Most Americans are anxious about when – or even if – they’ll be able to retire. And we’re not wrong. Social Security is on shaky footing. Half of Americans on the cusp of retirement have no money saved for it. This isn’t how retirement in America was supposed to work. But 40 years ago, Congress shifted the US away from employer pensions and toward a do-it-yourself system based on 401K retirement saving plans. It’s not going well. In this episode we get to the bottom of why so many Americans are unable to retire comfortably and end up, instead, living in poverty or working well past age 70. And we’ll learn what we can do on an individual and national level to improve retirement in America.

Podcast Guests:

Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economics at the New School for Social Research, author of Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy (https://teresaghilarducci.org/)

Aubrey Johnson, 24, recent college graduate

Heather Sheffer, 45, self-employed

Mike Cundall, 50, philosophy professor North Carolina A&T State University

Jaye Crist, 63, printing business employee, artist @jayecrist on Instagram

Penny Pennington Weeks, 58, retired from Oklahoma State University faculty at age 55, posts garden and retirement content @pennypenningtonweeks on Instagram

Cami (last name withheld), 38, full-time nurse, divorced mother of four kids

Maryann O’Connor, 67, owner of Kindred Woman Travelers (https://www.kindredwomentravelers.com/)

Elaine Jarvie, 68, retired, RV traveler