The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and the deepest recession since the 1980s have led many to re-examine retirement. Many older workers no longer have the means to afford a decent retirement. The data suggest that the proper reaction to this crisis is a return to the basics of retirement policy, instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater and declaring retirement as we know it over. The three-legged stool of retirement—public pensions, employer pensions, and individual savings—is still intact, but it does need to be strengthened. We can do this by strengthening public retirement systems so that they can serve as the bedrock of retirement income and overhauling private savings to reduce the risks and costs associated with them, in order to afford retirees more than just the basics.
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