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发帖数: 542 | 1 【 以下文字转载自 Military 讨论区 】
发信人: ShowMeMoney (ShowMeMoney), 信区: Military
标 题: 米国的退休体制（401k）近乎彻底失败
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Wed Aug 8 02:56:45 2012, 美东)
在2010年大多数（75%）接近退休年龄的米国人的退休账户中只有低于三万米元存款。
50至64岁年龄段中最贫穷米国人的退休账户平均只有$16034元。
America’s Retirement System Is Failing Us: Economist
By Morgan Korn | Daily Ticker – Mon, Aug 6, 2012
Your "golden years" may not be so golden.
The majority of Americans (75 percent) nearing retirement age had less than
$30,000 in their retirement accounts in 2010. For the poorest Americans in
the 50-to-64-age bracket, the average amount saved for retirement was $16,
034.
The lack of nest egg savings could become an acute crisis in the U.S. and
should force a reexamination of the nation's retirement system, says Teresa
Ghilarducci, a professor of economics at The New School.
In a recent New York Times Op-Ed, Ghilarducci argues that the current
retirement savings model has failed middle-class Americans. The "do-it-
yourself" pension system — aka 401(k) plans — that replaced traditional
pension packages 30 years ago mistakenly assumed that individuals without
investment experience could "reap the same results as professional investors
and money managers," she writes.
In an interview with The Daily Ticker, she says individuals "were asked to
do what they really couldn't do. Not because they're irresponsible, not
because they didn't plan well, not because they didn't have enough financial
literacy. That system asked humans to do what they just can't do —
anticipate the future."
The savings accrued by the majority of middle class seniors will not support
their current standard of living, Ghilarducci says. Americans should save
at least 8 times their annual income to maintain their living standards (she
strongly recommends increasing that number to 20 times if possible). For
those earning $100,000 a year at the time of retirement, at least $2 million
or more would be needed.
Unfortunately most Americans are ill-equipped for retirement and she
estimates that 49 percent of middle-class workers will live on a food budget
of less than $5 a day — poverty-like conditions.
Americans can no longer lean on social security checks or late retirements
as safety nets Ghilarducci notes. Social Security and other entitlement
programs have been under attack in Congress. A growing number of lawmakers
from both sides of the isle support reducing or curtailing government
spending on these 77-year old institutions as means to lower the national
deficit. Workers over the age of 55 have a harder time finding employment
than younger workers and when they do find work it's usually a big wage cut
or reduced hours. According to the Labor Department, 6.2 percent of
Americans over the age of 55 were unemployed in July and 50 percent of that
group had been out of work for six months or more.
Saving for retirement has become especially hard for many Americans who are
struggling to pay everyday expenses. That's why Ghilarducci wants to reform
Americans' approach to retirement. She advocates instituting mandatory
retirement accounts for all Americans. These would be professionally managed
with a guaranteed rate return and annuity payment. This mandated account
would be a supplement — not a replacement — to Social Security and other
private retirement accounts.
"People need to save a lot more," she says. "Social security is a base but
it's not enough. I'm just advocating that people save more." |
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