“10 and change”: Retirement

The first installment in the Jane the Actuary “10 and change” project:  Let’s talk about retirement solutions.

So, yes, one obvious but trite solution is “people should just save more,” and the current “progressive” solution is “Social Security should just provide more generous benefits.”  But people aren’t saving, trying to save enough to follow the 4% rule and meet your pre-retirement income standard may not be possible, and the government is not going to now, in contrast to the entire rest of the world, open up its pocketbook wider for retirees.

So my challenge is:  what new idea can you offer?

An example:

we know that saving for retirement is all tied up with financial wellness in general.  And individuals can access information on personal finance online, or by checking out what the library has to offer, but their last opportunity to take a class which really covered the concepts was probably in high school.  Maybe the local school district continuing ed department has something on offer, but, at least around here, continuing ed isn’t so much the school district actively seeking to provide knowledge to adults so much as facilitating individuals with a class they’d like to teach (perhaps with a book they’d like to sell), offering that class.

So one Big Idea would be would be for a non-profit group to develop a curriculum, and a faculty, which would offer classes and individual assistance through churches, or maybe through PTA organizations, to try to reach out to people more actively.

So, what are your Big Ideas?