Welcome to the latest edition of This Week in Pensions! As we do most weeks, we have gathered the best stories about pensions and retirement security from the previous week. This is the news you need to know in the fight for a secure retirement.
Here are this week’s top stories:
- We Can Solve the Retirement Crisis – Just Not With 401(K) Plans by Bailey Childers: writing on Medium, NPPC’s Executive Director lays out the honest facts about retirement and the poor options facing many workers. Over half of working Americans don’t have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan and many of those who do only have access to a risky and inadequate 401(k). It’s time for the American people to demand better options for saving for retirement.
- New York City’s Pension System by Sherry Chan: the chief actuary for New York City writes to the New York Times to correct some inaccurate reporting regarding the city’s public pensions. Chan concludes: “The city consistently makes 100 percent of its pension contributions. Retirees receive their pension checks. The pension system is sound.”
- Public employees already paying for problem they didn’t create by Richard Ingram: the executive director of the Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois corrects the record on the source of Illinois’ fiscal problems. As he points out, teachers in Illinois accepted cuts to their pension benefits seven years ago in an effort to cut costs for the state. The true reason Illinois has such poorly funded pensions is because the state has not once in 78 years fully funded its contributions to the pension fund.
- Don’t mess with Texas public employee pensions by Richard Rock: although not a retired public employee himself, Mr. Rock writes to the Corpus Christi Caller Times to defend the pensions of public employees in Texas. He concludes with a fact that should be widely shared throughout Texas and across the nation: “Many stayed in these jobs because of the promise of a secure retirement. Our elected officials should keep the promise made to these employees.”
- Baby boomers are nowhere close to reaching their retirement goals by Raul Hernandez: finally this week, just another reminder that many working people are not prepared for retirement. A recent survey found that Baby Boomers, defined as people ages 53 to 71, are far short of having enough savings for retirement. Most of them had only saved about a third of what they said they would need in retirement.
Be sure to check back next week for the latest news in the fight for a secure retirement!
