TIAA’s ‘Bill of Rights’: A call to action during National Retirement Security Month

October is National Retirement Security Month – dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of planning, saving, and ensuring a stream of guaranteed lifetime income for retirement. TIAA has compiled a new insights report, Retirement Bill of Rights: Perspectives from Thought Leaders, as a call to action by industry leaders for all industry stakeholders, during October.

According to the asset management firm, approximately 57 million American workers do not have access to a workplace retirement savings plan. And saving for retirement isn’t the only cause for concern: 40% of American households are projected to run short of their savings in retirement, calling attention to the $1.3 trillion burden for state and federal governments over the next 20 years

That’s why TIAA created the Retirement Bill of Rights – to articulate the belief every worker has the right to a financially secure retirement and to mobilize the public and private sectors to enact commonsense solutions that can address the retirement challenges impacting far too many workers. These rights, according to TIAA’s report, are:

1. Every worker has the right to save for and achieve a financially secure retirement.
2. Every worker should have access to low-cost investment options that help provide ample income for a dignified retirement
3. Every worker deserves clear information that allows them to compare saving and income options, make informed choices and meet their retirement goals.
4. The public and private sectors share responsibility for helping every worker access retirement income that will last the rest of their lives.

As part of TIAA’s continued engagement with retirement stakeholders – workers, employers, policymakers, and thought leaders – the TIAA Institute asked several leading retirement scholars and economists to share their points of view on Americans’ retirement rights.

Related: The retirement crisis is real: 55M American workers don’t have access to a 401(k)

These expert perspectives – a collection of data, insights, and ideas that reflect cumulative decades of experience and expertise regarding America’s retirement challenges – are compiled in the Retirement Bill of Rights: Perspectives from Thought Leaders report.

These experts offer a wealth of possibilities to strengthen the American retirement security system, which include solutions that would foster a more adequate and equitable retirement security framework and proposed improvements to employers’ retirement plans, and approaches for helping workers transition from saving for retirement to living and spending in retirement.

Here are some of the experts’ specific perspectives:

Financial wellness is key: Employers should “consider asking employees at what age they would like to retire,” said Angela M. Antonelli, Executive Director of the Center for Retirement Initiatives at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. “Ask if they have taken all the possible costs into consideration, such as health and long-term care, if they do live for 20 or 30 years after they stop working. Does it make sense to work longer? Should they be saving more? What are the best types of investments for accomplishing retirement goals?”

It takes collaboration from all stakeholders: “Now is the time to adopt a new retirement security framework that recognizes the role of employers and the private sector broadly, and re-creates what was so valuable about Defined Benefit retirement plans: namely, distributing protected income throughout retirement while avoiding the downsides of high costs … ,” said Jason J. Fichtner Chief Economist, Bipartisan Policy Center & Executive Director, Retirement Income Institute, Alliance for Lifetime Income. “Meeting these challenges will require collaborative action on the part of all stakeholders—workers, employers, financial professionals and public policymakers.

DC system must evolve to monthly retirement checks: “The DC system must evolve to give retirees the same benefit of a monthly retirement check without forcing them to become experts in investments and complex financial products,” said Michael Finke, Professor of Wealth Management, WMCP Program Director, Director for the Granum Center for Financial Security, Frank M. Engle Distinguished Chair in Economic Security, The American College of Financial Services. “This year more retirees will reach age 65 than any other year in history. Most will retire without a pension. It is urgent that the system evolve quickly to give more Americans the retirement security they deserve.”