Retirement Isn't What It Used To Be:
The Need to Explore Some New Options

People are living longer, but times are harder. That is the message in a recent New York Times article that describes the struggle a large number of retirees are facing in retirement communities across America. This is far from new news. People have been screaming about this problem over the past several years.

The stock market's tirade over the past 3 years has nearly decimated retirement fund accounts, turning well-to-do and self-sufficient retirees into "coupon clippers." No, this is not what they expected, nor is this what the current near-retirement age group is looking forward to. It could get even worse for us 50-something-ers.

It's a pretty simple equation when you look at it. Wealth slips and quality of life follows. Ask any family living in or below the poverty level. In so many words, that is what they will tell you.

Our standard of living is slipping in America, despite the number of millionaires and billionaires we lay claim to. We need some new thinking on how to tackle this erosive challenge that is undermining all the hard work that we do in our 35 to 40-year work lives. No, it isn't fair that it all comes unraveled in the final chapter of our life. For many older people, the last years of their life are almost as hard as when they started out in life.

I would offer up this challenge to economic developers across America. What new ideas do we have to head-off this retirement disaster? Maybe it's not enough to target retirees as a growth industry. When you catch your breath from chasing young high-tech talent into your community, maybe you can scratch these words on your yellow note pad and think about them: "Economic development is about wealth creation. My community needs an inter-generational strategy for building wealth and deploying this wealth throughout citizens' lifetimes. What vehicles do we need to put a better system into place to make this happen?"

One idea to get us thinking: a community retirement fund. Maybe employers and employees should have the ability to make contributions to a new type of retirement fund that offers the diversification that a community can offer. It might be a nice alternative to the employer-controlled retirement vehicles that we have in place now.

This is an issue that deserves some fresh thinking. To start us thinking, I've posed the question.