Upcoming event: Facing Up to the Retirement Savings Deficit

Facing Up to the Retirement Savings Deficit

From 401(k)s to Universal and Automatic Accounts

Five years ago Congress enacted modest improvements for employer-sponsored pension and 401(k) plans. Little progress has been made since in narrowing the nation's projected $6 trillion retirement income deficit.

America's real retirement security crisis is not Social Security solvency, but the declining number of Americans that participate in any retirement savings plan. Employer-sponsored plans cover fewer than half of all workers, leaving a projected majority of Baby Boomers and Generation Xers even more dependent on Social Security than their parents' generation is today.

 President Obama has proposed an "Automatic IRA" that would require employers that don't already offer their employees access to retirement plans to facilitate voluntary contributions through automatic payroll deductions. While "Auto IRA" should greatly increase participation, it still leaves out tens of millions of Americans and may not have strong enough incentives or other features to ensure adequate savings over a lifetime, particularly for lower-income workers. In conjunction with the event, New America's Asset Building Program will release and present a paper suggesting improvements.

Join us for a timely discussion to discuss this proposal and alternative paths for narrowing the retirement savings deficit.

Featured Speakers
Mark Iwry
Senior Advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary (Retirement and Health Policy), U.S. Department of the Treasury

Michael Calabrese
Senior Research Fellow, New America Foundation
Author, From Auto IRAs to Universal 401(k)s

William Gale

Director, Retirement Security Project
Brookings Institution

 Teresa Ghilarducci
Director, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis
The New School

 David Certner 

Director of Federal Affairs, AARP

 Moderator

Reid Cramer

Director, Asset Building Program
New America Foundation 

Thursday, October 13, 2011
12:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.

New America Foundation
1899 L St NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036

To RSVP for the event, click on the red button or go to the event page:   

http://www.newamerica.net/events/2011/retirement_savings_deficit 

For questions, contact Stephanie Gunter at (202) 596-3367 or gunter@newamerica.net.

 www.NewAmerica.net