Retirement on the Rocks

Christian E. Weller is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA, and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, USA. He is a prolific author with well over 100 journal articles, edited volumes, book chapters, book reviews, and other publications, in addition to numerous policy reports and briefs. He serves on several editorial boards and is a past member of the executive boards of the Eastern Economic Association and the Labor and Employment Relations Association.

"Weller provides a fresh, new perspective on the challenges that Americans face when saving for retirement. His account helps us all to think more clearly about the types of labor market and financial risks that families face, how they are changing, and their impact on Americans' retirement security. Weller argues that exposure to these risks has risen just as these risks have become greater, leaving people's retirement prospects diminished. Further, the account flows nicely into a discussion of his innovative policy ideas, which deserve serious consideration and debate. This book has much to offer to retirement scholars, policymakers, and the interested public worried about their economic security in retirement." - Sarah Rosen Wartell, President, Urban Institute, USA "The vast majority of working Americans - including more than 40 percent of workers over age 50 - feel unprepared for their own retirement. Weller effectively describes how our current system undermines the goal of retirement security. But more importantly, he offers a broad set of solutions to improve retirement savings, investing and withdrawals and even update Social Security to help low income families. Too often people only look at a single quick fix that misses the complexity of all that is broken." - Debra Bailey Whitman, Executive Vice President, Policy, Strategy and International Affairs, AARP, USA "Few issues vex Americans more than inadequate retirement preparation. And few books provide a clearer picture of the problem - and what can be done to fix it - than Weller's deeply researched analysis. Weller covers all the bases: the gaps in Social Security, the perils of employment-based accounts, the upside-down structure of tax breaks, and the huge financial barriers that stand between a risk-inundated middle class and sufficient retirement wealth. Perhaps most important, he lays out an ambitious but realistic path toward a stronger and fairer system that can provide the retirement security that so many Americans feel they have lost." - Jacob S. Hacker, Director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies and Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science, Yale University, USA; author of The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream

• 1. The Elusive Goal of a Secure Retirement2. Americans' Growing Risk Exposure3. More Risk, Greater Wealth Inequality4. The Looming Retirement Shipwreck5. Social Security: The Leaky Life Boat6. Sink or Swim Retirement Plans7. A Perfect Storm: Labor and Financial Maker Risks Feed on Each Other8. The Pitfalls of Employer-Sponsored Retirement9. Upside-Down Tax Incentives10. Sidelined: The Millions Who Are Left Out11. Charting a New Course