According to Pension Rights Center, half of all Americans age 65 or older have incomes
of less than $18,819 a year, which is far less than the amount that majority people need to meet
the living and health care expenses. In addition, the average Social Security payments to retirees
is only $15,179 a year, and that is roughly two-fifths of their earnings before retirement.
Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage is $15,080 a year, and that is about half of what retirees
need to maintain their living standards in retirement. Government Sponsored Defined-Benefit
Pension Plans provide incentives to attract talents to work for the government. The pension plans
serve the purpose of providing safety and security in retirement.
Pension plan is a defined benefit plan that
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guarantee a given amount of monthly income in retirement and place the investment risk on the government agency. A pension plan is a retirement plan that requires an employer to make contributions into a pool of funds set aside for a worker's future benefit.
The pool of funds is invested on the employee, and the earnings on the
investments generate income to the worker upon retirement. Employees do not have control of
investment decisions with a pension plan. The government agency promises to provide a certain
monthly income to retired employees based on the amount contributed and the number of years
spent working for them. Pensions are better designed for employees who stay with the same
government agency for many years. Many people decided to work for the government agency
due to the great benefits that they offered, and pension plan is one of the benefit working for the
government agency. However, some people argue that government pension plans are too costly
and unsustainable.
The pension plans of many government agencies are severely underfunded. Thus, there is
a threat to the government’s fiscal sustainability. Some politicians pressured the government to
convert to a defined contribution plan. A defined contribution plan such as 401K is like a saving
accounts, and it funded primarily by the employees, and the employer will match contributions to
a certain amount. However, a defined contribution plan does not guarantee minimum
or maximum benefits. It is risky and the employees may lose all their saving money when they retired. On the other hand, the pension plan is significantly less risky. The government agency guarantees that the employee receives a definite amount of benefit upon retirement, regardless of the performance of the investment pool. Even if the pension plans are not sufficient to pay the benefits, the government agency is liable for the remainder of the payment. Therefore, the pension plan provides security for the retirees. The government can reduce opportunities for early retirement. Governments typically provide for full retirement benefits after 20 years of services. Thus, employees who began their careers at age 25 are able to collect pensions at age 45. The government can increase the age at which benefits can be collected. In some governments, pensions can be collected as soon as employees retire. Thus, if employees retire from government at age 50, but when they work for another agency, they still collect their government pensions. Pension plans could be structured so that benefits do not begin until an employee reaches a full retirement age, which is 65. By increasing the retirement age and contribution rates, the pension plan will remain sustainable. Overall, the pension plan serves the purpose of providing safety and security in retirement. It will become sustainable if the government increase the retirement age and contribution rates. The pension plan will attract talents to work for the government. It is a reliable and steady income for retirees from retirement till death. It will be a great source of income to retirees who have no saving accounts and do not have a defined contribution plan, or will not receive the benefit from a defined contribution plan with investment losses. With all the reasons stated, the government should keep the pension plan.
The push for Congress to pass legislation protecting the rights of employees and their retirement was inevitable. Retirement plans are extremely important for all working individuals. Having funds to keep or exceed ones current standard of living and to enjoy one’s life beyond expectations after retire...
...t capable of loaning funds from their accounts. In addition to this, there are limited selections pertaining to this investment option. The participant that is contributed by a participant should not exceed $11,500 dollars as well. The entire system is not complicated which makes it ideal for everyone. It is even considered one of the best features it possesses. Yet, the liabilities are usually shared by both parties. With this option, both the employer and employee could enjoy the same perks and benefits.
In America’s early days before the kickoff of industry, there was little need for retirement savings for a few key reasons. First of all, people were dying at a much earlier age; most people didn’t live past 38, whereas in 1900, 60 years of age was common for about 40 percent of the population and 15 percent experienced 80 years of life. Another reason for the irrelevance of social security in the 19th century and earlier was that people were usually living rurally on farms with extended families to take care of them. Furthermore, the Civil War also didn’t allow the government much economic room to consider providing a service such as social security. However, after the Civil War, pensions were a form of social security for civil war veterans that carried into their retirement. Unfortunately these pensions provided support for only a very small portion of the population; not even one percent of Americans received these pensions. Despite a much lower need for social security in the 18th ...
If the people use their personal accounts, the retirees will then see higher returns on their investments. As a result, will put more money in the retiree’s pockets. Martin Feldstein, stated, “A private account earning a modest 5.5% real rate of return, "someone with $50,000 of real annual earnings during his working years could accumulate enough to fund an annual payout of about $22,000 after age 67, essentially doubling the current Social Security
...r all their employees to contribute money towards the kitty. The mandatory payments will later prove useful and significant to them in their old age. Any new employees must be provided with this information on the importance and the benefits of the scheme. They must also acknowledge the fact that it will be a statutory deduction in their monthly pay schedule. This essentially prepares the workers psychologically to be ready for monthly deductions in their pay and ensure good interrelation between employers and workers.
Pension provides an income when people have stopped working. Also, it provides important forms of insurance against long life, prices, relative benefit drops and savings shocks. As well as it is an important benefactor to the financial security of a majority of Australian men and women of retirement age, with about 70 per cent of people of pension age receiving the Age Pension (Australia and Treasury, 2015). The government can provide this type of insurance for less than it costs individuals to insure themselves by sharing long life risk, and hedging the
Despite the retirement income crisis, Social Security should be expanded, not reduced. In Arthur Delaney’s article on the Huffington Post, Senator Bernie Sanders stated, “With the middle class struggling and more people living in poverty than ever before, we cannot afford to make life even more difficult for seniors.” A push to adopt CPI-E, rather than a switch to a “chained” consumer price index that cuts retiree benefits, would m...
Social Security is a major social program that provides benefits to multiple groups of people within the United States. These benefits include payments for pensions, disability, and unemployment compensation just to name a few. The majority of social security beneficiaries are retired workers and the remaining are pension recipients, disabled workers, dependent spouses, and children of retired or deceased workers respectively (Hyman, 2011). Social Security is financed through a taxpayer payroll tax, in addition to an employer’s portion that is matched and paid directly to the government on a quarterly basis. The employer portion of Social Security is usually not transparent to employees, but is a requirement for companies by law. In addition, self-employed individuals are also required by law to pay their own portions of OASDI and Medicare. Overall, the eligibility requirements for Social Security benefits are based on paying a tax through a place of employment and can be collected once workers have reached their assigned retirement age or become disabled. The employee and employer contribution rate is 6.2% (7.65% include FICA), up to the maximum wage base of $113,700.
Today the federal minimum wage is $5.15, but should be about $8.50 if Congress had adjusted it for inflation over the past 35 years. While $5.15 may not seen that bad, when factoring in such variables as sky rocketing gas prices, budgets can get pretty tight. David Shepard, a sophomore at Wayne State University, worked at a Meijer Retail and Grocery Superstore for over two years while in high school. At the time Shepard lived with his parents and didn’t have to worry about paying rent or buying groceries, all that he had to pay for was filling up his gas tank and paying for his car insurance. Shepard recalled, “It was all I could do to pay for the basics like gas and bill’s, I barely had any money to have fun on the weekends”. This is only an example of a high school student that can nearly slip by on minimum wage with only a few expenses. There are 1.8 million people in America with children under the age of 18 that would benefit from an increase in minimum wage (Minimum).
with someone who has a high school diploma is an average $550 a week compared with $350 with no
Every individual has the dream of freedom fifty-five, but as research has suggested its becoming more and more apparent that most individuals wont retire at fifty-five many won’t retire at all. Retirement age has had a significant impact on all generations from baby-boomers to millennials. In recent years’ older generations are working longer, lifespans are increasing and government pensions are fluctuating. Individuals and organizations are struggling to find a balance between experience and opportunity. Poor economic conditions and longer lifespans have resulted in the termination of mandatory retirement policies and the evolving opportunity for longer working careers. Changes to Canadian Pension Plans and Old Age Security have been implemented
The contributions of the survivors would equal monthly take-home pay of $40,000/12 and survivors' benefits of $1,000. The remaining calculations are contained on the following worksheet:
For employers, the estimate of the stock added to the arrangement is expense deductible, much the same as commitments to workers’ 401(k) accounts, as stock extra arranges are thought to be qualified retirement arranges under ERISA.
below the average income. Right now, there is also a big gap between the low
With the new structure of social security it provides pension to retired or disabled American, the social security is financed by the Federal Ins...