A Conversation with Prudential
Through the TED Conversations platform, Prudential is partnering with TED to engage the community on the challenge of longevity and retirement security.
Christine Marcks
President,
Prudential Retirement
This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »
A conversation with Prudential: As people are living longer, how can we plan for a retirement that could last up to 30 years or more?
The Baby Boomers will be the biggest generation to retire so far in America. 10,000 people are now retiring every day. On average, they will face longer retirements lasting 20 to 30 years or more.
For a couple age 65, there is a 50 percent chance that at least one of them will live to age 90. But, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, 51 percent of households are at risk of not having enough to maintain their standard of living in retirement.
We live in uncertain economic times, with health care costs rising and guaranteed pension benefits in decline. How do we make sure we don’t outlive our savings?
Prudential believes these new challenges demand new solutions to achieve better lives in retirement. So tell us: what do you want to do in your extended retired years? And, how should you plan for that?
Closing Statement from Christine C. Marcks, Prudential Retirement
Thank you all for a dynamic conversation over the past three weeks around how we -- as individuals, as financial services providers and as a society -- can help address the challenge of retirement as people live longer. TED Conversations is a new forum for us, and we found your comments and this experience very insightful.
I believe there are concrete steps people can take to better prepare for their retirement. For starters, workers can improve their savings and investing behavior. Secondly, participants in workplace plans such as 401(k)'s should try to include some sort of guaranteed income component in their retirement planning.
We will also continue this conversation in other forums, and will add to the national debate through white papers on our company's Research & Perspectives site, http://research.prudential.com/view/page/rp .
Sincerely
Christine C. Marcks
President,
Prudential Retirement
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Rodrigo Vela Weber
Considering these two ideas, I think the best solution is to raise the retirement age unless there is a health condition that unable the person to continue working and offer a retirement pension that works progressively. A plan where after a certain age the person starts working less hours or he retires from his job and the company that provides the retirement plan offers him a job that is designed for this plan, like a freelance work of their specialty. That would allow them to stay active, to continue contributing to society and earn money.