untitled

March 1-2, 2006

The Willard Intercontinental

Washington

Washington, D.C.

This publication is available on the Internet at: www.saversummit.dol.gov

For a complete list of publications available from the Employee Benefits Security Administration, call toll free 1 (866) 444-3272.

This material will be made available in alternative format upon request.

Voice phone: (202) 693-8664/TTY: (202) 501-3911

This booklet contains a small entity compliance guide for purposes of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Act of 1996.

I submit to you this report on the 2006 National Summit on Retirement Savings, held

on March 1-2, 2006, in Washington, D.C. The Summit successfully promoted the importance

for every American of saving for the future.

The Summit brought together more than 200 statutory and appointed delegates as a

nonpartisan group with diverse expertise. The delegates represented state and local

governments, professionals working in the fields of employee benefits and retirement

savings, private sector institutions, employers, the general public and members of Congress.

The goal of the Summit was to explore ways to help all Americans retire with security

and dignity.

Under the theme “Saving for Your Golden Years: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities,”

the Summit sought to educate and motivate people to develop their own personal retirement

saving strategies. Delegates participated in breakout sessions focusing on four specific

targeted groups: Low-Income Workers, Small-Business Employees, New Entrants to the

Work-force and Workers Nearing Retirement. The delegates developed important

recommendations to help individuals in each of these groups overcome obstacles and

take advantage of opportunities to save for their futures.

It is now a challenge to all of us to keep the work of the Summit moving forward, and

help Americans save more for themselves and their families. I hope the Summit report

provides you with another tool to continue the important task of informing the public

and encouraging them to save. I look forward to continuing to work with you on these

critical issues.

Sincerely,

Elaine L. Chao

SECRETARY OF LABOR

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Contents

Section 1 The 2006 SAVER Summit Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2

Section 2 The State of Retirement Savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3

Section 3 Plenary Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6

Section 4 Overview of the Breakout Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 8

Section 5 Low-Income Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 9

Section 6 Small-Business Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 13

Section 7 New Entrants to the Workforce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 17

Section 8 Workers Nearing Retirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 21

Section 9 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 25

Appendix A The Summit Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 27

Appendix B Expert Speakers/Facilitators/Model Presenters . . . . . . . . . . . page 30

Appendix C Statutory Delegates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 31

Appendix D Sponsors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 35

2 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

SECTION 1

The 2006 SAVER Summit Challenge

n 1997, Congress enacted the Savings Are Vital to

Everyone’s Retirement Act (SAVER Act) to heighten the

public’s awareness and understanding of the importance

of retirement savings. The act mandates that the Secretary

of Labor maintain a public outreach program and conduct

three bipartisan national retirement savings summits. This

report highlights the work of the final Summit, held in

Washington, D.C., March 1 and 2, 2006, at the Willard

Intercontinental.

The U.S. Department of Labor contracted with the International Foundation of Employee

Benefit Plans (International Foundation) in preparing for the Summit. The International

Foundation assisted the Department of Labor in developing the vision and agenda (see Appendix

A) for the Summit and in handling the logistics that kept the Summit running smoothly. The

International Foundation cultivated the support of many private sponsors (see Appendix D)

whose generosity helped enhance the Summit experience for all delegates.

Approximately 200 statutory and appointed delegates (see Appendix C) participated, including

members of Congress and executive branch officials. Appointed delegates included representa-

tives of state and local governments, professionals working in the fields of employee benefits

and retirement savings, employers, unions, and other private sector institutions.

The Common Goal

Summit delegates came together to achieve a common goal: to help all Americans become

better able to retire with dignity and security. To reach this goal, the Summit focused on devel-

oping strategies and programs to prompt Americans to think about long-term retirement and the

critical importance of retirement savings to their future well-being; to inspire them to commit to

personal retirement savings strategies; and to facilitate the accumulation of savings for retire-

ment. Delegates sought to devise concrete recommendations to improve both employer-based

pensions and individual retirement savings plans, to help Americans take advantage of existing

savings opportunities, and to create new opportunities to help Americans meet the challenges of

saving for retirement.

Today’s workers have more responsibility to fund their own retirements than workers have had

in recent generations. Unfortunately, despite this reality, many Americans are consuming more,

saving less, and accumulating more and more debt. Caught up in the immediate demands of

day-to-day spending, we have lost sight of the fact that planning for a successful retirement

tomorrow requires making savings a priority today.

To develop messages and strategies that can help all Americans, the 2006 Summit concentrated

on four groups of American workers who face unique challenges in saving for retirement.

These groups are:

✦ Low-Income Workers

✦ Small-Business Employees

✦ New Entrants to the Workforce

✦ Workers Nearing Retirement

By concentrating on reaching these workers and helping them to save for retirement, the

delegates hoped to develop strategies that would offer inspiration and assistance to all

Americans in reaching their retirement goals. By making retirement savings a priority today,

Americans can and will have a brighter and more prosperous tomorrow.

Section 2: The State of Retirement Savings 3

SECTION 2

The State of Retirement Savings

U.S.

Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao opened the 2006 SAVER

Summit by welcoming the delegates and thanking them for

investing their time and energy to address the vital issue of

retirement security. Secretary Chao pointed out that the nation is on the

verge of a tremendous demographic shift, as the first of 78 million baby boomers turn 60 in

2006. She warned that despite the overall strength of the U.S. economy, many Americans are not

prepared for retirement: less than half have even calculated how much retirement savings they

will need.

Secretary Chao described some of the challenges faced by the four demographic groups targeted by

the 2006 SAVER Summit. New entrants to the workforce hardly think about retirement because it

seems so far away. In addition, the average worker between ages 18 and 38 will have 10 jobs before

retiring—and only 43% of workers who change jobs preserve their employment-based retirement

savings by rolling it over into an IRA or their new employer’s retirement plan. Low income workers

find it challenging to balance spending for today’s needs with saving for tomorrow. Small business

owners, responsible for the creation of 70% of new jobs in recent years, may perceive retirement plans

to be too costly and complex, as about 80% of small businesses do not offer any type of retirement

plan for their employees. Finally, workers nearing retirement have fewer options and little time to

correct their course if they discover they have not saved enough to provide them with a secure

retirement.

Secretary Chao noted that those who do not start saving early for retirement miss out on

their greatest ally in achieving retirement security: time. For every 10 years a worker puts off

saving for retirement, he or she will need to save three times as much each month to catch up.

Secretary Chao maintained that even small sums set aside for retirement can make a difference:

$100 saved at age 20 can grow to more than $1,900 by age 65.

In closing, Secretary Chao noted that saving takes time, dedication, and planning. “Americans

can look forward to longer, healthier, and more productive lives,” the Secretary said, “and building

a diverse savings portfolio is the best way to ensure that individuals have lasting independence.”

Sylvester J. Schieber, VP and U.S. Director of Benefits Counseling, Watson Wyatt Worldwide,

provided a brief review of the 1998 and 2002 Summits for the 2006 delegates. The 1998 Summit

focused on identifying barriers to retirement savings and concluded that Americans must save

more if they are to realize income security in retirement. The second Summit, in 2002, focused

on generational issues and on how to engage different generations of Americans to participate in

securing retirement savings and income at the level

needed to meet their retirement consumption needs.

President Bush, in his address to the 2002 Summit,

concluded that, “Americans are saving too little,

especially women and minorities.”

Schieber then gave a brief overview of the state of

retirement savings in the United States today. “What

makes the Golden Years golden?” he asked. His

answer: adequate retirement savings and income.

Most experts agree that in order to maintain a similar

standard of living in retirement, households need

replacement income at a rate of 70-85% of pre-retire-

ment income. Social Security, however, provides only a

portion of this replacement income: 50% or more for

4 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

those earning less than

$25,000 at retirement

and 25% or less for those

earning more than

$100,000. The gap between

Social Security and the

replacement rate needs to

be filled by the individual

worker’s savings and invest-

ment, by employer-spon-

sored retirement programs,

or by a combination of the

two. Given our nation’s

demographics, Schieber

said, about 9% of national

income should be saved

solely for retirement.

The nation currently has a

record $11.5 trillion in assets

in the individual and

employment-based retirement system. Schieber insisted, however, that we should be adding to those

assets. He contended that right now, we as a nation ought to be at our peak of savings. Yet in 2005,

the national savings rate fell below zero—meaning that we spent more than we earned for the first

time since the heart of the Great Depression in 1933. This negative savings rate represents a

substantial drop from the 8.7% of income saved in 1992.

Future retirement security depends on savings, which have become increasingly important in

recent decades. The retirement system now puts more of the burden of retirement savings

directly on the backs of workers. Heightened individual responsibility has been successful in

some ways: assets in 401(k)s will soon exceed those in the Social Security trust fund. But it has

been unsuccessful in others: Americans are not saving enough to meet this responsibility.

In part due to the continuing shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC)

retirement plans, younger workers are not participating in the pension system today to the

extent that older workers are. This represents an enormous lost opportunity, since saving during

the first decade of work is critical to maximizing the power of compound interest to build up

retirement savings. A worker earning $35,000 who begins saving at age 30, for example, may

find that a 5% deferral will be enough to meet her retirement goal. If the same worker waits until

age 40, however, she will need to set aside 15%; and if she delays until age 50, she will find it

nearly impossible to save enough to meet a reasonable retirement goal.

Schieber warned that low-income workers—those most dependent on Social Security as a

source of retirement income—would be hit hardest if the threatened insolvency of the Social

Security system forced cuts in benefits. The Health in Retirement Study conducted by the

National Institute of Aging found that retirees in the lowest 10th percentile of income depend on

Social Security income to meet 94% of their day-to-day spending needs. A cut of 25% in benefits

would thus mean the loss of more than 20% of their spending power (while those in the highest

percentile would only lose 2.5% of their spending dollars).

Section 2: The State of Retirement Savings 5

Reiterating the importance of saving, Schieber urged the delegates to find effective solutions

for the following challenges that face the four groups of workers targeted by the 2006 Summit:

1. How can we create more retirement saving opportunities for low-wage workers?

2. How can we offer opportunities to small-business employees? What can we do to make

retirement plans viable for small employers to offer to their workers?

3. How can we get young people saving sooner? How can we get them committed to

participating in the system?

4. How can we facilitate extended working opportunities to those nearing retirement age?

Schieber closed with the suggestion that another major challenge in achieving retirement

security for future generations of retirees involves changing the culture. Every day, Americans

receive messages suggesting that “shopping is therapy” or that “we can save by spending more

on our credit card.” He urged the Summit to send out a new message that rather than spending

so much, all of us ought to be saving.

Following his closing, Scheiber introduced a video produced for the Summit that depicted

members of each of the four groups that were the subjects of the breakout groups. The video

helped to personalize the issues facing these groups for the delegates; illustrating the thoughts,

attitudes and hopes these groups have toward retirement savings as well as the challenges they

encounter in saving. This video may be accessed at www.saversumit.dol.gov.

6 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

SECTION 3

Plenary Sessions

he Summit’s plenary sessions featured a number of distinguished speakers, including

Vice President of the United States Richard B. Cheney; economist, author, and comedian

Ben Stein, U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley; U.S. House of

Representatives Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley; U.S. Senate Special

Committee on Aging Chairman Gordon Smith; and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce

Donald L. Evans.

Vice President Richard B. Cheney described retirement as a

period of tremendous activity and vigor. “We want to make sure,”

he vowed, “that as many citizens as possible enjoy independence

and financial security in their retirement years with personal

savings and a nest egg to call their own, a retirement safety net

that never breaks down, and reliable pension plans.”

The Vice President spoke of the importance of building an own-

ership society where every citizen has the opportunity to own a

home, a small business, a healthcare plan, and a retirement plan,

and to achieve the American dream. Both ownership and the American dream, he said, begin

with saving money. To help, the President has proposed the creation of three simplified savings

accounts: simplified retirement savings accounts; simplified employment-based retirement

savings accounts; and tax-free lifetime savings accounts for any purpose (job training, college

tuition, a house, a car, or retirement).

Vice President Cheney suggested legislation to improve the portability of Health Savings

Accounts and raise their expenditure limits, and to subsidize HSAs for low-income workers.

He also recommended the creation of a bipartisan commission to study the future impacts of

baby boomer retirement on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Finally, he urged Congress

to adopt a pension-reform bill that would mandate pension audits and require employers to

catch up on underfunded pensions and keep their promises to their employees.

“If we choose wisely,” the Vice President told the delegates, “we can have a positive impact

on the lives of Americans for many decades to come, helping millions of seniors today and

tomorrow find the dignity, the security, and the peace of mind they deserve.”

Economist and humorist Ben Stein set out to answer the question, “Why

won’t the baby boomers save?” According to Stein, the average baby boomer

needs to save about $400,000 to have sufficient interest income to make up

the difference between Social Security and what he or she needs for retirement.

Yet the average baby boomer has saved only $50,000—or $110,000 if you

include equity in their homes. He called this a crisis in the making.

Humorously exploring the question of how we got to this point, Stein suggested

a number of possible causes. First, he suggested, baby boomers have “always had it too good.”

Never having lived through economic hard times, they lack the discipline to save. He also proposed

a Freudian explanation: the false sense that mommy and daddy—or the government—will always

bail them out if they get in trouble. A third possibility drew on the theories of behavioral psycholo-

gist B.F. Skinner: saving offers no immediate gratification, while spending provides immediate

positive reinforcement such as a flat-panel plasma TV set or a new car. The final theory suggested

that baby boomers felt compelled “to obey the media consumer spending machine.”

Whatever the cause, Stein concluded, many baby boomers in retirement will have to cut their

standard of living drastically, while others will simply run out of money. The baby boomers may

actually have saved more than the previous generation of Americans, but because fewer of them

have DB pension plans, they are worse off.

Section 3: Plenary Sessions 7

What should we do about this crisis? Stein recommended shock therapy: waking people up,

educating them, scaring them with images of what life is like for people who are old and poor.

Stein ended his speech with a call to action. “If we do it right, if we educate ourselves, if we

change the laws to favor saving and lifetime income, if we organize ourselves and make a plan,

execute on the plan, we can help this country to enjoy one of FDR’s four freedoms, a glorious,

glorious freedom: freedom from fear.”

Senator Charles Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, reminded delegates

of the old saying, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Contending that Americans seem to have

forgotten that wisdom, Grassley emphasized the need to build a Savers’ society

to “help ensure that all Americans have the opportunity for a financially secure

future.” Recognizing that more and more Americans will rely on 401(k) plans

for retirement income, Grassley advocated the incorporation of certain features

(automatic enrollment, professional investment management, etc.) of traditional

defined benefit pensions into 401(k) plans. He also urged delegates to focus

attention on how to distribute retirement plan assets in a way that ensures they

last a lifetime and emphasized the need to find ways to allow retirees to continue

working if they wish. Finally, Chairman Grassley spoke passionately about the need for defined

benefit pension reform, calling on his colleagues to pass comprehensive reform legislation quickly.

Representative Michael Oxley, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee,

informed the delegates that recently passed legislation modernizing the deposit insurance sys-

tem had increased the deposit insurance limit on certain retirement accounts from $100,000 to

$250,000 and indexed that limit to inflation. Oxley said that Americans have the

information, education, and tools they need to plan a secure future, and he

encouraged “ . . . savers and investors to take advantage of all that is available

to them, and take charge of their own futures.”

Senator Gordon Smith, Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging,

warned delegates that entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, and

Medicaid), which once represented just 25% of the federal budget, will within

two or three decades represent—along with interest on the national debt—the

entire federal budget if current trends continue. Smith told the delegates that

he and Senator Kent Conrad were proposing a bipartisan retirement security bill

that would make enrollment in an employer’s 401(k) automatic, extend the

Savers’ Tax Credit to 2010, allow the transfer of Health Savings Accounts or

Healthflex funds into a retirement account, allow direct deposit of tax refunds

into an IRA, provide tax incentives for life annuities, and make pension provi-

sions permanent.

Don Evans, CEO of the Financial Services Forum and former U.S. Secretary

of Commerce, said that government was not doing enough to strengthen and improve impor-

tant retirement programs for seniors and future seniors—but that younger

Americans were not doing enough to help themselves for tomorrow by saving

more. “Providing for a secure retirement,” Evans insisted, “requires a lifetime

commitment to savings and investment.” Americans need not only to save

more, he said, but to save smarter: investing and putting money to work.

The S&P 500, he pointed out, had increased an average of 12% a year over the

last 80 years. A well-diversified investment portfolio, Evans said, offers a

powerful tool toward retirement security. He urged the expansion of ownership

of financial assets among all Americans and stressed the need for greater financial literacy.

Evans closed with the promise that if we plan and work together, we can meet the challenges

our retirement system currently faces.

8 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

SECTION 4

Overview of the Breakout Sessions

or the breakout sessions, delegates were divided into

four teams, each devoted to helping a targeted seg-

ment of the workforce meet the unique challenges it

faces in saving for retirement. Again, the four targeted

groups of American workers were: Low Income Workers;

Small Business Employees; New Entrants to the Workforce;

and Workers Nearing Retirement.

Each team heard an initial briefing by a retirement

benefits expert who examined the state of savings among

their targeted group and described the obstacles that

made it more difficult for individual members of that

group to save. One or two guest speakers then addressed each team, describing model programs

that had succeeded both in reaching out to targeted workers and in motivating and/or facilitat-

ing their efforts to save for retirement.

The teams in the breakout sessions then broke into smaller subgroups, each charged with

creating one or more action plans that would serve the targeted population. Each action plan

would aim to accomplish one of two goals:

✦ To help raise actionable awareness of the vital importance of retirement planning among

their targeted population—knowledge that would inspire and motivate individual workers

to save or to save more

✦ To offer new programs, policy suggestions, new products, or other means that would better

enable their targeted population to save adequately for retirement

In focusing on reaching out to these segments of the workforce, the aim was to develop a

broader message of the value of retirement savings that would reach and inspire all Americans.

The subgroups often organized themselves around common themes. Some delegates wanted to

talk about educational and communication issues and work on developing outreach programs.

Some preferred to talk about reforming regulations or policy in ways that would help spur

retirement savings. Others wanted to discuss the development of new financial products or

retirement plans that would better serve their targeted population.

Out of these discussions, concrete action plans—presented in the following four sections

of this report—were developed. In addition, some common themes emerged from all of the

teamwork. These common themes included:

✦ The need to improve financial literacy and awareness of retirement income needs through

such vehicles as annual Social Security statements, websites, public service announcements,

and onsite financial advisors

✦ The need to improve access to retirement plans, especially employment-based plans, which

were regarded as the most efficient means of increasing enrollment, participation, salary

deferral rates, and overall savings

✦ The need to provide more effective incentives to low-income workers, new entrants to the

workforce, and small-business employers

✦ The need to explore alternatives to full retirement

✦ The need for regulatory reform and product innovation that reflects the continuing shift

from Defined Benefit (DB) to Defined Contribution (DC) plans

Each team came up with a substantial number of creative, innovative solutions to the

challenges faced by their targeted group of workers. It is important to note that the proposals

described in this report were developed by the delegates and do not necessarily reflect the

policies of the Secretary of Labor.

Section 5: Low-Income Workers 9

SECTION 5

Low-Income Workers

r. Kirk Johnson, Senior Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data

Analysis, opened the group discussion with an overview of the challenges confronted

by low-income workers in saving toward retirement. Low-income workers, often living

paycheck to paycheck, find it difficult to save at all. A majority do not own their own homes

and in general they tend to amass more debt. In addition, low-income workers tend to have less

financial literacy than people with higher incomes.

Low-income workers have less access than other workers to workplace retirement programs,

and even when they have access, fewer low-income workers participate. The fact that low-

income workers change jobs more often than those with higher incomes makes it more difficult

for them to qualify for employer-sponsored plans—and more inclined to cash out any plan they

might have when they leave a job.

Johnson noted that certain policies also serve as disincentives to save—or incentives to cash

in savings—among low-income workers. Asset tests that determine eligibility for food stamps,

Medicaid, TANF, and other welfare benefits, for example, include Individual Retirement Accounts

(IRAs), Keoghs, and Simplified Employee Pensions (SEPs) in their accounting of a worker’s

resources. Furthermore, the Savers’

Tax Credit provides little incentive

for low-income workers since many

have little or no tax liability and

the credit is not refundable.

Johnson noted that a number of

promising programs have demon-

strated the ability and inclination

of lower-income workers to save

when offered the right motivation

or incentives. For example, Johnson

pointed to a Phoenix financial

education program for low-income

residents linked to the opening of

free savings accounts for partici-

pants. The program’s classes were

at full capacity.

Steven Dow, Executive Director of the Community Action Project (CAP) of Tulsa County,

Oklahoma, then spoke about his organization’s model program for low-income workers. CAP

offers low-income residents of Tulsa the opportunity to build assets in Individual Development

Accounts (IDAs). The Tulsa IDAs operate under three guiding principles: matching participants’

savings to some extent, providing financial education to savers, and restricting use of the

accumulated assets. Unlike many IDAs, which restrict use solely to home ownership, small-

business development, or education, Tulsa also added retirement accounts—which became the

choice of 21% of participants. The program—aimed at getting people to invest, at least in a

savings account, toward a specific goal—has demonstrated that when given the opportunity,

the proper support, and the proper incentives, low-income workers can and will save. In

addition, the level of debt did not rise for most participants, who instead changed their

spending priorities. CAP gave participants a sense of responsibility, dignity, and self-worth,

which further motivated their desire to save for the future.

10 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

Proposed Programs

The breakout group addressing the challenges facing low-income workers in saving toward

retirement came up with a number of innovative suggestions for action programs that might help

increase the financial literacy of, and encourage retirement savings among, this segment of the

population. Essential elements of

the proposed programs included

financial education, changes in

policy, and the creation of new

savings vehicles. A brief description

that highlights the main ideas of

each action plan developed by the

subgroups of this breakout group

follows below.

✦ Financial Initiative for

Tomorrow (FIT): The objec-

tive of this ongoing education

program would be to make the

message of the value of retire-

ment savings and personal

responsibility so pervasive—

like campaigns to wear seat-

belts or stop smoking—that people cannot help but hear it. Elements of the program would

include a national curriculum for all schools and colleges, as well as adult education and

public service ads.

✦ PEBS Plus: To build actionable awareness and increase participation in retirement plans,

this program would use the annual Personal Earnings Benefit Statement, which every

American worker already receives from the Social Security Administration, to provide

income analysis reflecting the gap between projected Social Security income in retirement

and assets needed to meet adequate replacement income levels. It could also establish

monthly savings goals to close this gap. A public service ad campaign that stresses “Buying

Retirement” would reinforce the message.

✦ National Retirement Savings Day: This program would aim to increase awareness of the

importance of retirement savings and stress individual responsibility by putting the full

weight of federal, state, and local government behind a focused message. The message

would be delivered through the President, governors, CEOs and business owners, and public

service ad campaigns.

✦ Ask Those Who Know: This proposal rests on the simple premise that low-income workers

know best what would motivate them and help them to save for their retirement. The

program would conduct workshops that directly involve low-income workers in discussions

of how to enhance their own retirement security.

✦ Enhanced Savers’ Credit: This program would extend the life of the current Savers’ Tax

Credit and make it refundable to workers who do not earn enough to owe income tax—

thereby providing tax parity with those whose contributions are deducted prior to taxes,

as well as an effective incentive for low-income workers to contribute (or increase contribu-

tions) to retirement savings plans. Other suggestions to strengthen the Savers’ Credit

include indexing it to inflation, raising eligibility limits, smoothing break points, making

the credit apply to individuals rather than families, and converting the credit to a matching

payment (50% with a $2,000 limit) deposited directly into the taxpayer’s retirement account.

Section 5: Low-Income Workers 11

✦ Desist with Disincentives to Retirement Savings and Exempt Retirement Accounts

from Asset Tests for Means-Tested Programs: Both of these programs aim to encourage

savings among low-income workers by allowing those who have saved to remain eligible for

food stamps and other welfare benefits, if needed. Both programs would exempt retirement

savings accounts from asset tests for food stamps, SSI, and other welfare benefits, which

would bring defined contribution plans in line with defined benefit plans, which are already

exempt. This would allow the accumulation and growth of savings in qualified retirement

savings accounts by low-income workers without penalty.

✦ The Automatic IRA: This initiative would expand participation among low-income workers

by requiring businesses with more than 9 employees that do not already sponsor retirement

plans to institute a

payroll-deduction plan

that puts money in

employees’ IRAs in

return for a temporary

business tax credit.

Employees would either

have to indicate their

choice of plan in writ-

ing or choose to opt

out if they do not want

to participate.

Employees would also

have the option of

making IRA deposits by

splitting tax refunds.

A pooled IRA or asset-

allocated collective

investment managed by

private firms under government contract would help manage the investments of workers with

little financial knowledge. This program would protect employers from both implementation

costs and fiduciary liability and would not require matching contributions.

✦ Joint Retirement Accounts (JRAs): These would require married workers who want to

contribute to their pension or roll over their pension into an IRA to put the money in a

JRA—a jointly owned account that requires joint signatures on any distributions and, upon

death, automatically goes to the surviving spouse. In case of divorce, the account would be

divided equally unless the couple specifies otherwise. This program would extend principles

of defined benefit plans, which recognize marriage as an economic partnership and provide

spousal protections, to IRAs and 401(k)s.

✦ Universal Kids’ Accounts: This program would use government-funded starter deposits to

establish savings accounts with Roth IRA tax treatment for all children at birth. The program

would provide a government match for deposits on behalf of low-income children.

Withdrawals would be allowed only for post-secondary education, purchase of a first home,

or retirement.

✦ Social Security Works: This program would educate workers about the positive attributes

of Social Security’s defined benefit structure as a base for retirement savings.

✦ The Effective 401(k) Safe Harbor: Since safe harbors that require matching contributions

may discourage some employers from offering retirement plans or encouraging plan

participation, this program would involve redesigning safe harbor 401(k) plans. Unless the

employer has a defined benefit plan, the redesign would require direct minimum employee

12 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

contributions without requiring employer matching. In addition, employers would be

required to provide educational programs on the value of savings and plan participation.

✦ Retirement Savings Structural Simplification: To reduce the complexity of current

retirement savings plans, this program would aim to make it easy for employers to offer

retirement plans and hard for employees not to save. Simplification would involve aligning

the various retirement plans that already exist so that they fit together. Among the recom-

mendations offered were making the Savers’ tax credit permanent, offering incentives to

make lower-income savings a goal for the financial industry, automatic enrollment of all

employees upon hiring, and reducing employer costs by facilitating “pooling” into larger

programs.

✦ Aligning Plan Sponsors and Providers with the Needs of Low-Income Workers: This

program would encourage and reward those who improve the access of low-income workers

to retirement plans. It would include tax breaks or Community Reinvestment Act credits for

employers and providers who enroll low-income participants, sponsor mandatory enroll-

ment meetings, or make matching contributions to low-income workers’ defined contribu-

tion plans. IRA providers who exclude low-income workers might be subject to penalties.

✦ Universal Employer Retirement Plan: This program would create an intermediary

multi-employer retirement savings clearinghouse to receive retirement investments from

employers. Such a clearinghouse would encourage employers to provide access to low-

income workers, assist workers with multiple employers to coordinate a retirement savings

plan with contributions from each employer, and encourage those who change jobs to roll

over assets and continue retirement planning.

✦ LIFE: Lifetime Income for Everyone: This program recommends taxing lifetime annuity

and pension distributions at the capital gains rate in order to encourage savers to purchase

an annuity from their

401(k), thus ensuring

lifetime income, rather

than taking a lump sum at

retirement. Those who

proposed this program

suggested that further

incentives might be needed

for people already in the

0% tax bracket and for

married couples to

encourage the choice of

a joint and survivor

pension.

Section 6: Small-Business Employees 13

SECTION 6

Small-Business Employees

enee V. Schaaf, Vice President of Retirement and Investor Services of the Principal

Financial Group, began the group session by outlining some of the challenges and

obstacles that employees of small companies face as they attempt to save for their

retirement. Schaaf noted that most American businesses are small businesses, with 98% having

fewer than 100 employees and 61% having fewer than five. Yet small companies are less likely

to offer retirement plans to their employees: under one-third do so. Small-business owners cite

several reasons for not providing employment-based retirement plans, including uncertainty

about revenues, the cost of retirement plans, the complex fiduciary role involved, and the

perception that their employees don’t value retirement plans.

Schaaf argued that because most small-business owners were not familiar with available

retirement plans, most of these reasons were inaccurate. The cost of plans, for example, though

about 33% more expensive per participant than those sponsored by larger firms, is still afford-

able—and in 2001 the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) established

tax incentives for small businesses

that start retirement plans. The

administration of plans, simplified

by EGTRRA, continues to get easier.

She also cited two statistics that

demonstrated that small-business

employees do value retirement plans.

Sixty-two percent of employees say

they work where they do because of

their employer’s benefits package.

And when offered employment-based

retirement plans, 85% of eligible

small-business employees participate

in them.

Statistically, small-business

employees tend to be younger, less

educated, and less financially literate than employees of larger firms. They more often work

part-time, which sometimes makes them ineligible for employment-based retirement plans. For

their part, small businesses that offer retirement plans tend to require longer job tenure before

their employees become eligible to participate, and they are less likely to offer matching funds

for a defined contribution plan.

Schaaf then detailed some of the characteristics of programs that successfully engage small-

business owners and employees. Employers that offer plans tend to view employees as their

most important asset and see retirement plans as an investment rather than an expense. They

recognize that a good benefits package helps attract and retain the best employees. By facilitat-

ing a low turnover rate and greater employee productivity, a good retirement plan and benefits

package actually yields bottom-line savings as well as the loyalty of clients and customers.

Most employees, according to Schaaf, prefer “do-it-for-me” plans to plans that force partici-

pants to make difficult investment choices. According to a 2005 study by the Principal Financial

Group, 49% of employees say they have too little information on retirement planning while 72%

say they lack the discipline to save. Do-it-for-me plans—with automatic enrollment or “easy

enrollment,” default contribution rates, automatic escalation of contributions, default investment

14 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

portfolios, and periodic rebalancing of accounts—make it simple for employees to save. In fact,

75% of American employees prefer to have someone else manage their investments for them.

Finally, Schaaf stressed the critical importance of employee education and of communication

between employers and employees. The 2001 Retirement Confidence Survey found that 50% of

401(k) participants don’t know how much to save, 60% never change their investment allocation,

80% never rebalance their accounts, and 75% remain at the initial default deferral rate. Such

educational tools as retirement calculators, face-to-face financial guidance in the workplace,

websites, and written material all work to improve employees’ financial literacy.

Rob Zeldenrust, General Manager of the Fremont Co-operative Produce Company in Fremont,

Michigan, then spoke of his company’s model retirement program for small-business employees.

Zeldenrust emphasized employer benefits—the recognition that a good, fair benefits package

helps attract and retain the best employees, increases productivity and loyalty among workers,

and helps build a reputation as a good place to work. He cited a Principal Financial Group study

that found that a solid benefits package motivates 68% of employees to work harder and per-

form better. The Fremont Co-op, for example, has a very low absenteeism rate and a voluntary

turnover rate of just 7% in an industry that averages 32%.

Zeldenrust pointed out that pooling benefits among 17 affiliated companies through the

Michigan Farm Bureau had brought them much better prices on benefits packages. Instead of

covering just 36 Fremont employees, the pool included 1,500 participants. As a result, the

Fremont Co-op—which offers a 401(k) plan, a defined benefit plan, and a profit-sharing plan

in addition to health, life, disability, and accidental death insurance—spends just $600 per

employee per year in administering the entire benefits package.

Fremont produces an annual personal-benefit statement for every employee and sponsors annual

meetings that allow employees (and their spouses) to provide feedback on benefits. The company

also periodically brings in financial advisors to offer employees guidance. The success of the

Fremont program, said Zeldenrust, demonstrates that small-business employees do want to

participate in retirement plans. At Fremont, 100% of employees participate in the 401(k) plan and

defer salary at least at the level to maximize the company’s matching contribution.

Proposed Programs

The breakout group addressing the challenges that small-business employees face in saving

toward retirement came up with a number of creative and thorough suggestions for action

programs both to educate small employers about the ease and relatively low cost of retirement

plan options and to help increase awareness of and encourage retirement savings among

small-business employees. Their recommendations included the creation or adjustment of

government programs, policy

revisions, innovations in retirement

plan designs, and development of

new communication strategies. A

brief description that highlights

the main ideas of each action plan

developed by the subgroups of this

breakout group follows below.

✦ The Automatic IRA: This

program, described in detail in

Section 5 as an action plan for

low-income workers, would

also serve small-business

employers and employees.

Employers would have no

Section 6: Small-Business Employees 15

fiduciary responsibility, serving merely as a conduit of payroll deductions by sending the

money to a centralized IRA provider. The Automatic IRA would encourage automatic

enrollment of all employees, automatic escalation of contributions, and a default investment

portfolio for participants who don’t want to make their own investment choices.

✦ Plan Designs for the 21st Century: This program would offer three new retirement plans

that would provide small-business employees a guaranteed minimum benefit and invest-

ment return while increasing their retirement savings. The delegates who developed this

program called these three plans the Plain Old Pension Plan (POPP), the Guaranteed Account

Plan (GAP), and the Defined Benefit 401(k) (DB/K). These plans—all hybrids of existing

plans—would offer employers flexible funding (allowing them to contribute more in

profitable years to cover benefits for future lean years, for example) and continued tax

incentives while providing

employees with guaranteed

benefits and regular, easy-to-

understand account balance

statements.

✦ Pooling Our Way to New

Small-Business Coverage: This

program would develop new

multiple-employer plans, allowing

unrelated small businesses to

band together—either by industry

or by geography—and benefit

from economy of scale in order to

provide cost-effective, portable

pension plans for themselves and

their employees. Alternatively, the

program could develop multi-

employer arrangements that

enable unrelated employers to

pool resources, but that don’t have collective bargaining requirements. Administrative

and fiduciary responsibility for these plans—a key concern of small employers—could be

assumed by financial institutions. The plans, funded through employee and/or employer

contributions, could offer pooled investments under a DB plan or simplified investments

under a DC plan.

✦ Retirement Equity Tax Incentive Relief & Encouragement (RETIRE) Act: This proposed

act would provide new tax incentives to make employment-based retirement plans more

affordable for small businesses. For small employers (less than 100 employees), RETIRE

would provide a $1,000 tax credit to defray administrative costs, roll back IRS user fees for

retirement plan applications to 2005 levels, make the 2001 EGTRRA pension provisions

permanent, and provide exception from fiduciary risk for specified default investments used

as safe harbors. The program would use automatic enrollment and allow tax-free rollovers

for all family members, not just spouses. The program designers also recommended

increasing the age for minimum required distributions to 75, excluding $1 million in IRAs

or retirement plans from the taxable estate, and taxing IRAs and retirement plans at capital

gains rates.

✦ Students Learning About Money (SLAM): This program would require every high school

graduate to complete at least one semester of a course in basic finance and demonstrate

basic financial literacy, including such concepts as how to balance a budget, how credit

cards work, the impact of compound interest, and the value of asset diversification. SLAM

16 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

would provide hands-on practical training using new technologies (iPods, “push” tech,

“go” phone concept) to engage young people at an age when knowledge of basic financial

concepts will make a significant difference. The program might also aim to increase

financial literacy among adults through public service announcements, or by offering a

tax credit to adults who complete a financial literacy course.

✦ Project Alarm: This program would join the public and private sectors in providing

consistent, simple messages (slogans and rules of thumb) designed to sound the alarm

regarding retirement savings and to change the prevailing culture. Working together,

government and business would craft messages aimed at creating awareness of retirement

goals and the need for a

guaranteed income, teaching

how to manage savings and

how to safeguard against the

risk of lost savings, and

encouraging workers to start

saving early. Vehicles used to

communicate Project Alarm

messages could include the

Social Security Administration,

the Department of Labor, the

Internal Revenue Service,

employers and plan sponsors,

the Small Business

Administration, accountants

and financial planners,

schools, and the press.

Section 7: New Entrants to the Workforce 17

SECTION 7

New Entrants to the Workforce

ori Lucas, Director of Retirement Research with Hewitt Associates, LLC, opened the group

session by providing a definition of “new entrants to the workforce” and an overview of the

challenges they confront in saving toward retirement. New entrants are those with less than

five years’ tenure with their current employer. They tend to be younger, less financially savvy,

and have lower salaries than the average American worker. They often enter the workforce

saddled with debt, since the typical college loan debt upon graduation is $20,000 and the

average graduate also carries $4,000 in credit card debt. In addition to paying off loans, new

entrants often have other spending priorities that offer more immediate gratification: a car, a

house, day-to-day needs, and “lifestyle” purchases.

Tax deferrals provide a weak incentive for many new entrants. These workers often have a

somewhat myopic view of life, regarding themselves as “too young to save for retirement.”

As Lucas pointed out, however, the first 10 years of employment are critical to retirement

savings, allowing much more time for compound interest or long-term investment returns.

Even for those new entrants who want to start saving for retirement, short job tenure makes

it difficult. Many employees are not eligible for either matching contributions or vesting during

the first year of employment.

In addition, because they often

work in high-turnover indus-

tries, new entrants tend to

move quickly from one job to

another. And 65% of those with

less than two years’ job tenure

cash out their 401(k) balance

when they leave a job.

Faced with the complexity of

retirement planning, many new

entrants forgo participation,

choose risk-averse investments

(money market funds), or accept

default options that are inappro-

priate for younger workers.

Lucas cited a 2003 study that showed that the more funds a retirement plan offers as options,

the less likely employees are to participate at all. This suggests that the simpler the plans, the

better, as far as new entrants are concerned.

Lucas suggested that inertia could work to the advantage of new entrants if employers

enrolled their employees immediately during orientation and if plans incorporated automatic

enrollment, “quick enrollment” cards, or “quick enrollment online” as well as set contribution

rates, premixed portfolios, and automatic escalations as default options.

Jeffrey D. Wiker, Vice President of Administration of H.L. Wiker, a Lancaster, Pennsylvania

company with about 150 employees, described his model program for new entrants to the

workforce. Wiker’s employees become eligible to participate in the company’s 401(k) plan after

3 months. The company automatically puts in 1% of the employee’s salary and provides a

25% match of the first 6% in salary deferral. The company issues benefits statements every

six months and hosts mandatory benefits meetings as well as one-on-one financial advice

sessions during work hours. Wiker’s Step Program allows low initial deferral rates with regular

18 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

escalations, and its Lifetime

Portfolio Plan takes the

guesswork out of planning by

making default investments

based on a worker’s age and

years until retirement. Among

employees with less than five

years’ tenure, 89% participate at

an average deferral rate of 5.9%.

Danielle R. Shanes, Manager

of the Work Environment at the

McGraw-Hill Companies, then

described her company’s model

program for new entrants.

With 13,500 U.S. employees,

McGraw-Hill offers 401(k), profit

sharing, and pension plans with

immediate eligibility and vesting upon hiring. Viewing retirement planning as the shared

responsibility of employers and employees, the company provides a 100% match on the first

3% of salary deferral and 50% on the next 3%. With the goal of fostering financially literate

employees, the company operates a financial resources website and sponsors retirement

seminars and one-on-one meetings with Ameriprise financial advisors. It stresses retirement

planning through multiple “edutainment” media, including iPods, a video screen in the lobby,

and personalized e-mails. The success of its efforts is demonstrated by McGraw-Hill’s 85%

participation rate in its retirement plans.

Proposed Programs

The breakout group addressing the challenges faced by new entrants to the workforce in

saving for retirement suggested a number of innovative action programs to heighten awareness

of the need to start saving early, and to help new entrants do just that. A brief description that

highlights the main ideas of each action plan developed by the subgroups of this breakout group

follows below.

✦ Savings Are Vital for Everyone’s Retirement (SAVER) Act 2006: This act would

establish a SAVER account—with a $1,000 start-up financed through a government grant—

for every American worker upon receipt of their first paycheck. The initial contribution rate

would be 3% of the worker’s salary with regular 0.25% escalations. The payroll deduction

could either be deposited into the employer’s plan or sent with the employer’s FICA pay-

ments—at no cost to the employer—and deposited into a clearinghouse plan, managed by

private money managers, with default features both universal and legal for all plans. When

workers change jobs, funds could be automatically transferred to or from the clearinghouse.

Workers would have no access to SAVER funds until retirement age, thereby guaranteeing

some retirement savings. To offset the cost of contributions by low-income workers, this

program would also make the Savers’ tax credit refundable. A broad-based public education

campaign would supplement the program goals.

✦ Better Education = Higher Savings: This would introduce a two-pronged financial educa-

tion program: The first would stress basic financial literacy (budgeting, savings, etc.) to

children through the public and private school systems; the second would teach higher

financial skills, including retirement planning, to workers through employer-sponsored

educational courses. The program would use incentives—federal education funds tied to

adoption of a financial literacy curriculum, tax incentives to offset employer costs of

Section 7: New Entrants to the Workforce 19

educational programs, or fiduciary

safe-harbor relief to employers

who implement a comprehensive

education program—to encourage

participation by schools and

employers. The program would aim

to create a better-educated workforce

more likely to take “ownership” of

their retirement and become better

savers.

✦ The Portability, Education, and

Tax Incentives (PET) Project: Here,

a three-pronged approach would

help new entrants achieve future

financial security in terms of both

retirement income and healthcare

costs. A privately operated clearinghouse would be created to allow plans for workers who

change jobs frequently and for employers who do not sponsor their own plans, while

ensuring portability from job to job. The program would also make financial literacy a

requirement for high school graduation, offer incentives to employers and financial

institutions to provide investment education and advice, and use the annual SSA statement

to encourage taxpayers to calculate how much they need to save for retirement security.

Tax incentives for employers who meet benchmarks for automatic enrollment and escala-

tions in deferrals, for new workers who start participating and saving, and for savers who

preserve rather than disburse their retirement savings would help encourage prudent

savings behavior.

✦ Invest in Yourself: This approach advocates automatic enrollment in retirement savings

plans, default investments for uncertain investors, and matching contributions from the

employer or the government to simplify and stimulate retirement savings and make them

relevant to new entrants. The program would be complemented by a multimedia educational

campaign aimed at changing the way workers think—to think in terms of retirement income,

for example, rather than retirement savings. Finally, the program would relax restrictions on

offering financial advice to new workers, giving workers access to financial professionals

and reducing their reliance on non-professional sources of financial advice—but without

exposing those advisors to

undue fiduciary risk.

✦ Make DB Easier: This

program would preserve the

best elements of DB plans—

automatic 100% participation,

risk sharing, longevity protec-

tion, and the security of a

guaranteed minimum income—

while avoiding the chief pitfall

of the current system: under-

funding. The introduction of

simple elements—a flat or

career-average benefit that can

be upgraded, full funding so

that promises can’t run ahead

20 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

of funding, and portability (after vesting) through either reciprocity among participating

plans or locked-in transfer values equal to actuarial reserve—would enhance both employee

coverage and retirement income security.

✦ Make Savings Easier through Structural Change: This concept advocates program

redesign and structural change aimed at making it easier for employers to adopt and

administer employment-based retirement plans and for employees to enter and remain in

a plan. It would permit employers to band together to form and administer plans, allowing

economy of scale and better expertise. The program also advocates “opt-out options”—

automatic enrollment, default to a premixed fund, escalating contribution levels, and

automatic rebalancing of accounts—for employees. To increase participation, the program’s

designers recommended immediate eligibility for plans, a short vesting period, and

expanded availability to part-time workers. Finally, the program might employ tax incentives

to encourage parents to set up retirement accounts for their children, helping to instill a

savings culture in future generations.

✦ 401(k) for Kids: This program would allow employees to save for both retirement and their

children’s future educational expenses through employment-based payroll deduction plans

by developing 401(k) for Kids plans tied to workers’ 401(k) accounts. Upon receiving their

first paycheck, workers

would be automatically

enrolled and would receive

a gift card or initial deposit

in their (k)ids account—

an immediate gratification

for saving (which usually

offers only deferred gratifi-

cation). The program,

which would allow tax-free

transfers between 401(k)

and 401(k)ids accounts,

would help build a culture

of savings among American

workers—and their children.

SECTION 8

Workers Nearing Retirement

ylvester J. Schieber, Vice

President and U.S. Director of

Benefits Consulting at Watson

Wyatt Worldwide, opened the group

session by outlining some of the

challenges faced by today’s older

workers who are nearing retirement.

Inadequate savings, the failure to

factor in rising healthcare and

long-term care costs, and increasing

longevity represent the biggest

concerns for older workers. Most

experts suggest that retirees need a

replacement income of 70-80% of

their final year’s employment

income to avoid a drop-off in

standard of living. Yet for many soon-to-be retirees, the combination of Social Security and

retirement or pension plans will not provide this level of income—especially since about 40% of

workers over 40 do not participate in an employer-based retirement plan. Even personal savings

(IRAs, home equity, etc.) may not bridge the gap for many workers.

Schieber suggested that phased retirement that goes beyond normal retirement age offers one

solution. The anticipated flood of baby boomer retirees could lead to labor shortages in certain

sectors, opening the door for phased retirees to make substantial contributions to the workforce.

A 2004 Watson Wyatt survey of workers aged 50 to 70 found that one-third would work longer

if offered a phased retirement arrangement. Many workers cited the need for income, enjoyment

of work, and retaining medical coverage as reasons to continue working. The same workers

preferred phased retirement over continued full-time work because it offers shorter, more

flexible hours, less responsibility and stress, and more job satisfaction in addition to eligibility

for retirement benefits. However, current pension rules prohibit drawing a pension and a salary

from the same company, forcing two-thirds of those who work after “retirement” to seek a new

employer.

To explore phased retirement further, Deborah Lebryk, Director of External Relations at

Monsanto Company, told the group about her company’s model program, the Resource Re-entry

Center (RRC). The RRC matches a pool of 450 retirees and former employees with temporary

positions at all skill levels—from scientists and financial consultants to receptionists and tour

guides. The program is open to any retiree who has not worked for Monsanto in six months.

For Monsanto, the RRC provides temporary workers who require little or no training while saving

the cost of temp agency mark-ups. For the participants, the RRC provides supplemental income,

flexible work schedules with the possibility of job sharing, and fulfilling work with little stress.

Charlotte Lazar-Morrison, Principal Director of Human Resources at The Aerospace

Corporation, then described her company’s use of phased retirement to meet the challenge of

maintaining an adequate labor and skill supply. In addition to extending the normal retirement

age and providing retiree medical benefits, Aerospace offers four phased retirement options:

1) a 90-day unpaid leave of absence to “try out” retirement; 2) part-time work (at least 20 hours

per week to retain benefits); 3) “Retiree Casual Employment”—the rehiring of retirees on an

Section 8: Workers Nearing Retirement 21

as-needed hourly basis (with a maximum of 999 hours a year); 4) consulting (subject to IRS

regulations regarding independent consultants). The program has offered great flexibility to

phased retirees while allowing Aerospace to draw on the skilled workers it needs.

Proposed Programs

The breakout group addressing the unique challenges faced by workers nearing retirement

came up with a number of creative suggestions for action programs to heighten awareness

of possibly inadequate savings, improve older workers’ ability to catch up on savings, take

mea-sures to deal with rising healthcare costs, and facilitate phased retirement. A brief

description that highlights

the main ideas of each action

plan developed by the sub-

groups of this breakout group

follows below.

✦ Lifetime Accumulation:

This program would

change the tax code that

limits tax-deferred annual

contributions to retirement

savings accounts to lifetime

limits on contributions.

The change would allow

workers nearing retirement

to catch up more quickly

and effectively, allow all

workers to take advantage

of their peak earning years to maximize savings, and allow women—who often interrupt their

careers—to maximize their savings during the years when they are earning.

✦ Change Rules to Reflect Shifting Paradigms: This program would establish innovative

regulations to reflect the steady shift of retirement plan paradigms from defined benefit

plans to defined contribution plans. The regulations would incorporate some of the best

features of defined benefit plans—automatic enrollment, default options—into defined

contribution plans. The program would also establish longevity insurance, examine

mandatory distribution requirements, and allow annuities as an election from DC plans.

This program’s designers also recommend exploring the possibility of using group

purchasing power to allow individuals to purchase health coverage, annuities, etc., thereby

increasing access to important benefits.

✦ Advice and Education and Simplification: This program would remove some of the

regulatory barriers that extend fiduciary liability to employers that provide investment

advice to employees as an election under their retirement plans—and thus prevent employ-

ers from providing sound financial advice to employees who need it. The designers of this

program argue that the current system makes it more costly for employers to provide

financial advice, which has a negative impact on savings. The new program, which would

require only advice that is in the sole interest of the plan participant, would aim to teach

workers such skills as how to turn a lump sum into income and thus convert their defined

contribution accumulation into a protected revenue stream.

✦ Product Bundling: This would remove the regulatory impediments to bundling products

like annuities and long-term care insurance. This would allow the financial services industry

to design unified plans that not only provide for retirement savings, but also cover the

rapidly rising health costs that may threaten those savings.

22 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

✦ Education and Communication to Create a “Savers Society”: This program would

develop a comprehensive national education strategy to instill and reinforce a simple,

understandable, intergenerational message that Americans need to plan and save for

retirement, with a particular emphasis on reaching those nearing retirement. The program

would involve a multimedia public educational and motivational campaign that utilizes such

existing resources as websites and public service announcements that employ celebrities,

shock and fear, patriotism, and hard reality to deliver a focused message on the importance

of preparing for a secure retirement. The program would also enhance Social Security

statements to include targeted messages by age, methods to calculate one’s “retirement

paycheck,” and links to retirement education websites. The program, which would leverage

public/private sector partnerships, would also embed financial literacy, including how to

save, into the nation’s educational curriculum.

✦ Flexible Work Training (for Managers): This program, which would provide training to

managers who are willing to hire seniors, focuses on the design, implementation, and appro-

priate target audiences of flexible work arrangements. Training, which should be designed

by work arrangement experts in consultation with experts on senior work, could be offered

through community colleges or other non-profits focused on training and finding employ-

ment for seniors. By increasing the awareness and acceptance of flexible work arrangements

among managers, the program would create more part-time, part-year, or other flexible

employment opportunities for seniors who want or need phased rather than full retirement.

✦ Short-Term Job Bank: This phased retirement program would create a community service

agency that matches qualified seniors who are available for short-term employment with

employers who have temporary or project-based assignments. The program would provide

marketing and outreach

services to prospective

employers of seniors

while maximizing

flexibility for phased

retirees. The program

could also work in

conjunction with training

or retraining for low-

income, low-skilled

seniors.

✦ Expand Employment

Training Opportunities

for Older Workers:

This program would

create demonstration

projects aimed at devel-

oping replicable programs that provide effective employment training for low-income,

low-skilled older workers and improve their overall access to and participation in

employment training programs. The program would also provide income support for

workers participating in such training. The Department of Labor’s Senior Community Service

Employment Program and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Senior Environmental

Employment Program were offered as effective models.

✦ Retiree Health Security: This program would offer retirees greater financial security by

providing protection against two of the biggest threats to retirement security: runaway

healthcare costs and gaps in retiree healthcare coverage caused by bankrupt, closed, or

financially strapped businesses that discontinue or reduce retiree health benefits. The

Section 8: Workers Nearing Retirement 23

program would provide government reinsurance against catastrophic healthcare expenses,

establish prefunding mechanisms for employers who still want to fund retiree health

benefits, allow early retirees to buy into Medicare, and offer a tax credit to retirees who pay

health insurance premiums other than Medicare—extending the health care tax credit that

already exists for retirees whose companies have gone bankrupt and terminated their

pension plans, to include retirees whose former employers have reduced their benefits but

not declared bankruptcy. Finally, the program would encourage wellness and disease

prevention programs.

✦ Retirement Income Security Plan (RISP): This program provides longevity protection

by gradually increasing payments in annuity format during the phased retirement period,

envisioned as the period from age 65 to 75 when earned income gradually decreases. By

replacing mandatory minimum disbursements with payments that phase in as retirees

phase out of work, the program would allow those in phased retirement to draw less while

they continue to have some earned income, and then draw more as they become older and

less able to work. This annuity income would thus supplement earned income, IRAs,

401(k)s, and Social

Security during the

early years of retirement

and take on increasing

importance as the other

sources of income

dwindle down, offering

protection for those

who live long lives in

retirement.

24 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

SECTION 9

Conclusion

ollowing the final breakout sessions, the team facilitators presented summaries of the

action plans devised by each team’s subgroups to the final plenary session of the 2006

National Summit on Retirement Savings. Tom Conger, Futurist and Founder of Social

Technologies LLC, who headed the team of facilitators, noted that an overarching theme—

“the desire to stress for everyone that savings in itself is a virtue”—had emerged throughout

the wide variety of thought-provoking plans and programs generated by the delegates’ hard

work. “Promoting savings as a core value,” he said, “maybe even a patriotic value, was very

important” to all the delegates.

Ann L. Combs, Assistant Secretary of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration,

closed the Summit by enthusiastically praising the breadth, range, and number of ideas and

concrete suggestions generated by the Summit delegates. The Summit had produced a “menu

of choices” for policy makers, legislators, and financial professionals to work on to improve the

future for all Americans.

“The work of the Summit is really not ending,” Assistant Secretary Combs reminded the

delegates. “This was the beginning of a long and a vital debate about the future of savings

for retirement.” She said she looked forward to working further with delegates to meet the

ongoing challenge of developing

strategies on how to implement

the action plans generated

through the Summit and how

to make them a reality.

“Americans are living longer,

healthier, and more active lives

than ever before, and preparing

for an independent and a secure

retirement is one of the great

challenges of our time,” she told

the delegates. “We must rise to

this occasion, and we will rise to

this occasion.”

Section 9: Conclusion 25

26 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

Saving for Your Golden Years:

Trends, Challenges and Opportunities

AGENDA

Day 1—Wednesday, March 1, 2006

8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast

9:30 a.m.-9:40 a.m. Presentation of Color Guard and National Anthem

9:40 a.m.-9:45 a.m. Introduction of Secretary Elaine L. Chao

Ann L. Combs, Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration,

U.S. Department of Labor

9:45 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks

The Honorable Elaine L. Chao, U.S. Secretary of Labor

10:00 a.m.-10:05 a.m. Overview and Introduction

Ann L. Combs, Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration,

U.S. Department of Labor

10:05 a.m.-10:35 a.m. Review of Previous Summits and Current Status

of Retirement Savings

Sylvester J. Schieber, Ph.D., Vice President and U.S. Director of Benefits Consulting,

Watson Wyatt Worldwide

10:35 a.m.-10:45 a.m. Video Introduction of Breakout Groups

11:00 a.m.-12:00 noon Four Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Delegates will work in one of four teams to examine the challenges facing four dis-

tinct groups by discussing ways to reach out with retirement savings messages and

help overcome savings obstacles.The Summit will address the central issues facing

workers and families.The groups to be examined are:

GROUP A: Low-Income Workers

Speaker: Kirk Johnson, Ph.D., Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Data Analysis,

The Heritage Foundation

GROUP B: Small-Business Employees

Speaker: Renee V. Schaaf, Vice President of Retirement And Investor Services,

Principal Financial Group

APPENDIX A

The Summit Agenda

Appendix A: The Summit Agenda 27

28 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report28 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

GROUP C: New Entrants to the Workforce

Speaker: Lori Lucas, CFA, Director of Retirement Research, Hewitt Financial Services,

Hewitt Associates, LLC

GROUP D: Workers Nearing Retirement

Speaker: Sylvester J. Schieber, Ph.D., Vice President and U.S. Director of Benefits

Consulting,Watson Wyatt Worldwide

12:00 noon-1:15 p.m. Luncheon Program

Mr. Ben Stein, Actor,Author, Economist, Lawyer,Teacher, Expert on Finance

1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Four Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Delegates will review model savings programs and develop action plans

targeting four distinct groups.

GROUP A: Low-Income Workers

Facilitator: Robert L. Olson, Senior Fellow, Institute for Alternative Futures

Expert: Kirk Johnson, Ph.D.,Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Data Analysis,The Heritage Foundation

Presenter: Steven Dow, Executive Director, Community Action Project of Tulsa County

GROUP B: Small-Business Employees

Facilitator: Don Abraham, Futurist and Director of Development, Social Technologies, LLC

Expert: Renee V. Schaaf, Vice President of Retirement and Investor Services,

Principal Financial Group

Presenter: Rob Zeldenrust, General Manager, Fremont Co-operative Produce Company

GROUP C: New Entrants to the Workforce

Facilitator: Atul Dighe, Futurist, 5 Big Questions About the Future

Expert: Lori Lucas, CFA, Director of Retirement Research, Hewitt Financial Services,

Hewitt Associates, LLC

Presenter: Jeffrey D. Wiker, Vice President of Administration, Fleet Manager, H.L.Wiker, Inc.

Presenter: Danielle R. Shanes, Manager of Work Environment,The McGraw-Hill Companies

GROUP D: Workers Nearing Retirement

Facilitator: Tom Conger, Futurist and Founder, Social Technologies, LLC

Expert: Sylvester J. Schieber, Ph.D., Vice President and U.S. Director of Benefits Consulting,

Watson Wyatt Worldwide

Presenter: Deborah K. Lebryk, Director of External Relations, Monsanto Company

Presenter: Charlotte Lazar-Morrison, CEBS, Principal of Director Human Resources,

The Aerospace Corporation

5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Reception at Willard Intercontinental Hotel

7:10 p.m.-9:00 p.m. Dinner Program

Invocation

Welcome and Opening Remarks

The Honorable Elaine L. Chao, U.S. Secretary of Labor

Keynote Speaker: The Honorable Gordon Smith, Chairman, Senate Special Committee on Aging

Closing Remarks: The Honorable Elaine L. Chao, U.S. Secretary of Labor

Appendix A: The Summit Agenda 29

Day 2—Thursday, March 2, 2006

7:30 a.m.-9:15 a.m. Breakfast Program

Remarks by Congressional Speakers

The Honorable Charles Grassley, Chairman, Senate Finance Committee

The Honorable Michael Oxley, Chairman, House Financial Services Committee

9:15 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Introduction of Keynote Speakers

The Honorable Elaine L. Chao, U.S. Secretary of Labor

Keynote Speakers

The Honorable Don Evans, CEO,The Financial Services Forum

The Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States of America

10:15 a.m.-12:00 noon Four Concurrent Breakout Sessions

GROUP A: Low-Income Workers

Facilitator: Robert L. Olson, Senior Fellow, Institute for Alternative Futures

GROUP B: Small-Business Employees

Facilitator: Don Abraham, Futurist and Director of Development, Social Technologies, LLC

GROUP C: New Entrants to the Workforce

Facilitator: Atul Dighe, Futurist, 5 Big Questions About the Future

GROUP D: Workers Nearing Retirement

Facilitator: Tom Conger, Futurist and Founder, Social Technologies, LLC

12:15 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Luncheon Program

Reports from the Breakout Groups

Facilitator: Tom Conger, Futurist and Founder, Social Technologies, LLC

2:00 p.m.-2:15 p.m. Closing Remarks

Ann L. Combs, Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration,

U.S. Department of Labor

30 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

APPENDIX B

Expert Speakers/Facilitators/Model Presenters

Expert Speakers

Kirk Johnson, Ph.D.

Senior Policy Analyst, Center for

Data Analysis

The Heritage Foundation

Washington, D.C.

Lori Lucas, CFA

Director of Retirement Research

Hewitt Financial Services

Hewitt Associates, LLC

Lincolnshire, Illinois

Renee V. Schaaf

Vice President of Retirement and

Investor Services

Principal Financial Group

Des Moines, Iowa

Sylvester J. Schieber, Ph.D.

Vice President and U.S. Director

of Benefits Consulting

Watson Wyatt Worldwide

Arlington,Virginia

Facilitators

Don Abraham

Futurist and Director of

Development

Social Technologies, LLC

Washington, D.C.

Tom Conger

Futurist and Founder

Social Technologies, LLC

Washington, D.C.

Atul Dighe

Futurist

5 Big Questions About the Future

Bowie, Maryland

Robert L. Olson

Senior Fellow

Institute for Alternative Futures

Alexandria,Virginia

Model Presenters

Steven Dow

Executive Director

Community Action Project of

Tulsa County

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Charlotte Lazar-Morrison, CEBS

Principal Director of Human

Resources

The Aerospace Corporation

El Segundo, California

Deborah K. Lebryk

Director of External Relations

Monsanto Company

St. Louis, Missouri

Danielle R. Shanes

Manager of Work Environment

The McGraw-Hill Companies

New York, New York

Jeffrey D. Wiker

Vice President of Administration

Fleet Manager

H.L.Wiker, Inc.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Rob Zeldenrust

General Manager

Fremont Co-operative Produce

Company

Fremont, Michigan

Appendix C: Delegates 31

The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker,

United States House of Representatives

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority

Leader, United States House of

Representatives

The Honorable William H. Frist, M.D.,

Majority Leader, United States Senate

The Honorable Harry Reid, Minority Leader,

United States Senate

The Honorable Michael Enzi, Chairman,

Committee on Health, Education, Labor and

Pensions, United States Senate

The Honorable Edward Kennedy, Ranking

Member, Committee on Health, Education,

Labor and Pensions, United States Senate

The Honorable Howard McKeon, Chairman,

Committee on Education and the Workforce,

United States House of Representatives

The Honorable George Miller, Ranking

Member, Committee on Education and the

Workforce, United States House of

Representatives

The Honorable Gordon Smith, Chairman,

Special Committee on Aging, United States

Senate

The Honorable Herb Kohl, Ranking Member,

Special Committee on Aging, United States

Senate

The Honorable Arlen Specter, Chairman,

Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human

Services, Education and Related Agencies,

Committee on Appropriations, United States

Senate

The Honorable Tom Harkin, Ranking

Member, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and

Human Services, Education and Related

Agencies, Committee on Appropriations,

United States Senate

The Honorable Ralph Regula, Chairman,

Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human

Services, Education and Related Agencies,

Committee on Appropriations, United States

House of Representatives

The Honorable David Obey, Ranking

Member, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and

Human Services, Education and Related

Agencies, Committee on Appropriations,

United States House of Representatives

APPENDIX C

Statutory Delegates

32 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

Ms. Leanne J. Abdnor, For Our Grandchildren

Ms. Sally Atwater, President’s Committee for

People with Intellectual Disabilities

Ms. Susan Au Allen, US Pan Asian American

Chamber of Commerce

Ms. Dana Auslander, The Blackstone Group

Ms. Meredith Bagby, Dream Works

Mr. Dean Baker, Center for Economic Policy

Ms. Clare H. Barnett, National Council on

Teacher Retirement

Mr. Timothy Bartl, HR Policy Association

Mr. Hunter Bates, Bates Capitol Group, LLC

Ms. Clare Bergquist, Charles Schwab

Corporate & Retirement Services

Mr. Andrew Biggs, Social Security

Administration

Ms. Heidi Neel Biggs, For Our Grandchildren

Mr. Robert Bixby, The Concord Coalition

Ms. Lisa J. Bleier, American Bankers

Association

Mr. Billy Borchert, Plumber and Pipefitters

Local 572

Ms. Phyllis C. Borzi, O’Donoghue &

O’Donoghue

Mr. Ramon J. Boshara, Jr., New America

Foundation

Mr. Joseph Brislin, International Foundation

of Employee Benefit Plans

Mr. Jeffrey R. Brown, University of Illinois and

National Bureau of Economic Research

Mr. Jim Buchholz, Ameriprise Financial

Services, Inc

Mr. Chuck Canterbury, Fraternal Order of

Police

Mr. David Certner, AARP

Mr. David Cesareo, C N A Financial Corp.

Ms. Deborah Chalfie, National Women’s Law

Center

Ms. Elsa Cheung, Metropolitan Life Insurance

Company

Mr. Jose Cisneros, City and County of San

Francisco

Mr. Charles J. Clark, Aon Consulting

Mr. Sparb Collins, North Dakota Public

Employees Retirement System

Mr. Richard Daly, Laborers’ International

Union of North America Local 169

Ms. Jeanne de Cervens, AEGON USA, Inc

Mr. Randy DeFrehn, National Coordinating

Committee For MultiEmployer Plans

Ms. Alane Dent, American Council of Life

Insurers

Mr. Stephen Dodson, Parnassus Investments

Mr. Alberto M. Duarte, InCharge Education

Foundation

Mr. Ric Edelman, Edelman Financial Services

Mr. D. Don Ezra, Russell Investment Group

Mr. Michael Falcon, Merrill Lynch Retirement

Group

Ms. Holly Fechner, U.S. Senate Health,

Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

Ms. Karen W. Ferguson, Pension Rights

Center

Mr. Doug Fisher, Fidelity Investments

Ms. Sheri Fitts, U.S. Bank, Institutional Trust

& Custody

Ms. Bridget R. Flynn, Nationwide Financial

Services

Mr. Clayton Fong, National Asian Pacific

Center on Aging

Ms. Martha Ford, The Arc of the US and

United Cerebral Palsey

Dr. William Fox, University of Tennessee,

Knoxville

Ms. Karen Friedman, Pension Rights Center

Mr. Ron Gebhardtsbauer, American Academy

of Actuaries

Mr. Carl George, Clifton Gunderson LLP

Professor Teresa Ghilarducci, University of

Notre Dame

Mr. Brian H. Graff, American Society of

Pension Professionals & Actuaries

Appointed Delegates

Appendix C: Delegates 33

Mr. Robert Greenawalt, Office of Senator

Harry Reid

Mr. Robert Greenstein, Center on

Budget/Political Priorities

Mr. Charles Hahn, Banc of America

Investment Services

Ms. Mindy Harris, Department of County

Management Multnoma County

Mr. Herbert H. Hilliard, First Horizon National

Corp.

Mr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Council on Foreign

Relations

Ms. Cindy Hounsell, Women’s Institute for a

Secure Retirement

Mr. J. Mark Iwry, Brookings Institution

Dr. Estelle James, World Bank

Mr. David C. John, The Heritage Foundation

Ms. Abigail P. Johnson, Fidelity Investments

Mr. Julius Johnson, Tennessee Farm Bureau

Mr. Eugene L Joseph, Joseph & Turner

Consulting Actuaries LLC

Mr. Steve Judge, Securities Industry Assn.

Ms. Melissa Kahn, Metropolitan Life Insurance

Company

Mr. Alan N. Kanter, Alan N. Kanter &

Associates, Inc

Mr. John Kapanke, Evangelical Lutheran

Church in America

Mr. Frank Keating, American Council of Life

Insurers

Professor Kathryn J. Kennedy, John Marshall

Law School

Mr. Kenneth J. Kies, Clark Consulting

Mr. Bruce King, Office of Senator Harry Reid

Mr. James Klein, American Benefits Council

Mr. Richard Koski, Buck Consultants

Mr. William G. Kuchta, Paychex, Inc

Mr. Marc Lackritz, Securities Industry

Association

Congressman Sander Levin, United States

House of Representatives

Ms. Laura Levine, Jump$tart Coalition for

Personal Financial Literacy

Mr. Edward J. Lilly, New York State Deferred

Compensation Plan

The Honorable James B. Lockhart III,

Deputy Commissioner, Social Security

Administration

Mr. Dave Low, California School Employees

Association

Ms. Maya MacGuineas, The New America

Foundation

Ms. Ruth Marlin, National Air Traffic

Controllers Association

Mr. Ralph D. Marsh, Houston Police Officers

Pension System

Mr. Alson R. Martin, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLC

Mr. James L. Martin, 60 Plus Association

Ms. Sandra J. Matheson, Washington State

Department of Retirement

Mr. John Mattras, HandUpWorks

Ms. Ellyn A. McColgan, Fidelity Investments

Ms. Nan S. Mead, National Endowment of

Financial Education

Ms. Susan Meisinger, Society of Human

Resource Managers

Ms. Lisa Mensah, Aspen Institute

Mr. Renato E. Merolli, National Life Insurance

Company

Mr. Daniel A. Mica, Credit Union National

Association

Mr. John W. Milazzo, Jr., Campus Federal

Credit Union

Ms. Judy Miller, U.S. Senate Finance

Committee

Mr. Scott D. Miller, Actuarial Consulting

Group, Inc.

Ms. Cynthia Moehring, MGM Mirage

Corporation

Mr. Michael Moran, Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Mr. Bill Mulvihill, First Trust Advisors, L.P.

Professor Alicia H. Munnell, Boston College

Ms. Terry Neese, Women Impacting Public

Policy Institute

Ms. Frances Nolan, TIAA-CREF

Ms. Diane Oakley, Office of Congressman Earl

Pomeroy

Mr. Shaun O’Brien, AFL-CIO

Mr. John O’Neill, U.S. Senate Committee on

Finance

Mr. Peter Richard Orszag, The Brookings

Institute

Ms. Variny Paladino, American Savings

Education Council

Mr. James Parker, Modrall Sperling

Mr. Timothy J. Penny, For Our Grandchildren

Ms. Pamela Perun, Aspen Institute

34 2006 NATIONAL SUMMIT on RETIREMENT SAVINGS/Final Report

Congressman Earl Pomeroy, United States

House of Representatives

Mr. Roy Ramthun, National Economic Council

Mr. Steve Regenstreif, American Federation

of State, County and Municipal Employees

Mr. Bob Reid, Wachovia Bank

Mr. Alan Reuther, United Auto Workers

Mr. Charles D. Robinson, Northwestern

Mutual

Mr. John Rother, AARP

Ms. Lauren Rothfarb, AFL-CIO

Ms. Joyce Ruddock, Metropolitan Life

Insurance Company

The Honorable Paul Ryan, United States

House of Representatives

Mr. Dallas L. Salisbury, Employee Benefit

Research Institute

Mr. Leon Schellman, Procter & Gamble

Company

Mr. Joseph L. Schiffhouer, FedEx Corporation

Ms. Pamela S. Schutz, Genworth Financial

Mr. Christopher Shelton, Communications

Workers of America

Mr. Ian Sheridan, Mass Mutual Financial Group

Mr. Alan Shortell, New York Life Insurance

Ms. Arshi Siddiqui, Office of the Minority

Leader, Nancy Pelosi

Mr. Andrew M. Sieg, Citigroup

Ms. Stephanie Silverman, Employee Owned S

Corporations of America

Ms. Jacqueline Simon, American Federation

of Government Employees, AFL-CIO

Ms. Sarah Simoneaux, American Society of

Pension Professionals & Actuaries

Mr. Scott G. Sleyster, Prudential Retirement

Mr. Robert E. Sollmann, Jr., Metropolitian Life

Insurance Company

Mr. Topher Spiro, U.S. Senate Special

Committee on Aging

Mr. William E. Spriggs, Howard University

Mr. Norman Philip Stein, University of

Alabama School of Law

Mr. Frank Stella, American Federation of

Teachers

Mr. Eugene Steuerle, The Urban Institute

Mr. Paul Stevens, Investment Company

Institute

Mr. John Stoma, Oppenheimer Funds, Inc

Mr. Jonathan Talisman, Capitol Tax Partners

Mr. Michael Tanner, Cato Institute

Mr. Richard Thau, Presentation Testing, Inc

Mr. Warren Thompson, Russell Investment

Group

Mr. Mark R. Thresher, Nationwide Financial

Services

Mr. Stephen P. Utkus, Vanguard Center for

Retirement Research

Ms. Michele Varnhagen, U.S. House of

Representatives Committee on Education and

the Workforce

The Honorable Mark Warshawsky, U.S.

Department of the Treasury

Ms. Jane Washbish, Moog Louisville

Warehouse

Mr. Christian Weller, Sr., Center for American

Progress

Mr. Kurt Westerman, Partners HealthCare

System

Ms. Jane White, Retirement Solutions

Foundation

Mr. J. Spencer Williams, MassMutual Financial

Group

Ms. Della Williamson, Employees Retirement

System of Texas

Mr. Michael Wilson, International Foundation

of Employee Benefit Plans

Ms. Cindy Winckler, Iowa State Representative

Mr. Michael Wise, Caterpillar, Inc.

Ms. Patricia Wolff, American Farm Bureau

Federation

Mr. Dennis W. Wootan, Northrop Grumman

Corporation

Ms. Mildeen Worrell, U.S. House of

Representatives Committee on Ways and

Means

Mr. David L. Wray, Profit Sharing/401(k)

Council of America

Ms. Brenda Wright, San Francisco Employees’

Retirement System

Ms. Portia Wu, United States Senate, Health,

Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

Mr. Robert A. Wylie, South Dakota Retirement

System

Mr. J. T. Young, Ford Motor Company

Mr. Larry Zimpleman, Principal Financial

Group

Mr. Paul Zurawski, Honeywell

Gold

Other Sponsors

Aronson+Johnson+Ortiz

Associated General Contractors

of America

Bond Beebe

Colony Capital Management

Lehman Brothers Asset

Management LLC

Union Bank of California

U.S.Trust Company

Wright Investors’ Service

Bronze

AARP

AllianceBernstein

American Savings Education Council

Ark Asset Management

Bear Stearns

Choose to Save

Employee Benefit Research Institute

Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset

Management

The Marco Consulting Group

Meketa Investment Group

Mercer Human Resource Consulting

MetLife

Milliman

National Association of Federal

Credit Unions

Prudential Investment Management

Prudential Retirement Services

Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.

Appendix D: Sponsors 35

The above listing of the sponsors is only for informational and acknowledgment

purposes and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the entities,

their products or services by the U.S. Department of Labor.

706

ED060681

U.S. Department of Labor