D.C. Panel on Retirement Systems

[@rickysem]

Hello, when I first saw this there were 8 views, now it's up to 13 views. Sorry but that was all me. I would like to say that the discussion was very insightful. Especially since I live in Korea as an expat. I am very limited to information. Anyways, I understand most of the discussion focusing on benefits for public workers. And how to balance paying into retirement and maintaining benefits. I heard Greg talk about N.J. a lot and the stress test was done on retirement systems in different states. I learned about Deborah's contest or challenge at her university to solve the retirement problem. Also, I like her financial engineering concept and how she termed the phrase "THE SILVER BULLET" And through Kurt, I learned a bit about the pros and cons of getting the current system to work better. I have been working on this dilemma as well, for the last 5 years. While you guys have all the best inside information and are seated at the table to influence change, I have been wrapping my mind of developing a new retirement system. But our definition of 'new retirement system' seems very different. While you guys (i mean no disrespect by saying 'you guys') work on policies and laws to tweak the current retirement system. I've been working on a completely new retirement system. I will not get into too many details about my version of a new retirement system, but we are on different spectrums. I want to give people their retirement check at age 50, my retirement system would include everyone private sector, public sector and people who do not fit in either category. I realize and apologize I am not disclosing important details. I don't think this is the place or forum to expose all the details. But I assure you, I have given 5 years of thought and had my idea validated by people of equal education such as yourself, masters & Ph.D. holders. My version of a new retirement system is literally a new retirement system that can co-exist with the current retirement system at the state or national level, albeit Social Security, 401K or IRAs. What every hybrid version states are using, my idea is a new retirement system. Nobody seems to be discussing this. Haas institute printed a report that stated: all arguments presented for adjusting, tweaking, and whatever changes needed to be made to the current system are all strong arguments. But nobody is discussing making a new system. Well, I have! Melbourne Mercer put out a report listing about 15 things that countries have to do to improve their pension system. Such as an increase in retirement age. My idea for a new retirement system does not require increasing age. another suggestion mentioned is to increase personal savings. My idea for a new retirement system does increase personal savings for all social levels. including people on food stamps. Another suggestion mentioned is transparency, well my retirement system includes transparency through a phone app or web browser. I just want to put my idea out as well. I am not proclaiming my idea is better, there are far more intricate details I would have to decipher. I don' t have resources like you guys have, but based on my cobblestone of information I've been able to piece together, I have all the ingredients for the making of a 'Smart Retirement System'. A SILVER BULLET Deborah has mentioned. I enjoyed listening and also writing out this commentary. It has helped me organize my thoughts better. I tip my hat to each of you.