Retirement portability and pension adequacy in the United States

Retirement portability is a hot topic globally; as the economy forces job-hopping work life habits on more and more workers, it is necessary to be able to accrue funds for retirement; under traditional pension plans, retirement funding was lost when workers changed companies. The advent of the 402(k) changed that for companies that offered the plans; however, it also pushed more of the burden of retirement planning and preparation onto the wage earner. For low-wage earners, this was difficult because they often had nothing to put aside. The problem of portability is not unique to the United States, and it is likely there are lessons to be learned concerning achieving fairness, adequacy and efficiency in pensions, based on mandatory, universal, portable plans.

Introduction

Establish a system like Bush's proposed system

Savings transformation

Institute a "means test"

Raise the age for receiving full benefits.

Establish a system like Bush's proposed system

Other countries do it

Statement of the Problem

Definitions

Literature review

General studies incorporating portability issues

Studies generally limited to portability issues

Studies of foreign pension situations

Results

Discussion

Appendix a: The Retirement Account Portability (RAP) Act of 1998

Appendix B: Labor Force Statistics

Appendix C: Pension systems abroad; Snapshots