Social Security: Saving Longer Future

With saving more, I need to save longer. I am going to start thinking about working longer now. Due to the increase in life expectancy, I would not lose years in retirement. It is important for me to evaluate and determine how long I should work. Working longer would increase my monthly Social Security benefits, which allows me to contribute more to my savings and 401(k) plan. I plan on claiming my Social Security later, as well, to have high benefits for myself and for my spouse. For me, graduating with a health services management and community development degree would require me to keep up with my skills and knowledge in healthcare to extend my working career. Since I am still young, I more than likely will not work for only one employer in my lifetime. I would have to let my employer know my target retirement age and my commitment to work longer. I currently live with my parents, but in the future when I own a home, I will treat my home as an asset
and sell or borrow against to provide additional money if necessary for my retirement. I, myself, cannot meet my retirement income challenge on my own.
It is important to look at the bigger picture to what needs to happen systemically to aid the retirement efforts. It is important that the retirement system is well structured with incentives that would push others to make smart choices. The government should publicized and make known to everyone that Social Security's real retirement age is 70. To benefit from Social Security the most would be at the age of 70. To do so, it would ensure that based on life expectancy, people who take lower benefit early receive about the same amount in total benefits over their lifetimes as those who wait to receive high monthly benefits later. It would help Americans make well-informed decisions about when to retire, the administration should make it apparent that 70 is the target age as part of the agency’s educational efforts with clear explanations of benefits of working longer to ensure a larger impact over time on the way Americans think about retirement
date. With educating and publicizing the real retirement age, the system should increase Social Security's earliest eligibility age. Raising the age would help lessen the claim of benefits and prevent incomes from falling to inadequately low levels later in life. With that, there should be an implementation of reducing qualification requirements for workers after 62 under Social Security Disability Insurance or lowering the age of eligibility. As a nation, we must maintain Social Security. Some ways we can increase the revenue systematically is to raise payroll tax rates or possibly raise the cap on taxable payroll above what it is today. Another way of maintaining Social Security is by increasing tax revenue and investing a portion of the trust fund in equities. Although, these are complex and not ideal ways for the system to help out the crisis, it should be considered. 401(k) should be fully automatic, but also allowing employees to opt out if they choose. The plan should enroll all employees automatically, current and new hires. 401(k) leakage needs to be resolved. As a system, we should try to make the criteria for hardship withdrawals so that they are only limited to emergencies that were not foreseen. Falling Short: The Coming Retirement Crisis and What to Do About It made it clear the issues that workers are facing die to the retirement income crisis. The book proposed steps for how individuals can prepare for what they want their retirement to entail. The book, also, looks at the bigger picture and what changes that need to happen systemically to aid in retirement efforts. The book suggests that working longer, saving more, utilizing household assets are essential to having retirement security. All suggestions I have taken into consideration and making steps towards. As individuals we cannot do it all alone, policymakers and the system have the essential role to make a change and to steer from the retirement crisis.