每个人都知道美国退休系统遇到了麻烦。但事实证明，通常归咎于欠惠金的企业养老金计划，甚至较弱的公共计划，一个摇摇欲坠的社会保障制度，Paltry个人储蓄 - 不是最大的问题。
真正的罪魁祸首？糟糕的福利和界定的贡献计划。
至少那些是将美国与美国的新报告的调查结果进行比较。通过两个不同的福利咨询公司分开一天巧合于一天。
两份报告实际上涵盖了不同的问题，并出现了关于美国地位的明显不同结论，但共同他们拆除了通常的责备游戏。
Aon Hewitt的版本更加乐观，但在其范围内也更加有限。When the Illinois-based firm looked at the funded status of the largest corporate plans in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, and continental Europe in the third quarter, it found that the first three were in similar and fairly good shape, 82 to 88 percent funded, on average. While the U.S. was at the bottom of that triad, it was far better off than continental Europe, which was only 66 percent funded.
欧洲滞后，因为大多数国家没有严格的资助需求，Aon Hewitt在美国的全球风险服务领导者在面试中解释道。
Meanwhile, when the New York-based consulting firm Mercer and the Australian Centre for Financial Studies considered a much broader picture in 14 developed or close-to-developed countries, the U.S. came in just tenth – below (in descending order) the Netherlands Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Chile, Brazil, and Singapore. Only China, Japan, Germany and France did worse.
That study used 40 factors - financial, plan-design, demographic and others - to analyze each country’s entire retirement savings picture including corporate defined benefit and defined contribution plans, public plans (including Social Security and state and local plans in the U.S.), and individual retirement and nonretirement savings.
据推测，通过Aon Hewitt的数据来判断，美国在公司资助方面做了。这是令人伤害其身份的臭名昭着的薄弱公共计划吗？
不，Mercer墨尔本的高级伙伴David Knox说，澳大利亚办事处的高级伴侣，他监督了这项研究。“许多其他国家也在公共计划中受到资金不足，”他在接受采访时说。
单独的储蓄，然后？再次，“美国的家庭储蓄水平略低于平均水平，但并不是必然将美国拉下来的东西。”
关键的因素是,美国养老金太meager and poorly designed, the report concludes. In his interview, Knox gave some examples. Among all OECD countries – which the report generally uses as a baseline -- the minimum pension covers 27 percent of the average wage. In the U.S., it’s 18 percent. And the U.S. allows 401(k) accumulations to be paid out in a lump sum, rather than converting it to an annuity-style income stream after retirement. That’s a serious problem because, as traditional, reliable, monthly pensions have been replaced by do-it-yourself 401(k)s – and with threats to do the same to Social Security.
“人们会赢得储蓄的巨大风险。“随着我们的生活时间更长，人们很难继续在个人的基础上管理资金，”克诺克斯说。
根据Knox，Mercer计算将60％到70％的401（k）投资组合中的401（k）组合转换为收入流“是理想的”。
“养老金提供是一个多方面的问题，”他补充道。“这是关于资助的养老金，这是关于政府的作用，这是关于人口统计学的影响，这是关于善政的影响。”
换句话说，这还不足以把钱放在一边。更重要的是要确保人们有钱持续他们的生活。
Fran Hawthorne是屡获殊荣的“养老金倾销：原因，残骸，华尔街的赌注”（彭博堡）和“在FDA内部：我们服用的食物背后的商业和政治以及我们吃的食物“（John Wiley＆Sons）。她定期写入金融，医疗保健和商业道德。