PBS FRONTLINE "Can You Afford to Retire," (under GOP pers. acct's) review

[papau]

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) says the boomer generation is headed for a shock as it enters retirement. From the PBS PR release for the FRONTLINE documentary "Can You Afford to Retire," PBS said Boomers will have a longer life expectancy and not enough income to last. The documentary focuses on the BUSH/GOP push to shift from employers to employees the responsibility for retirement saving (as in individual accounts for Social Security).

According to the Department of Labor, in 1978 workers put in only 11% of total contributions to retirement savings, and corporations put in 89%, the announcement said. By 2000, the employee share had leapt to 51% and the company share had fallen to 49%.

Experts say Americans with pensions or 401(k)-type plans need to accumulate at least six to ten times their annual pay before they reach retirement to maintain their standard of living, PBS said. This requires saving 15% - 18% of their salary, every year, over 30 years. Instead, according to Professor Jack VanDerhei of Temple University and the Employee Benefit Research Institute, typical retirement-age Boomers with 401(k) plans have only half that much saved up - enough to live on for about seven years.

With an average life expectancy of 17 years when they hit retirement, many middle class retirees may be living only on Social Security for almost a decade. "Most people we interviewed have no idea what it costs to replace a lifetime pension," said FRONTLINE correspondent Hedrick Smith. "And they don't realize that as they're living longer, there is an impact on their nest egg."



http://www.pbs.org/frontline/retirement.

[Warpy]

1. I've been trying to point this stuff out for years

The oldest baby boomers (myself included) will be slammed the hardest. Not only were our contributions to pension plans, deducted from our paychecks, robbed for the first 25 years of our working lives every time we changed jobs; creative mergers, bankruptcies, and naked theft have wiped out all the plans that should have been portable. Now we're offered lump sum buyouts of those pensions WE FUNDED that are worth maybe ten cents on the dollar and will serve for precious few years.

Simply put, the people closest to retirement now will have nothing but social security.

Our children will be the next hit, as we'll have to start moving in with them as our health fails. They'll learn first hand why the culture as a whole moved away from the extended family within one home. The stress will be nearly unbearable.

However, the executives will still have their hundred million dollar yearly salaries. That is where our retirement went.

Think about it kids, you're next.

[cap]

2. dont forget to add in the decreased employment opps for 45+

disproportionately hit by layoffs...shunned by employers wanting a stable work history...heading for the $12/hr jobs at the big box stores (no health insurance)...unable to make up their savings...

and this is where the bulk of the population is set to be

[papau]

3. Can you Retire transcript and online video now available at link below

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement/view/

[FILAM23]

4. I am one of the lucky boomers

I retire next year at age 56, however too many
of my fellow boomers will never retire, or will
be in poverty when they do

[RebelOne]

5. I'll never be able to retire.

I'm 67 and still working full time. I have a 401K, but there isn't enough in it for me to retire. I'm collecting social security also and trying to sock more into my IRA. My social security check is only $1200 a month. Who could live on just that?