Reset Retirement

Over the last four episodes, we’ve explored how individuals fare in today’s retirement system. In the final episode of our first season, we ask: where do we go from here? 

We speak with baby boomer and literature professor Ira and millennial and PhD student Owen to explore how both younger and older generations are affected by our retirement system.

Next, we hear from our expert round table, including host Teresa Ghilarducci and guests Beth Finkel, the state director of AARP New York, and New School economist Tony Webb, for a discussion of the future of retirement policy. From age discrimination to a lack of retirement plan coverage, Teresa, Beth, and Tony talk about the policies we need to make a better system for everyone a reality. Finally, we highlight research showing millennials are ready to take action and a group working to inject retirement security into the 2020 presidential campaign. 

One of the warning signs of the oncoming retirement crisis is that people are often told they can make up for a lack of retirement savings by working longer. But even if people have the health and strength to keep working past traditional retirement ages, there’s no guarantee they will be able to find a job. Instead, our retirement system abandons older people in an unfriendly labor market at the moment they are most vulnerable to age discrimination. In the fourth episode of Reset Retirement, we take a deeper dive into how the common advice to work longer plays out in real life. 

First, we hear from Mikhail, a lawyer, and Stephanie, a former advertising professional. They both describe running into unexpected career disruptions in their late 40s and early 50s, revealing to them how age discrimination is a barrier to both keeping career jobs as you age as well as finding another one after a layoff. Next, we hear from our expert round table, including host Teresa Ghilarducci and our guests, Vincent Alvarez, President of the New York City Central Labor Council, and economist Tony Webb. Together, they lay bare the harsh realities of aging in the American workforce, how age discrimination interacts with low retirement savings, and the importance of the right to retire. Finally, we highlight those leading the charge against age discrimination in the courts. 

In the United States, 8.5 million older people will fall from being middle-class into poverty when they retire if we don’t do anything. With so many at risk, why do people feel alone? They feel like they’re the only ones who struggle to save when life happens. But this isn’t about an individual’s fault. We all live in the same retirement system that works for spreadsheets, not real people—and when we believe it’s our fault, we are shamed by a failing system. 

On today’s episode, we explore what this conflict looks like in real life. First, we meet Archer, an English professor who reflects on his early saving experiences and expresses feelings of regret. Then, we talk to Barbara, a single mother working at a non-profit, to discuss how job loss and divorce led her to deal with feelings of shame and eventually to financial empowerment. 

After their stories, we hear from our expert round table, including host Teresa Ghilarducci and our guests, economist Tony Webb and author Helaine Olen, for a discussion on the role of shame in our retirement system. Finally, we highlight workers who have taken action to recover savings lost to high and often hidden fees in typical 401k plans. 

We are often told that our retirement system is a three-legged stool made up of Social Security, savings from employer-sponsored retirement plans, and private savings. But this model no longer matches today’s reality where 60 percent of workers don’t have a retirement plan at work. Coupled with life events like job loss, divorce and sickness that can easily wipe out private savings or 401k accounts, that leaves just one leg of the stool: Social Security. But can you really live on Social Security alone? 

On today’s episode, we are first joined by David, a veteran journalist and playwright, to discuss the realities of living on Social Security after a lifetime of working in a gig economy. Next, our expert roundtable, featuring host Teresa Ghilarducci and guest economists Anthony Webb and Rick McGahey, convenes to clear up misconceptions about our Social Security system: who it serves, how it’s funded, and where it can be strengthened. Finally, we close by shining a spotlight on upcoming Congressional hearings that will look at how to expand the Social Security system, the first in 50 years. 

Have you ever worried about being poor in retirement? 

If you have, you’re not alone. Our first episode dives into one of the most widespread fears about retirement: running out of money and falling into poverty. We meet Henry and Bridget, two employees at The New School university. They share these same fears, yet have different savings options based on the nature of their jobs. Henry is part of a union, which gives him access to a traditional pension. Bridget, on the other hand, isn’t a union member and instead receives a defined contribution plan, a 401(k), from her employer.

Our modern retirement system is so important but so few of us understand how broken it actually is. On Reset Retirement, host Teresa Ghilarducci and her colleagues from The New School's Retirement Equity Lab peel back the layers of complexity and misperception to learn what retirement actually looks like for most Americans.