, went on record recently with an assessment of optimism for the future of America’s retirement system. Citing the need for broader coverage of workers in savings plans, she suggested requiring employers who do not offer pension plans to institute automatic enrollment in deferred plans (like IRAs). This, she suggests, would help “fill in the cracks” associated with future retirees unable to accumulate retirement savings on their own, although employees could opt out of such a program if necessary.
As a participant in Yahoo Finance’s “Funding Our Future” alliance, Ms. Munnell also characterized Social Security’s long-term funding problem as a crack in the retirement system that needs to be addressed. “It’s not an intellectual problem. It’s a question of political will,” she observed in a recorded interview posted on finance.yahoo.com. On an individual level, she suggested solutions to the retirement financing issue will likely be working longer and better guidelines for self-management of assets through the retirement years. Ms. Munnell’s comments are included in a finance.yahoo.com post, complete with video, which you can access here…
Regarding the “auto-IRA” approach advocated by Ms. Munnell, the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) has put forth a similar pathway to savings improvement through its Social Security PLUS recommendation, a major part of its Social Security Guarantee legislative proposal. Learn more about AMAC’s proposal here, and check out the details of the Social Security PLUS proposal here.