Retirement-Employer Based

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A great way to assess how well adults have accumulated wealth is to look at their finances in the years shortly before they retire. We show wealth among households with an adult age 57–61 in 2004, using the Health and Retirement Study. This wealth snapshot highlights the extraordinary importance of Social Security, traditional pensions, and owner-occupied housing for typical near-retiree households today, which together comprise nearly four-fifths of wealth for middle quintile households on the verge of retirement.

Income tax provisions affect the buildup of retirement assets during workers’ careers and aftertax income following retirement. This paper uses the Urban Institute’s DYNASIM model to simulate how potential changes in the tax treatment of retirement saving, Social Security benefits, and income from assets outside retirement accounts may affect boomers’ retirement incomes. Changes in the income thresholds for taxing Social Security benefits have the largest impact on middle-income boomers, while changes in contribution limits for retirement saving plans and tax… more

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During 2003, an employee cannot elect to defer more than $12,000 for all 401(k) plans in which the employee participates. This limit will increase by $1,000 annually until 2006 when the limit for total contributions will be $15,000. Employees age 50 and over can contribute an additional $2,000 in 2003 (also increasing in $1,000 increments until 2006) to help bolster their retirement savings.

Small businesses with 100 employees or less can offer other forms of 401(k)s to their employees, such as… more

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In addition to the Asset Building program, New America also hosts a retirement security program, headed up by Michael Calabrese and Maya MacGuineas. New America?s Retirement Security program studies, designs, and advocates reforms to expand pension coverage, particularly for lower-income workers, with the goal of creating a universal and completely portable system of saving accounts that benefits employees and employers alike. The program also researches and proposes new ways to update Social Security through reforms designed to increase retirement flexibility,… more