This is a provocative, data-driven challenge to the conventional wisdom on retirement, where AEI senior fellow and former Social Security Administration official Andrew G. Biggs takes on the so-called retirement crisis, examining Social Security, 401(k)s, pensions, and retirement savings to reveal why Americans may be far better prepared for old age than the headlines suggest, and what could actually threaten that success.
Americans, and the elected officials who represent them, are worried about retirement. Majorities of Americans tell pollsters they fear a "retirement crisis" of inadequate savings and incomes in old age. Some argue that our system of 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts layered on top of a base income from Social Security is an abject failure. Only a complete reboot that expands Social Security and abandons 401(k)s can avert the retirement crisis. But what if the entire narrative is wrong?
