My name is Steven Lang and I got hired a couple of months ago to be BenefitsPro's retirement editor. While I'm a veteran writer and editor who's covered tech and some financial topics, I'm not on top of all the issues and players moving this market. Not yet, anyway.
I hope some of you will take the time to share your concerns about retirement in this country and the policies that shape it and its direction – or lack thereof – at the federal, state and municipal levels. I'll talk about your thoughts with the other editors and maybe, they'll end up as starting points for stories or discussion.
What I do know, very well, is what I was taught at home. Both of my parents were New York City public school teachers and felt very strongly about their union – The United Federation of Teachers, which started in 1960. Its president was a dedicated but controversial guy named Albert Shanker, who ruled for 20 years, from 1964 until '84.
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He was a divisive figure. New Yorkers either loved him or hated him. But when he told my parents to strike three times over his two-decade tenure, they did. One of those strikes was wrapped around the fiscal crisis of the '70s and the upshot was that teachers' longevity benefits improved. His face was always plastered on the tabloids, a real municipal labor boss, and my folks (along with thousands of other teachers) followed his every edict absolutely.
I also know that my parents retired comfortably, with health benefits that watched over them until the day each died – 16 years apart. With her Social Security and union retirement benefits secure, my mom made more money each year after she stopped working than while she was working. Now that's retirement.
It's also, I realize, a time past. But it was the reality I grew up in, one I thought would be the norm. It's a far cry from the very scary troubles plaguing this generation of workers. And I daresay this society of employed can't even begin to imagine what will face Generation Xers who hit retirement age, right about the time the Social Security tap is expected to run dry.
The only real takeaway here, I suppose, is not to take the retirement process for granted. To recognize that each decision along the way – every allocation made by every individual worker, every legal decision that returns money to a pension fund, every law passed – will have implications, singularly and collectively. My plan is to remember that, take it to heart, and give our readers the news they need to make informed decisions that will benefit their clients, their bosses and themselves.
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