Retirement: 2010 and Beyond

Taking a walk along the shoreline in Boynton Beach, Florida I had a thought. I could get used to this. But an immediate surge of overwhelm ran throught me as I pondered, "Whose going to finance my South Florida retirement nest egg?" Moi. And phasing into retirement will likely be the scenario as I plan on sticking around for a while.

Retirement is so far from my thoughts as a rule. But there's been so much talk of the sagging economy, job security and the future of the older worker that, quite frankly, I've been feeling a bit jittery about it. But just a few days ago I had a conversation that offered a bit of hope in my elusive quest for worklife balance down the road.

There's a policy project in Washington D.C. called Workplace Flexibility 2010. It's a "campaign to support the development of a comprehensive national policy on workplace flexibility." I had the opportunity to speak with Professor Chai Feldblum, a Co-Director of this project - specifically about phased retirement. Workplace Flexibility 2010 is studying the policies around the concept and plans to eventually release its findings of effective, solid, creative policy ideas - to help companies and employees better examine the concept. 

Chai Feldblum is a Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. She told me 2010 has spent the last year meeting with company heads and employee groups, gathering information on trends in phased retirement. Here's an excerpt from my interview with her.

JUDY: What is the general idea behind 2010, and why is that date significant?

CHAI:  We chose 2010 to signal that we don't have policy ideas right now. We are seeking to essentially intervene in the political dynamic; to encourage a consensus based conversation around policy-based ideas so that by the year 2010 we would have facilitated comprehensive ideas that would work for both employers and employees.

JUDY: What about phased retirement, it's an issue that has suddenly jumped into the headlines?

CHAI: We hope to come up with some specific phased retirement policy ideas before the year 2010. It's essentially a sub-set within the larger worklife integration world. We feel that if we can help facilitate some consensus based ideas, that might be a nice model for some of the tougher labor and employment laws that we'll be looking at.

JUDY: What are some of the key concerns about phased retirement for companies?

CHAI: The issue is - how can companies do phased retirement programs in a way that will not cause them any problems with the tax laws, so that their pension programs remain legal under those tax laws. If you are not compliant, there are a lot of ramifications. In other words, how can companies have programs in which they allow individuals, who are not fully retired, but are still working part-time with the company, to draw down on some of their retirement funds and still be in compliance with the tax laws.

JUDY: That poses a lot of questions around retirement age, how much individuals can take out and when - etc.

CHAI: The reason all of these rules are set in place - you have to be a certain age - you have to have left already, is that the retirement plans were initially set up to ensure that people would have enough funds when they actually retired. You didn't want people to draw down too early. The mind set in which the tax laws were set up was not the mind set that we need now - when you think about people working past retirement age.

Comments

[Ankur]

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[Susan Bernstein]

Thank you, Judy, for this great posting...one of so many of your jewels that blend real-life issues with practical solutions. I experienced a case of the jitters about the economy this week, despite not watching TV. You've helped to paint a brighter picture of the future. It's great to know about Workplace Flexibility 2010.

Much appreciation,
Susan

[Judy Martin]

Thanks for stopping by Susan. I love when those little jewels spread through the ethers and the internet. Warmly, Judy