The National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc. (NAGDCA) was honored to have four members of the Executive Board appointed as delegates for the 2006 Saver Summit ( "Saving for Your Golden Years: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities"), hosted by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Appointed Executive Board Members were as follows:
- Della Williamson, President, NAGDCA
- Ralph Marsh, Vice President, NAGDCA
- Mindy Harris, Secretary/Treasurer, NAGDCA
- Edward Lilly, Member-at-Large, NAGDCA
This year's summit explored the challenges that are faced by low-income workers, small business employees, new entrants to the workforce and workers nearing retirement as they save for a stable financial future. These topics were analyzed and evaluated in four concurrent discussion groups over a two day period, in which delegates offered their expertise regarding retirement savings.
In attendance were numerous state, local, and federal elected and appointed officials including Vice President Richard Cheney, the Honorable Elaine Chao (U.S. Secretary of Labor), and the Honorable Gordon Smith (Chairman, Senate Special Committee on Aging), just to name a few. As a result of the Saver Summit the Department of Labor will prepare a final report, which will be used to develop initiatives and recommendations to present to Congress to help all Americans understand the importance of saving for their retirement. 2005 was the first time since the Depression that Americans had a negative savings rate.
According to Elaine Chao, 51% of the population hasn't calculated their retirement savings needs. Personal savings rate has been on a downward trend for the past 25 years. New entrants to the workforce (younger workers) mistakenly assume they'll have time later to prepare - what they don't realize is that time is their most essential tool/advantage.
Former Commerce Secretary Don Evans, said that a poll conducted for the lobby group found that nearly three out of five Americans between the ages of 35 and 49 are saving less than $10,000 a year. "For most, this will prove too little to support a comfortable middle-class retirement," said Evans, who is now chief of the Financial Services Forum. The poll also found that nearly a third of Americans saved nothing for retirement last year.
Mr. Ben Stein shared that the US was 16 trillion in the hole on being prepared for the baby-boomers and that we are part of the largest crisis in the making since the depression. He shared that 77 million boomers are unprepared. Mr. Stein thinks we need to use fear and scare tactics (Shock therapy) to get people saving, rather than pictures of beaches. Americans are saving too little, especially acute for women & minorities & low income.
The creative recommendations from the breakout groups will be outlined in a final report by the DOL. One suggestion that came out of several groups was to revise the Social Security statement that workers receive currently to provide actuarial amount of what a worker may need to save as supplement to their social security to provide for their retirement. There were several ideas on education starting early for children, and revising the savers credit to enhance it with increased eligibility limits and making it refundable.
"It was an honor to be appointed to be a delegate along side such an esteemed group of colleagues to discuss and work through current challenges and issues of saving in today's workforce", Della Williamson, NAGDCA President, and, Program Administrator, Employees Retirement System of Texas, stated. "Forums, like the Saver Summit, are extremely important due to interactive dialogue and a diverse group of attendees ranging from state and local governments to corporate entities as well as representatives at the federal level", said Williamson.
