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Investing - Savings, General & Miscellaneous Social Services, Social Security - Service & Policies, Economics & Finance, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), Retirement
Personal Saving, Personal Choice by David A. Wise β€” book cover

Personal Saving, Personal Choice

by David A. Wise
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Overview

Today the typical American household has only $1,900 in liquid assets. Worse, many families are approaching retirement age with nothing more than anticipated Social Security benefits and home equity. With the very existence of Social Security in jeopardy, how can the average American possibly provide for a secure retirement?

  • Personal Saving, Personal Choice shows that the economic mechanism is already in place: personal choice in retirement saving

    Since the 1980s, individual retirement accounts and 401(k) and (403)b plans have changed the way Americans save for retirement. Essays in this volume examine important changes taking place in light of this and reveal

  • Why personal savings accounts should be made a component of Social Security reform, and how this can increase individual and national saving
  • How medical savings accounts, in conjunction with catastrophic health insurance, could help improve the efficiency of health care delivery and also increase personal saving 

Synopsis

Today the typical American household has only $1,900 in liquid assets - $5,250 if stocks and bonds are included. Worse, many families are approaching retirement age with nothing more than anticipated Social security benefits and home equity. With the very existence of Social Security in jeopardy, how can the average American possibly provide for a secure retirement? Personal Saving, Personal Choice shows that the economic mechanism is already in place: personal choice in retirement saving.

Since the 1980s, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) and 403(b) plans have changed the way Americans save for retirement. Essays in this volume examine the rapid spread of individual retirement savings accounts and outline the critical advantages and risks that accompany them. The authors also reveal why personal savings accounts should be made a component of Social Security reform and how this can increase individual and national saving. Finally, they propose medical savings accounts (MSAs), which, in conjunction with catastrophic health insurance, could help improve the efficiency of health care delivery and also increase personal saving.

Personal Saving, Personal Choice recognizes the value of a growing class of savers with interest in and knowledge of financial markets. Most important, it emphasizes the potential for personal saving and personal choice to increase individual and national saving and therefore to improve the lives of all American families.

About the Author, David A. Wise

David A. Wise is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the John F. Stambaugh Professor of Political Economy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, where he has taught since 1973.

He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he is the area director for the Economics of Aging and the Health Economics Programs.

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Book Details

Published
December 1, 1999
Publisher
Hoover Institution Press
Pages
101
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780817997120

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