Benefits And Benefits Of Pension Pensions

As we become older, issues with our health begin to take affect and finding ways to fund for that care is becoming even more difficult. In the article “Some Elders Must Take Drastic Measures to Obtain Long-term Care”, national magazine journalist Mary A. Fischer (2011) states that many Americans must face demeaning and disempowering choices in order to qualify for Medicaid or Medicare—federal funded health insurance programs— such as refusing to pay for a spouses institutionalization, divorce, and spending down assets. The author argues that these choices leave the healthy spouse with decreased funds to plan for their own retirement expense (Fisher, 2011). Working in the health care field for 4 years, along with my family’s own personal experiences I can relate to this article, since I have seen a variety of ways that federal funded health insurances have been unable to meet the expectations and demands of its beneficiaries.

They continued to deficiency employees declining to make responsible pension payment. That combined with the national financial downfall, causes Chicago’s pension debt to balloon into a full blown financial crunch. The difficulties in Chicago have only gotten worse; even as the city’s long-range economy has become better. In Houston, the city’s healthy economic position has helped to pad the punch of substandard pension funding decision thus far, but surroundings are changing. The decrease in the oil markets along with the property tax revenue cap could quickly enlarge the city’s pension predicament and outcome in much like the one in Chicago. In order to stay from dire consequences, leaders must immediately take action to fundamentally reform Houston’s pension systems so that they are impartial and maintainable for both employees and taxpayers. City official must access local management over the city’s pension systems in order to negotiate changes directly with workers and enact those changes locally. In addition, they must fully fund the pension system pay off the debt in 20 years or less; and make the projections, historical data and financial news publicly available. Retirement plans for public workers in the U.S of America face serious challenges. These pension plans are greater extent expensively, underfunded, and retention of the most talented public servants and create

July 19, 2013, marked the largest municipal bankruptcy in United States history when the city of Detroit, Michigan, filed for bankruptcy protection. Detroit was in such dire fiscal straits that emergency manager Kevyn Orr described it as “the Olympics of restructuring.” This bankruptcy filing can be considered the most high-profile case of the many recent bankruptcy filings across the country, and with such notoriety the Detroit bankruptcy became a highly politicized affair with different political sides typically blaming the other side for Detroit’s problems. Understanding the true causes that forced Detroit to file chapter 9 bankruptcy is critical to preventing future municipalities from enduring the same sort of pain that Detroit faced in

On August 17, 2006 the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (the Act) was signed into law. The Pension Protection Act ("PPA") [P.L. 109-280] originated as a single-employer defined benefit pension funding reform bill to strengthen the DB pension system. However, it is best known for the number of provisions to enhance 401(k) and 403(k) plans, especially the auto enrollment feature. Among other noteworthy provisions are those intended to remove legal obstacles to, and create new incentives for, automatic enrollment 401(k) and 403(b) plans. It represents one of the most comprehensive pension reform legislation since ERISA was enacted in 1974. The Act has lead to many companies changing the way their plans are designed and administered, amend plan documents, increase plan funding, and make additional plan disclosures in regulatory filings and to plan participants. The Act made many sweeping changes but for the sake of brevity, only the automatic enrollment plan made by employers on the behalf of its employees is addressed in this report as to the rationale behind the passage of the PPA. Even though the provisions generally apply both to 401(k) and 403(b) plans, for explanatory purposes all references will refer only to 401(k) plans.

According to a USA Today article from last year, nearly sixty percent of Americans have more than $25,000 put away for retirement. Thirty-six percent of Americans have less than $1000 saved for later in life. This means that as more people, especially the baby boomer generation, retire, there will be more strain on program such as Social Security and Medicare, and ultimately the federal budget that is responsible for these programs. If steps are taken now to close this gap, we will insure the continued longevity of these programs by raising the tax contributions flowing into both Social Security and Medicare.

For an extended period, state and local policymakers and labor unions ignored the growing public pension obligations as they became an increasing fiscal burden. The pension problem was enormous and associated with irresponsible financial practices connected to defined benefit pension plans (Thompson, 1980, 118). Following this, the state of California

The Great Debate: Privatizing Social Security The United States’ Social Security system was implemented by Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935 as a part of the New Deal during the Great Depression “to frame a law which gives some measure of protection to the average citizen and his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age." Although the system has proven to be one of the most popular programs ever established, its future has been questionable for some time. According to the Social Security Administration (2008), “People are living longer, the first baby boomers are nearing retirement, and the birth rate is lower than in the past. The result is that the worker-to-beneficiary ratio has fallen from 16.5-to-1 in 1950 to 3.3-to-1 today. Within 40 years it will be 2-to-1. At this ratio there will not be enough workers to pay scheduled benefits at current tax rates” (Social Security Administration [SSA], 2008). This issue concerns many citizens, especially younger generations, and continues to be a hot topic of debate amongst politicians. Many ideas have been proposed about how to reform the current system. The most popular of these ideas is to create an entirely new system consisting of mandatory pension accounts which would allow individuals to accumulate a balance over time with investment options such as stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. This argument will show why Social Security should not be replaced by a mandatory private pension system.

The Causes and Effects of the U.S. National Debt In a recent article by Nathan Bomey in USA Today, he makes the point that as the remaining presidential candidates make their way to Detroit for yet another debate, the financial collapse of the once thriving city should serve as a “red flag” for America. In 2014 the city of Detroit was forced to file for the largest municipal bankruptcy case in U.S. history with a debt of over $7 billion. Bomey reiterates that, “as a consequence of Detroit’s borrowing binge, 32,000 retirees paid the price for unrealistic promises,-- pension cuts of up to 20% and a stark 90% cut in health benefits.” The reckless spending of the city’s leadership also brought the Detroit to a state of urban decay with some of

Therefore, your dependence on Social Security depends on your gender, ethnicity, and class/labor market status. If you are a women you will be penalized within Social Security for taking periods of time off work to care for children and parents because they do not recognize that as being unable to work (Wellin, Lecture: October 21). This affects many women because they are the majority of caretakers within the family. They are socialized to be caretakers at a young age by family, peers, media, and schools. I believe that Social Security should be amended to incorporate a policy for those who need to take off work to help those family members in need. Did you know that only one-third of working women have access to supplementary income besides Social Security (Wellin, Lecture: October 26)? This is most likely because that they use their savings to help take care of family members and they use that while they aren’t receiving any income. Also, women are less likely than men to receive income from private pensions; this pattern also was found in blacks and Hispanics (Quadagno: 356). Even those that received private pensions that were not white men received less benefits than those who were white men (Quadagno: 357). About 20% of Americans rely on Social Security as their only source of income, within that group of people: 18% are white elder white women, 38% elderly blacks, and 38% Hispanic (Quadagno: 100). Notice how

The Inevitable Future Retirement and Social Security issues have become local, national, and international concerns that will also affect each of us on a personal level. Social Security benefits began in 1935 when the depression hit and put many elderly people out of work (http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov). Social Security has been around for over 70 years providing a dependable monthly income with automatic increases as the cost of living increased. The Social Security Administration reports that workers need 70-80 percent of pre-retirement income once retired and Social Security only provides about 40 percent (www.ssa.gov). The depletion of funds is becoming a great concern and is also getting worse with each generation.

Reformation advocates favor allowing workers to create private retirement accounts funded by the aforementioned 2 percent diversion of our Social Security taxes. They suggest that the emergency need for reform arises from the estimated population expansion and the increasing number of retirement-aged workers, and warn us that “inflation will push the current 12 percent contribution as high as 23 percent within the next 50 years” (Feldstein). Both sides agree there is a projected shortfall as the ratio of retirees to workers rise, however, these figures are as aggressive as the trustee’s projected rate of productivity growth are conservative. The numbers show that “if we don’t do anything, the system would pay all benefits to retirees right through the year 2038” (Baker). That is to say that if the government makes no changes whatsoever during the next 35 years, it could still pay every penny

First and foremost, despite slight recent increases in the amount of income obtained by members of the older population, their economic status is still quite perilous (Federal Interagency Forum, 2012).1 Men in this category have a median income of $27,707, while women continue to lag behind with a median income of $15,362 (AOA & AOCL, 2012). A vast majority of these individuals cite Social Security as their primary source for this income, amounting to 86-percent of the total older population (AOA & AOCL,

The old private pension system was created in the 1920’s and expanded throughout the 30’s and 40’s (McDonnell). Private pensions were considered one of the three income sources for retired elderly. Originally, private pensions had defined benefits. The employer and employee would agree to a percentage of salary that the employee would receive from the company annually during retirement. Contractually obligated, this placed the liability onto the employer. Estimates say that employees could receive around 40% of their last year’s salary as annual income with defined benefits. In the 1990’s, the pension plans gradually changed from defined benefits to defined contribution. The employees, rather than negotiating retirement salary now determine the amount of their salary that will be saved in a retirement fund. Retirement income is a burden on the employee rather than employer (Ghilarducci 8). In order to equal the income of the old plans, employees give their retirement savings to mutual funds that invest in the stock market. While a key aspect of retirement, the system has evolved like most economic institutions, favoring the wealthy and established. Furthermore, the private pension system contributes to a market bubble, putting money into the stock market regardless of market strength. These two problems cause the modern pension system to be flawed and unstable. The program must undergo drastic reform in order to save private pensions.

So, Long Term Care Is another key component of retirement planning. Currently, people are living longer thanks to better medicines. Which, in a way this is a bad thing because these individuals typically don’t have the money to afford this. That is why first, I plan on saving extra money, so that if I do happen to outlive my money, my loved ones can have a larger inheritance. However, there are other steps that I plan on taking advantage of.

Gradually, the Social Security Administration has grappled to accommodate a host of novel demographic trends, namely those impacting the retirement sector of the American population. Continuously, with advances in the medical realm, the senior population is steadily extending its lifespan, and thus, retirement altogether, introducing a wealth of new economic considerations. As human longevity increases, the Social Security system proves increasingly unsustainable, specifically in the pension department-among other areas. As workforce involvement declines with age, the budgetary deficit and low supplementary funding plague the social security system. Unless crucial economic reforms are made, the present rate of pension disbursement will