No Subject

[Scott Frederick Gast <sfg4c@cms.mail.virginia.edu>]

I wanted to throw out some thoughts on the pension benefit 
policy considerations mentioned in the book and in class.

About two years ago, the Savings Are Vital to Everyone's 
Retirement (SAVER) Summit was held, which brought delegates 
together to discuss ways to boost retirement security for 
workers.  Half the delegates were appointed by the 
President, and half by the Congressional leadership.

The summit was framed at looking at two of the three "legs" 
of the retirement "stool":  pension benefits and personal 
savings (the Social Security leg was specifically excluded 
from discussion).

One of the interesting things I noted from some of the 
discussion was a kind of liberal-conservative divide in 
favor of defined-benefit and defined contribution plans, 
respectively.  Conservatives encouraged a greater move 
toward DC plans as a way to encourage "ownership" over a 
person's pension funds.  Liberals (with a strong labor 
component) emphasized strengthening DB plans.

Other suggestions (that I remember) from the summit 
including shorter vesting periods, a more aggressive 
education effort for employees, and other tax incentives to 
encourage savings.

I just wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts about some 
of these reforms, at a time when Social Security is 
becoming a less important part of overall retirement 
income.  (Whether this came from political motivations or a 
recognition of the importance of the issue, the Summit was 
addressed at its opening by the President, VP, Speaker of 
the House, Majority Leader of the Senate, and Minority 
Leader of the House sharing the same platform).