Donald Trump’s Policies: 00:00
Joe Biden’s Policies: 03:33
Your ability to enjoy a secure retirement may already have been a risky proposition before the Covid-19 crisis. Today, you could be facing an even steeper uphill battle thanks to the crisis.
Prior to the coronavirus lockdown and the resulting mass unemployment, about half of working family members between the ages of 30 and 59 risked a lower standard of living in retirement, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. In July, that estimate rose to 55%, and it’s even higher among older Americans who are closer to their golden years. Given these stark realities, Joe Biden’s retirement proposals are among his core campaign issues.
Retirement policy during President Donald Trump’s first term was one of the less spirited aspects of his presidency. A second term would likely bring much of the same. Before the current crisis, Americans had become steadily more optimistic during President Trump’s first term they would enjoy a comfortable retirement. Confidence in retirement prospects had risen 9 percentage points to 69% in early 2020, according to the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute. Even Americans without a retirement plan, such as a 401(k), grew more sanguine over Trump’s first term thanks to the halo effect of an improving economy and rising wages.
But the financial destruction wrought by Covid-19 has reversed those trends, at least for the moment. Millions are out of work, and the risk they won’t be able to maintain their standard of living in retirement has increased.
Unlike his rival for the presidency, President Trump isn’t campaigning on major initiatives to reform Social Security or renovate retirement plans anytime soon, says Andrew Biggs, a research fellow at the conservative-leaning think tank AEI.
Instead, he’s hoping an eventual economic recovery, the seeds planted in his first term and more limited legislation will buoy the retirement prospects of Americans once again.
Read the full profile on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2020/09/03/biden-campaign-retirement-policy-proposals/#132d50bf7a65
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