In its deliberations to develop a plan to reduce the federal deficit by more than a trillion dollars over the next decade, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction considered a proposal to calculate cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) in all government programs using the Chained Consumer Price Index-Urban (C-CPI-U), rather than the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U).

Implementing this proposal would dramatically reduce Social Security benefits for recipients. Although reducing federal program benefits by changing the COLA computation is indeed one way to reduce the deficit, reducing benefits is not the only way to eliminate the 75-year projected shortfall (of 2.2 percent of taxable payroll) for the Social Security system.

The shortfall can be closed by holding benefit levels harmless and, instead, increasing revenue directed to the system. A recent report of the Commission to Modernize Social Security Plan for A New Future: The Impact of Social Security Reform on People of Color offers recommendations for doing just that.

Read more at GlobalPolicy.tv and the Joint Center Blog.

Social researchers and financial experts agree that women investing for retirement--especially those from African-American, Latino and other ethnic communities--are facing tough choices in the wake of the last decade’s financial downturns.

Today’s tough economy leaves female retirees—regardless of whether they’ve had financial guidance—to grapple with decisions about how to invest their hard earned savings. Although retirement research and best-practice recommendations may be sparse, one thing many working women have going for them is their resilience.

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Experts say that data is limited on how women invest for their post-retirement years, partly because of individuals’ reluctance to share information about their finances, said Wilhelmina Leigh, a senior research associate in economic security for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, in Washington, D.C.

Read more at New America Media.

African Americans are more likely than whites to expect that Social Security will be their major source of income during retirement. Th is was true in both 1998 (35 percent of African Americans versus 17 percent of whites) and 2009 (37 percent of African Americans versus 27 percent of whites). African Americans also are more likely than whites to support the Social Security system as currently structured and to believe that the system should continue to provide the same type and level of benefits. A range of views, however, is held by African Americans and whites on selected proposals for reforming the Social Security system to ensure its solvency.

These findings are from a survey of 850 African Americans and 850 members of the general U.S. population (including 721 white Americans) that was conducted for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies by Research America between May 21 and June 9, 2009. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies National Opinion Poll about Social Security, Retirement Savings and the Economic Downturn found many striking differences between African Americans and whites on these topics.

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Researchers and financial experts alike agree that women’s post-retirement investment practices are topics worthy of exploration. But until such data and suggested best practices emerge, it’s tough choices for today’s female retirees who, with or without financial guidance, face tough decisions about how to invest their hard earned savings.

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On the topic of how women in general invest post retirement, experts say the data is limited and has to be inferred from what has been documented. That’s due in part to individuals’ reluctance to share information about their finances as well as the lack of funding to conduct such research, said Wilhelmina Leigh, Ph.D. and senior research associate in economic security for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

In 2009, the Joint Center polled 1,700 individuals in the National Opinion Poll about Social Security, Retirement Savings and the Economic Downturn. One specific question was designed to gauge how many respondents had consulted with a financial planner within the year prior to. According to the results, 16.4 percent of the 475 Black women polled and 15.9 percent of the 377 white women polled said they had consulted with a financial advisor.

Read more at The Louisiana Weekly.

As the United States transitions to a “majority-minority” population over the next three decades, Social Security must be modernized to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse and economically insecure workforce, according to a report released today by the Commission to Modernize Social Security, made up of national policy experts representing African American, Asian American, Latino and Native American communities.

Although Social Security does not contribute to the federal deficit, Social Security benefit cuts are at the center of discussions in Congress to reduce the federal debt. The report – Plan for a New Future: The Impact of Social Security Reform on People of Color – argues that changes to the program must consider the impact on workers and families of color who are more vulnerable to economic instability and far less likely to have generational wealth than white families. The report cites U.S. Census Bureau data showing that a majority of babies born in this country are now from minority racial groups. If this trend continues, the overall U.S. population is expected to become “majority-minority” by 2042.

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The Commission to Modernize Social Security was formed in March 2011 by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development and Global Policy Solutions to identify proposals to extend Social Security’s long-term solvency while modernizing the program to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse society. The Commission is comprised of individuals from the following organizations: Center for Economic and Policy Research, Demos, Economic Policy Institute, Global Policy Solutions, Harvard University Department of Government, Insight Center for Community Economic Development, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, International Association for Indigenous Aging, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Latinos for a Secure Retirement, National Asian Pacific Center on Aging, National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc., National Council of La Raza, National Council of Negro Women, National Urban League Policy Institute, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, The Aspen Institute, and University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Read more at Yahoo! News, PR Web.

For today’s working adults, retirement is more likely to be based on the safety-net level of benefits from Social Security, supplemented with personal savings and investment.

The catch is, however, that too many African-Americans are saving too little for retirement.  The fact that 70 percent of African-American workers had saved less than $25,000 for retirement, according to a 2007 survey by the Employment Benefit Research Institute, suggests there will be little "gold" in our golden years.
 

Read more at The Florida Courier, The Washington Informer, and The Madison Times.

While it is true that no ethnic group is showing signs of saving enough for retirement, one of the sad truths is that minorities in lower-wage jobs who need the most options for retirement savings have the fewest.

With Hispanics comprising the largest population and employee sector in San Antonio, this is not a good sign for wealth creation and better living standards here.

According to a 2009 report from the Hispanic Institute and Americans for Secure Retirement, only 25.6 percent of Hispanics are covered by employer-sponsored retirement plans, compared to 42.5 percent of whites and 40 percent of African Americans.

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At Fortune 500 companies, 65 percent of Hispanics participate in 401(k) plans, compared to 77 percent for whites. Seventy-two percent of Hispanics have saved less than $25,000, compared to 48 percent of whites, said Wilhelmina Leigh, a senior research associate for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Many of the reasons are obvious, such as not making enough earnings to set aside any from each paycheck, Leigh said during a recent presentation to a National Press Foundation program in Washington, D.C.

Less obvious is the tendency for minorities to be uncomfortable with savings and investments, a matter worsened by the 2008-09 financial industry crisis. Minorities are less likely to sign up for paycheck direct deposit, much less retirement plans, Leigh said.

Read more at the San Antonio Express-News.

View / download Dr. Leigh's Powerpoint presentation at scribd.com.

A presentation on Obstacles to Saving for Retirement was given by Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh for the National Press Foundation's Retirement Issues 2011 forum on June 14, 2011. This presentation is available for download below. More presentations and information from this forum can be found at the National Press Foundation website.

Making the decision about when to leave the workforce is challenging and complicated, in spite of the existence of retirement income calculators and other tools.

Some people want to “die with their boots on,” while others would prefer to die wearing sandals or running shoes and in some venue other than the workplace. In the best case, workers retire when their productivity diminishes, when there is something to move on to (often another full-time job, part-time work, an expanded avocation, or full-blown leisure), and when resources are available to enable them to make the desired move.

Read more at The New York Times.

Among pre-retirees, confidence about having enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement typically reflects the state of one’s current savings behavior, known savings vehicles and expected major sources of retirement income. African Americans and whites have differing assessments of their own retirement security, and their differing views suggest that the recent economic downturn may have constrained African Americans’ ability to save for retirement to a greater degree than it has for whites. This brief provides details about differences between the two groups in retirement saving and expectations in both 1998 and 2009.

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