Retirement on the Rocks: Why Americans Can't Get Ahead and How New Savings Policies Can Help

ISBN-13: 9781137395627 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 223 str.

Christian E. Weller

Opis

Jobs and wages have become less secure over the past thirty years, while stock and housing markets have gone through greater booms and busts at the same time. These factors alone make saving for retirement difficult, but a number of policy changes have also increasingly exposed household to these risks, making saving more difficult and more uncertain. Social Security offers fewer protections because of an increasing retirement age, and employees receive less help from their employers than in the past. More people have to figure out complex "do-it-yourself" savings options while those who least need to save, because they have little risk exposure, tend to receive the greatest tax breaks for saving. The results have been fewer retirement savings, more uncertainty, and a direr outlook for a secure retirement for most Americans. Since savings are low and risk exposure is high because of past policy shortcomings, this book offers straightforward solutions to build real retirement security for American families.

Spis treści

1. The Elusive Goal of a Secure Retirement
2. Americans' Growing Risk Exposure
3. More Risk, Greater Wealth Inequality
4. The Looming Retirement Shipwreck
5. Social Security: The Leaky Life Boat
6. Sink or Swim Retirement Plans
7. A Perfect Storm: Labor and Financial Maker Risks Feed on Each Other
8. The Pitfalls of Employer-Sponsored Retirement
9. Upside-Down Tax Incentives
10. Sidelined: The Millions Who Are Left Out
11. Charting a New Course

O autorze

Christian E. Weller is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA, and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, USA. He is a prolific author with well over 100 journal articles, edited volumes, book chapters, book reviews, and other publications, in addition to numerous policy reports and briefs. He serves on several editorial boards and is a past member of the executive boards of the Eastern Economic Association and the Labor and Employment Relations Association.